Different people seem to be able to support different amounts of pain. Some people, for example, claim that, in general, women can stand more pain than men because of the needs of childbirth.

Apart from childbirth, what causes such differences? Are we born with them, or are they the result of experience? Are they connected with differences in the ways our nerves are made, for example, and can this be observed scientifically? And can we learn how to change our pain thresholds?1

When I was young, my mother brought me up to be very careful to avoid hurting myself,2 and perhaps as a result, I was very afraid of pain, and certainly no hero. I had very bad teeth, so I had to go to the dentist twice a year and have a lot of fillings3 done. In those days nothing much could be done about the pain, and I used to fear those appoint-ments for weeks ahead.

But then, during my time in the army, I became an officer (though a quite unimportant one), and in the desert, where I commanded a troop of about thirty men, I got what was called a desert sore4 on one of my hands. It was very red and painful and then would heal up, only to start swelling up again even larger than before after about a week or so.5 This went on and on happening. Once it got broken, and that was very painful indeed, but after that, it healed up again for a time.

I found out who to go to. It was the army doctor, who worked in a tent in a small valley in the open desert. He was a captain. Doctors did not yet know how to cure desert sores in those days, so no sooner had the doctor looked at mine than he took out a pair of sharp scissors and put them in methylated spirit6 to clean them.

'Oh, no!' I thought. 'He isn't going to cut the thing out!' But that was just what he was going to do.

As he came towards me with those sharp scissors, several thoughts went through my head at great speed: 'Even though I'm afraid of pain, I'm an officer now, so I know what to do. In spite of everything, I'm determined to show everyone that I'm not a coward. If I want to lead people into battle, I must be brave myself, so let's get it over7!'

The doctor started to cut the desert sore off my hand, and to my astonishment it was nothing like as painful as I had expected, although one's hands are one of the most sensitive parts of one's body.

After that victory over myself, I decided that the amount of pain one could bear depended largely on one's attitude of mind, and I have proved it to myself many times since then. I was very pleased when, many years later, I read medical reports confirming my idea.8

Some said that there are chemicals in one's brain that can reduce pain if one knows how to give them a chance to work. Another time, the mountain men of Nepal9 and some brave British mountain climbers were tested to compare their power to stand pain. The Nepalese men won easily every time, and the doctors who carried out the tests were sure that this was because they had been used to making light of10 pain since they were children.

1. 我们是否可以学着改变自己对疼痛的忍受极限？threshold /#8re1h2%ld/:［生］阈，限，临界。

2. 从小妈妈就教育我要小心不要伤到自己。bring up: 养育，（尤指在举止、风度方面）教养。

3. filling: 填补（牙）。

4. desert sore: 沙漠疮。sore: 疮，溃疡。

5. 又红又疼，然后会愈合，但大约一周以后又会渐渐肿起来，而且比前一次肿得更厉害。heal: 愈合，痊愈；swell: 肿胀。

6. methylated spirit: 甲基化酒精。

7. get sth. over: 熬过，结束（一件不愉快但必须做的事）。

8.多年以后，我很高兴地看到一些医学报告证实了我的想法。confirm: 证实，证明。

9. the mountain men of Nepal: 尼泊尔的山区居民。mountain man: 山地人，山区居民；Nepal/ni#p0:l/: 尼泊尔（南亚国家）。

10. make light of: 轻视，对……不在乎。