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ybody else on Earth. And you understand that everybody else is also unique. On a most basic level, identical twins are fascinating because they challenge this truth. They are unique people, of course, but they're eerily like each other.
Consider the extreme case of the 'Jim twins.' Identical twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were only four weeks old when they were separated; each infant was taken in by a different adoptive family. At age five, Lewis learned that he had a twin, but he said that the notion never truly 'soaked in' until he was 38 years old. Springer learned of his twin sibling at age eight, but both he and his adoptive parents believed the sibling had died. The two were finally reunited at age 39. The similarities the twins shared not only amazed one another, but researchers at the University of Minnesota as well. The very fact that you had twin siblings separated at birth bearing the same name, both 6 feet tall and weighing exactly 180 pounds is pretty incredible. But there's more.
In her book Entwined Lives, Nancy Segal lists the following shared characteristics:
  • As youngsters, each Jim had a dog named 'Toy.'
  • Each Jim had been married two times -- the first wives were both called 'Linda' and the second wives were both called 'Betty.'
  • One Jim had named his son 'James Allan' and the other Jim had named his son 'James Alan.'
    Twins Days in Twinsburg, Ohio
    Touted as the world's largest annual gathering of twins, since August 1976 this familial fête has taken over Twinstown with tournaments, talent shows, twin contests and more. For dates and schedule information, check out the official festival Web site.

  • Each twin had driven his light-blue Chevrolet to Pas Grille beach in Florida for family vacations.
  • Both Jims smoked Salem cigarettes and drank Miller Lite beer.
  • Both Jims had at one time held part-time posts as sheriffs.
  • Both were fingernail biters and suffered from migraine headaches.
  • Each Jim enjoyed leaving love notes to his wife throughout the house.
Of course, before you start thinking about science fiction movies with pod people, the Jims, like other identical twins, are not carbon copies of each other. Some obvious differences were discovered during their participation in the 'Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart,' including:
  • Each styled his hair differently; one Jim wore it combed straight, hanging down over his forehead (think Beatles circa 1961) and the other Jim wore it combed back and sported sideburns (think Johnny Cash circa 1957, but with longer 'burns).
  • One Jim more clearly conveyed himself through speech, while the other was better suited to writing.
  • While both Jims had been married twice, one Jim had taken vows with a third wife (called 'Sandy')

附录1：The Jim Twins from Ohio
(Excerpt from a U.S. newspaper)
http://www.kabalarians.com/cfm/SearchDocs/NL/NLFeb~02.html
Jim Lewis and Jim Springer first met February 9, 1979 after 39 years of being separated. They were the rarest of twins, and most prized by researchers: identical twins who had been separated at birth, were raised in different families, and had grown to adulthood completely unaware of each other's existence. When Jim Lewis finally found his twin brother, Jim Springer, after years of searching through court records, he knew their unwed mother had put them up for adoption shortly after giving birth.
When the two first met, Lewis described it as 'like looking into a mirror.' For starters, both had the same first name. They were physically identical. But when they got talking, the similarities were astounding. Both had childhood dogs named Toy. Both had been nail biters and fretful sleepers. Both had migraines. Both had married first wives names Linda, second wives named Betty. Lewis named his first son James Allen, Springer named his James Alan. For years, they both had taken holidays on the same Florida beach. They both drank Miller Lite, smoked Salem cigarettes, loved stock car racing, disliked baseball, left regular love notes to their wives, made doll furniture in their basements, and had added circular white benches around the trees in their backyards. Their IQs, habits, facial expressions, brain waves, heartbeats, and handwriting were nearly identical. The Jim twins lived apart but died on the same day, from the same illness.


附录2：The remarkable ‘Jim Twins’=不可思议的‘杰姆双胞胎’
http://www.youblog.cc/post/98981698/17434/The-remarkable-Jim-Twins-%E4%B8%8D%E5%8F%AF%E6%80%9D%E8%AE%AE%E7%9A%84-%E6%9D%B0%E5%A7%86%E5%8F%8C%E8%83%9E%E8%83%8E-
The most incredible story is that of Jim Springer and Jim Lewis from Ohio in the USA-in fact, the ‘Jim Twins’ made headline news across the USA when they finally met up at the age of thirty-nine. Born to a poor immigrant woman in 1939, they were adopted by different families when they were a few days old, and both were named Jim by their new families. This was just the first in an almost unbelievable number of similarities in their lives.
一个真实却相当令人难以置信的故事是关于来自美国俄亥俄州的杰姆斯本高和杰姆刘易斯，这对‘杰姆双胞胎’再次见面的消息被制作成头版新闻在美国广泛传播，这年他们39岁。
1939年一个贫穷的移民妇女生下了他们两个，他们生下来没几天就被不同的家庭收养，而且他们的名字也分别是收养他们的人给取的。这是发生在他们生活中那众多令人难以置信的例子的一个开始。

