爱情的科学(The science of love)－我觉得你真带劲儿

I get a kick out of you / 我觉得你真带劲儿

 
Scientists are finding that, after all, love really is down to a chemical addiction¹ between people

科学家们发现爱情确实是人与人之间的一种化学成瘾现象。

OVER the course of history it has been artists, poets and playwrights² who have made the greatest progress in humanity's understanding of love. Romance has seemed as inexplicable³ as the beauty of a rainbow. But these days scientists are challenging that notion, and they have rather a lot to say about how and why people love each other.

在漫长的历史长河中，艺术家、诗人和剧作家在人类对于爱的理解上做出了巨大成就。古往今来，爱的浪漫被视为霓虹，美得难以言状。而最近，科学家们却向这种观念发出了挑战，并且对恋人们如何与为什么相爱做出许多新的解释。

Is this useful? The scientists think so. For a start, understanding the neurochemical pathways that regulate social attachments⁴ may help to deal with defects in people's ability to form relationships. All relationships, whether they are those of parents with their children, spouses⁵ with their partners, or workers with their colleagues, rely on an ability to create and maintain social ties. Defects can be disabling, and become apparent as disorders⁶ such as autism and schizophrenia—and, indeed, as the serious depression that can result from rejection⁷ in love. Research is also shedding light on some of the more extreme forms of sexual behaviour. And, controversially, some utopian fringe groups see such work as the doorway⁸ to a future where love is guaranteed because it will be provided chemically, or even genetically⁹ engineered from conception.

这真的有用吗？科学家们确实如是考虑。首先，让我们先来了解一下可调节社会附属关系的神经化学路径, 这有助于我们解决某些缺乏建立人际能力人群的问题。对于所有关系而言——无论是父母与子女间的亲情关系、夫妻间的婚姻关系，还是同事间的伙伴关系，全都依赖于一种建立并保持社会性纽带的能力。这种能力的缺损可使个人丧失行为能力并导致明显的心理紊乱，如自闭症和精神分裂症，正如将恋爱拒之门外可导致严重的沮丧一样。研究者们同样把目光投向了若干形式更为极端的性行为。有争议的是, 一些理想化且处于前沿领域的团体视该项工作为通向未来的一道大门。那时爱情将不会有任何风险，因为源于这个概念的化学或基因工程便可能将其变为现实。

The scientific tale of love begins innocently enough, with voles. The prairie vole is a sociable¹⁰ creature, one of the only 3% of mammal species that appear to form monogamous relationships. Mating between prairie voles is a tremendous 24-hour effort. After this, they bond for life. They prefer to spend time with each other, groom¹¹ each other for hours on end and nest together. They avoid meeting other potential mates. The male becomes an aggressive guard of the female. And when their pups are born, they become affectionate and attentive¹² parents. However, another vole, a close relative called the montane vole, has no interest in partnership¹³ beyond one-night-stand sex. What is intriguing¹⁴ is that these vast differences in behaviour are the result of a mere¹⁵ handful of genes¹⁶. The two vole species are more than 99% alike, genetically.

关于爱情的科学传说非常无辜地始于田鼠。草原田鼠作为一种社会性生物，它是仅存3%的“一夫一妻制”哺乳动物中的一类。对“恋爱”中的草原田鼠来说，交配是一项耗时24小时的宏伟工程。一旦“结婚”，小俩口便终生相伴，直到天荒地老。“夫妻俩”宁愿在一起共度时光，为彼此梳理毛发，同筑爱巢也不去搞“婚外恋”。平时，“丈夫”是“妻子”好斗的“护花使者”，而幼崽一旦出生，它们又即刻成为挚爱并专一的父母。然而，另一种被称作山区田鼠的，作为草原田鼠近亲，除了一夜情之外，它们对稳定的伴侣关系毫无兴趣。令人不解的是这些行为中的巨大差异却仅仅源于一小撮基因。如就基因而言，这两个物种超过99％的部分绝无二致。

1 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

2 playwrights   

n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We're studying dramatic texts by sixteenth century playwrights. 我们正在研究16 世纪戏剧作家的戏剧文本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hung-chien asked who the playwrights were. 鸿渐问谁写的剧本。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

3 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

4 attachments   

n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物

参考例句：

• The vacuum cleaner has four different attachments. 吸尘器有四个不同的附件。
• It's an electric drill with a range of different attachments. 这是一个带有各种配件的电钻。

5 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

6 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

8 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

9 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

10 sociable   

adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的

参考例句：

• Roger is a very sociable person.罗杰是个非常好交际的人。
• Some children have more sociable personalities than others.有些孩子比其他孩子更善于交际。

11 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

12 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

13 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

14 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

16 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