jill wesson is hiring staff for her company’s new office in taipei. she’s started going through a pile of applications, taking note of work experience, and skills in computers and foreign languages. but one bit of information keeps turning up, and she can’t make heads or tails of it.
“why are all of these people telling me what their blood type is?” she asks. “what difference could that make? it’s an office, not a coal mine – nobody’s going to need a blood transfusion.”
east asia’s obsession with blood types comes from the work of furukawa takeji, a japanese doctor who nearly a century ago was sure that personality was caused by blood type. according to his theory, each blood type had a distinctive, corresponding personality type:
type a people are conservative and passive, and are concerned with appearances. although type a people are superficial and have a touch of mental instability, they are very patient and finish what they start.
type b people get along well with others because they are straightforward, and are noted for their creativity. but type b people are also moody and become bored and annoyed easily.
type o people are stubborn and impulsive. their redeeming quality is that they are loyal to their friends.
type ab people are indecisive and picky. they tend to be demanding and impatient, and they have trouble seeing things through.
despite any real evidence to support these ideas, takeji’s theory quickly caught on. by 1930, standard job application forms included a blank for blood type, and today market researchers use it to predict buying habits, and ordinary people use it to choose friends and romantic partners.
“i’m type o,” says sandra, who jill eventually hired as a receptionist, “so my boyfriend should ideally be another type o or a type b. type a probably won’t match.”
and what about type ab?
“type o with type ab? that’s out of the question.”
"血型和個性真的有關系嗎"英語作文譯文:
吉爾-威爾森正為她公司在台北的新辦事處僱用員工。她開始查閱一堆申請書，記下工作經驗、電腦相關技巧和外語能力。但是有一個小信息一直出現，她實在搞不懂為什麽。
“這些人為什麽要告訴我他們的血型?”她問道，“這會有什麽不同嗎?這是辦公室，不是煤礦——沒有人需要輸血。”
東亞對血型的沉迷源自日本醫生古川竹二近一個世紀前的著作，他確信個性是血型造成的。根據他的理論，每種血型都有相關的獨特個性：
a型的人保守、被動，在意外表。 a型的人雖然膚淺、精神有點不穩定，但他們很有耐性，而且會堅持把他們開始的工作做完。
b型的人和別人處得好，因為他們很直率，並以他們的創意聞名。但是b型的人也很情緒化，很容易覺得無聊、覺得煩。
o型的人頑固、沖動。作為補償的氣質，是對他們的朋友很忠誠。
ab型的人猶豫不決、愛挑剔。他們比較苛求、沒耐性，他們沒辦法堅持到底。
不管有沒有任何支持這些想法的實證，竹二的理論很快流行起來。到了1930年，標準的工作申請表已經包括了填寫血型的空格，現在的市場調查員用這種方法來預測購買習慣，普通人則用它來選擇朋友和情人。
“我是o型。”桑德拉這樣說，她最後被吉爾聘用為接待員。“那麽理想上我應該找另一個o型或b型的人當男朋友。a型的可能不合適。”
那麽ab型的呢?
“o型配ab型?想都別想。”