★ Both grew up with an adopted brother called Larry.
★ As children they both had dogs called Toy.
★ Both men were divorced and remarried. Both fist wives were called Linda, and both second wives were called Betty.
★ Both had a first son called James Alan.
★ Both were 184cm tall and weighed 83 kg.
★ Both loved motor racing and hated baseball.
★ Both had the same handwriting and the same facial expressions.
★ Both took their holidays at the same beach in Florida every year.
★ Even their homes and gardens were very similar.
★ In 2002, both men died of the same illness, on the same day.
☆ 在两个人成长过程中分别都有一个同是被收养的兄弟而且都叫拉里。
☆ 在他们还是小孩子的时候他们都有一只叫玩具的狗。
☆ 两个人都离过婚和再婚。两人的第一个老婆都叫琳达，而且第二个老婆都叫贝蒂。
☆ 他们两个人的第一个儿子的名字都叫艾伦.詹姆士。
☆ 两个人的身高都是184厘米，而且体重都是83公斤。
☆ 两个人都喜欢摩托车比赛而且都讨厌棒球。
☆ 两人都有同样的书写习惯和同样的面部表情。
☆ 两个人每年都会到佛罗里达的同一个海滨过假期。
☆ 甚至他们的房子和花园都非常地接近（指大小、布局以及颜色等）。
☆ 2002年他们两个都死于同一种疾病而且是同一天。


附录3：Two Ohio Strangers Find They're Twins at 39—and a Dream to Psychologists

By Rosemary Rawson
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20073583,00.html

One of science's so far uncrackable mysteries is the comparative impact of heredity vs. environment. An obvious experimental method would be to raise identical twins separately, but that could hardly be done with humans. So for the last 10 years University of Minnesota psychologist Thomas Bouchard, 41, has been studying twins under less than ideal, lab-controlled conditions—until, eureka, he ran into the stuff of social scientists' dreams. Identical twin males, who had been separated by adoption at three weeks, suddenly rediscovered each other in Ohio at age 39.
Within two weeks after reading about them in the press, Dr. Bouchard had the twins in his Minneapolis lab for tests. At the outset of his investigation the psychologist said, 'I think there are going to be all kinds of differences that will surprise even the twins.' But what was immediately apparent were eerie similarities that left even Bouchard 'flabbergasted.'
Curiously, both had been christened James by their adoptive parents, the Jess Lewises of Lima and the Ernest Springers of Piqua, 40 miles away. As schoolboys, both enjoyed math and carpentry—but hated spelling. Both pursued similar adult occupations: Lewis is a security guard at a steel mill, and Springer was a deputy sheriff (though he is now a clerk for a power company). Both married women named Linda, only to divorce and remarry—each a woman named Betty. Both have sons: James Alan Lewis and James Allan Springer.
The two men shared one other fact in common. As Jim Springer put it, 'I always felt an emptiness.' Neither the Springers nor the Lewises ever met the 15-year-old (unwed) mother of their sons, and both couples were told that their adoptive child had a twin who died at birth. Then one day, when Jim Lewis was 16 months old, his mother visited the Miami County courthouse to settle the adoption paperwork, and an official remarked offhandedly, 'They named the other little boy 'Jim' too.'
For 37 years that hint tugged at Mrs. Lewis, who occasionally urged her son to find out if it was true. Finally, last Thanksgiving, he agreed to search—though he says he doesn't know why. Jim Lewis wrote the probate court, which had a record of the adoption, and contacted the Springer parents in Piqua. 'I came home one day,' Lewis recounts, 'and had this message to call 'Jim Springer.' ' When he phoned Springer, Lewis blurted out: 'Are you my brother?' 'Yup,' Springer replied. Four days later, last Feb. 9, Lewis drove to meet his twin for an emotional reunion.
Dr. Bouchard offered expenses and a small honorarium to get them to Minneapolis for a week of extensive physical and psychological tests. He wanted to begin as soon as possible to preclude their reminiscing together too long and thus 'contaminating' the evidence. Though not the first such separated twins—the records show 19 previous sets in the U.S. among some 75 worldwide—Lewis and Springer were believed to have been apart by far the longest.
The detailed results of Bouchard's textbook case will be revealed to the twins themselves, but to protect their privacy will be buried among other data in the professor's book on differential psychology now in progress. There has been one development that may leave the twins still puzzling over heredity and environment. On Feb. 28 Jim Lewis, having divorced his second wife, Betty, married a woman named Sandy Jacobs. Betty and Jim Springer were present, with Jim serving as his newfound brother's best man.

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