社会学家认为，有几种不同的方法可以使人成为某个社会群体公认的领导者。在家庭生活中，传统的文化模式赋予(confer…on…)父母一方或者双方领导的地位。在其他情况下，比如友谊团体，尽管没有正式的选举程序，一个或更多的人会逐渐地成为领导。在比较大的群体中，领导者通常是通过正式的选举或招募的形式产生的。虽然通常认为领导具有不同寻常的个人能力，数十年的研究未能找出可靠的证据来证明哪些人是“天生的领导者”。

　　译文参考：

　　(1) According to sociologists, there are several different ways in which a person may become recognized as the leader of a social group. (2) In the family, traditional cultural patterns confer leadership on one or both of the parents. (3) In other cases, such as friendship groups, one or more persons may gradually emerge as leaders, although there is no formal process of selection. (4) In larger groups, leaders are usually chosen formally through election or recruitment. (5) Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual personal ability, decades of research have failed to produce reliable evidence that there is any category of “natural leaders”.

　　技巧点拨：

　　(1)“社会学家认为”译为“According to sociologists”。不要以为according to 只能是“根据……”的意思，也不要以为“某人认为”只能译为“someone thinks…”。语言是可以变通的。

　　(2)“成为某个社会群体公认的领导者” 译为“become recognized as the leader of a social group”，注意这种变通的表达。

　　(3)注意confer…on…的用法，confer sth. on sb. 这里是“赋予父母一方或者双方领导的地位”，译为“confer leadership on one or both of the parents”。

　　(4)“逐渐地成为领导”译为“gradually emerge as leaders”，注意emerge的用法，能反映出一个过程。

　　(5)“未能找出可靠的证据”译为“have failed to produce reliable evidence”，注意“fail”的用法，“fail”具有否定的含义。