2022年经济学人 朋友之间“臭味相投”科学依据来了(2)

搜索

复制

To cast light on whether friendship causes similarity of scent¹, or similarity of scent causes friendship, Dr Ravreby, Dr Snitz and Dr Sobel investigated whether e-nose measurements could predict positive interactions between strangers -- the sort of “clicking” that is often the basis of a new friendships.

为了弄清楚是友谊导致气味相似，还是气味相似导致友谊，Ravreby博士、Snitz博士和Sobel博士研究了电子鼻测量是否可以预测陌生人之间的积极互动--这种“点击”通常是新友谊的基础。

To this end they gathered another 17 volunteers, gave them t-shirts to wear to collect their body odours, ran those odours past the e-nose, and then asked the participants to play a game.

为此，他们召集了另外17名志愿者，给他们穿上收集体味的t恤，让这些体味通过电子鼻，然后让参与者玩一个游戏。

That game involved silently mirroring another individual’s hand movements.

这个游戏包括默默地模仿另一个人的手部动作。

Participants were paired up at random³ and their reactions recorded.

参与者被随机配对，并记录他们的反应。

After each interaction, they demonstrated how close they felt to their fellow gamer by overlapping⁵ two circles (one representing themselves, the other their partner) on a screen.

每次互动后，他们通过在屏幕上重叠两个圆圈(一个代表他们自己，另一个代表他们的伙伴)来展示他们与其他游戏玩家的亲密度。

The more similar the two electronic smell signatures were, the greater the overlap⁴.

两个电子气味特征越相似，重叠就越大。

Participants also rated the quality of their interaction in the game along 12 subjective⁶ dimensions of feelings that define friendship.

参与者还根据定义友谊的12个主观感受维度，对他们在游戏中的互动质量进行了评级。

Similar odours corresponded to positive ratings for nine of these dimensions.

类似的气味对应着其中九个维度的正面评分。

Intriguingly⁷, however, two participants smelling alike did not mean they were any more accurate at the mirroring game than others, as measured by a hidden camera.

然而，有趣的是，通过隐藏摄像头的数据，两名气味相似的参与者并不意味着他们在镜像游戏中比其他人更准确。

Why scent might play a role in forming friendships remains⁸ obscure.

为什么气味可能会在建立友谊中发挥作用，目前还不清楚。

Other qualities correlated with being friends, including age, appearance, education, religion and race, are either immediately obvious or rapidly become so.

与成为朋友相关的其他品质，包括年龄、外貌、教育、宗教和种族，要么马上就会明显，要么很快就会变得明显。

But while some individuals have strong and noticeable body odour, many -- at least since the use of soap has become widespread -- do not.

但是，虽然有些人有强烈而明显的体味，但许多人--至少自从肥皂的使用变得普遍以来--没有。

It is present.

它是存在的。

But it is subliminal⁹.

但这是潜意识的。

Dr Ravreby speculates that there may be “an evolutionary¹⁰ advantage in having friends that are genetically¹² similar to us”.

Ravreby博士推测，“拥有与我们基因相似的朋友可能是一种进化优势”。

Body odour is known to be linked with genetic¹¹ make-up (particularly with the genes¹³ underlying¹⁴ part of the immune system called the major histocompatibility complex).

众所周知，体味与遗传构成有关(特别是与免疫系统中被称为主要组织相容性复合体的潜在基因)。

Smelling others may thus allow subconscious¹⁵ inferences about genetic similarity to be drawn¹⁶.

因此，通过闻别人的气味可以得出关于基因相似性的潜意识推断。

That still, however, does not quite answer the question.

不过，这仍然没有完全回答这个问题。

Dr Ravreby speculates that odour-matching of this sort may be an extended form of kin² selection, which spreads an individual’s genes collaterally¹⁷, by helping¹⁸ the reproduction of relatives who are likely to share them.

Ravreby博士推测，这种气味匹配可能是亲缘选择的一种延伸形式，它通过帮助可能共享基因的亲缘去繁殖，来间接传播个体的基因。

If those who smell similar are kin enough for this to apply, their children will be as well.

如果那些气味相似的人有足够的亲缘关系，他们的孩子也是这样。

“So by helping friends,” Dr Ravreby offers, “we help spread our own genes.”

“因此，通过帮助朋友，”Ravreby博士说，“我们帮忙传播我们自己的基因。”

1 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

2 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

3 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

4 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

5 overlapping   

adj./n.交迭（的）

参考例句：

• There is no overlapping question between the two courses. 这两门课程之间不存在重叠的问题。
• A trimetrogon strip is composed of three rows of overlapping. 三镜头摄影航线为三排重迭的象片所组成。

6 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

7 intriguingly   

参考例句：

• Intriguingly, she gave to the music a developed although oddly malleable personality. 最神奇的是，她的音乐具有成熟却又很奇怪地极富可塑性。 来自互联网
• Intriguingly, the patients brains were riddled with tangles, but not amyloid plaques. 有趣的是，患者的大脑中充满了各缠结，但并没有粉斑。 来自互联网

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 subliminal   

adj.下意识的，潜意识的；太弱或太快以至于难以觉察的

参考例句：

• Maybe they're getting it on a subliminal level.也许他们会在潜意识里这么以为。
• The soft sell approach gets to consumers in a subliminal way.软广告通过潜意识的作用来影响消费者。

10 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

11 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

12 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

13 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

14 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

15 subconscious   

n./adj.潜意识(的)，下意识(的)

参考例句：

• Nail biting is often a subconscious reaction to tension.咬指甲通常是紧张时的下意识反映。
• My answer seemed to come from the subconscious.我的回答似乎出自下意识。

16 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

17 collaterally   

担保物； 旁系亲属

参考例句：

• I would rather loan a million dollars on character than on any other collateral in the world. 我若借出100万元，宁愿让别人用人格，而不是别的抵押品作担保。
• Res judicata and collateral estoppel may also limit an agency's discretion. 已决事件和间接禁止翻供的事实恐怕也限制机关的自由裁量权。

18 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。