勇氣是人類文明亙古不變的主題，但是對勇氣的系統性研究卻是最近才開始的。什么是勇氣？勇氣從何而來？它在身體和大腦中是如何體現的？為何我們會對它如此之摯愛？沒有恐懼感是不是件好事情呢？本文將一一予以解答。

　　In his 20 years as a firefighter and paramedic in Colorado Springs, Bruce Monson, 43, has had his little fist-bumps with death: a burning roof collapsing on top of him, toxic fumes nearly suffocating him.

　　在其作為科羅拉多斯普林斯（Colorado Springs）市消防員和急救人員的20年生涯里，43歲的布魯斯·蒙遜（Bruce Monson）跟死神有過小小的親密接觸：一座燃燒的屋頂從他頭頂坍塌，有毒氣體幾乎令其窒息。

　　Yet far more terrifying than any personal threats are what Mr. Monson describes as the "bad kid calls," like the one from a mother who had put her 18-month-old son down in his crib right next to a window with a Venetian blind and its old-fashioned cord.

　　但是比所有的個人威脅都要恐怖得多的，是被蒙遜先生描述為"搗蛋鬼電話"的，就像是一位媽媽打過來的電話一樣，這位母親把自己18個月大的孩子放到了嬰兒床上，而嬰兒床則正好靠近一個帶有軟百葉窗和老式繩索的窗戶。

　　"The kid had grabbed the cord and gotten it twisted around his neck, and the mother came in and found him hanging there," said Mr. Monson. "I'm the first one in the door, she's in a panic, and she shoves the kid into my arms, crying, 'Please save him, please save him!' "

　　"小孩抓住了那條繩子，然后被繩子繞住了自己的脖子，接著母親進來就發現他懸在那里了"，蒙遜先生說："我是第一個上門的，她還在恐慌之中，一把就將孩子塞到我手臂里，哭著說，'請救救他，快救救他！'"。