TED演讲:吸引力的科学(2)

 　　Such a testosterone boost may give a man the nudge to pursue a woman he might not have otherwise noticed. 睾丸素分泌的增加可能会促使这个男人去追求这个平时他可能就会忽略的女性。

　　A woman's nose is particularly attuned¹ to MHC molecules², which are used to fight disease. 女性的鼻子对一种名为MHC分子的化学物质尤为敏感。这种物质是用来对抗疾病的。

　　In this case, opposites attract. 因此，异性相吸。

　　When a study asked women to smell T-shirts that had been worn by different men,  另一个研究要求女性来闻不同男性穿过的T恤

　　they preferred the odors of those whose MHC molecules differed from theirs. 她们更倾向于和她们自己的MHC分子不同的气味。

　　This makes sense. 这是说得通的。

　　Genes³ that result in a greater variety of immunities⁴ may give offspring a major survival advantage. 基因造成的免疫力的巨大差异可能会给后代以重要的生存优势。

　　Our ears also determine attraction. 我们的耳朵同样决定着吸引力。

　　Men prefer females with high-pitched, breathy voices, and wide formant spacing, correlated with smaller body size. 男人更喜欢女性拥有音调较高、带有呼吸声、共振间隔较长的声音，因为它让人联想到小巧玲珑。

　　While women prefer low-pitched voices with a narrow formant spacing that suggest a larger body size. 而女性则更喜欢音调低沉、共振间隔较短的男性声音，因为它让人联想到高大威猛。

　　And not surprisingly, touch turns out to be crucial for romance. 意料之中，触觉对浪漫有着决定性的作用。

　　In this experiment, not realizing the study had begun, participants were asked to briefly⁵ hold the coffee, either hot or iced. 在一个实验中，被告知实验开始前参与者被要求短暂地拿着一杯咖啡，热的或者是冷的。

　　Later, the participants read a story about a hypothetical person, and were asked to rate their personality. 然后，参与者被要求阅读一个假想的人的故事并且评价他的个性。

　　Those who had held the hot cup of coffee perceived the person in the story as happier, more social, more generous and better-natured  拿着热咖啡的人认为故事里的人快乐、具有社会性、慷慨、天性善良，

　　than those who had held the cup of iced coffee, who rated the person as cold, stoic⁶, and unaffectionate. 而拿了冷咖啡的人则认为这个人冷酷、恬淡无欲、没有感情。

1 attuned   

v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音

参考例句：

• She wasn't yet attuned to her baby's needs. 她还没有熟悉她宝宝的需要。
• Women attuned to sensitive men found Vincent Lord attractive. 偏爱敏感男子的女人，觉得文森特·洛德具有魅力。 来自辞典例句

2 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

3 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

4 immunities   

免除，豁免( immunity的名词复数 )； 免疫力

参考例句：

• Supplying nutrients and immunities to my baby? 为我的宝贝提供营养物质和免疫物质？
• And these provide immunities against the a host of infections and diseases. 这些物质可提高婴儿的免疫力，使之免受病毒感染和疾病侵袭。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 stoic   

n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者

参考例句：

• A stoic person responds to hardship with imperturbation.坚忍克己之人经受苦难仍能泰然自若。
• On Rajiv's death a stoic journey began for Mrs Gandhi,supported by her husband's friends.拉吉夫死后，索尼亚在丈夫友人的支持下开始了一段坚忍的历程。