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A team of researchers at the University of Nottingham in England carried out a study to examine the relationship between certain personality traits and the expression of genes that can affect people’s health by controlling the activity of the immune systems.

A group of 120 ethnically diverse and healthy young adults were recruited. The participants completed a personality test which measures five major dimensions of personality, extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Blood samples were collected from each volunteer for gene expression analysis and their typical smoking, drinking and exercise behavior were also recorded for control purposes.

The study did not find any results to support a common theory that tendencies towards negative emotions such as depression or anxiety can lead to poor health. What was related to differences in immune cell gene expression were a person's degree of extroversion and conscientiousness.

University of Nottingham 诺丁汉大学

the relationship between … and … 某两者之间的关系 如果描述三者或三者以上之间的关系，应把between改为among。

例句：The relationship between stars and fans can be quite tricky. You want to post your whereabouts on social media to keep people’s interest and loyalty, but you don’t want to disclose too much, in case someone overzealous starts stalking you.（明星和粉丝之间的关系有时挺棘手的。你会想在社交媒体上分享个人行踪，以保持大家的兴趣和忠诚度。但你又不能透露太多信息，以免过分热情的粉丝开始跟踪你。）

Sorry to tell you this, but I don’t see a clear and logical relationship among your myriad of ideas. (很抱歉这么说，但我从你那一堆的想法里真的看不到一个清晰合理的关系线。)

ethnically diverse adj. 种族多元化的

personality trait n. 性格特征

expression of genes 基因的表现形式

immune system n. 免疫系统

five major dimensions of personality 性格的五个主要层面：extroversion（外向性）neuroticism（神经质，情绪不稳定性） openness（开放性） agreeableness（宜人性，随和性） conscientiousness（自觉性，责任心）

common theory n. 一般理论，常见理论

tendency toward/towards/to … 容易…的某种趋势（如果不止一种趋势，则用复数tendencies），toward/towards/to后面既可跟名词，也可跟动词不定式。

例句：

My classmate’s tendencies toward self-mutilation and suicide have kept her entire family on their toes. （我同学的自残和自杀倾向让她全家人都时刻保持警觉。）

His tendency to crack jokes at the most inappropriate moments has ultimately cost him the job. （他经常会在最不恰当的场合开玩笑，而最终他也因此失去了工作。）