是什么让美如此有吸引力

What Makes Beauty So Appealing? 是什么让美如此有吸引力

Every year the entertainment magazine People publishes a list of who it considers the most beautiful people in the world.

How do the editors choose from the 7 billion people on Earth? What makes a person beautiful or ugly?

In the case of People, there is one major factor that comes above all others. What selections will generate the most interest among readers? More readers mean more money for the magazine.

This year the magazine named Sandra Bullock the most beautiful person in the world. Many people would agree that she is good looking. However, those same people are likely to differ about how good looking Bullock is.

But why do some people find Sandra Bullock gorgeous and others think she is just attractive?

A new study suggests that what a person finds good-looking in another person is shaped by the observer’s environment and experiences.  

Beauty, say experts, is very individual. While Bullock is undeniably good-looking, not everyone agrees to what extent.

Laura Germine is a researcher in psychiatric genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She co-led the study, published in the journal Current Biology. Over 35,000 people took part by rating the faces of people in photographs posted on the website TestMyBrain.org.

Ms. Germine said the research centered on the individual judgments² of face attractiveness that differ from each other.

"So I think most people agree, for example, that Brad Pitt is better looking than, say, [American presidential candidate] Donald Trump³. But when it comes to Brad Pitt versus⁴ [actor] George Clooney versus [actor] Ryan Gosling, then reasonable people might disagree."

The scientists got a good idea of the uniqueness of individual face preferences from examining the choices made by the online group.

Then the researchers turned to twins. They included 550 sets of identical twins and 214 pairs of same sex, non-identical twins. The two groups of twins rated faces for attractiveness.

Identical twins share 100 percent of their genetic¹ material. Non-identical twins do not. So, the scientists expected that the identical twins would share an identical face preference. The scientists also thought the fraternal twins’ preferences would be more diverse like the general population.

In fact, the preference for beautiful — or dislike of average — faces agreed only about 50 percent of the time. The findings suggest that environmental experiences have as much influence on people's idea of beauty as genetics.

“So it could be that if a person has a relationship, a romantic or friend relationship, with someone they are very close to and they think of very positively⁵, the characteristics of that person’s face will then seem more attractive to them even on other people."

In other words, beauty appears very much to be in the eye of the beholder⁶.

Words in This Story

attractive - adj. having a pleasing appearance

preference - n. a feeling of liking⁷ or wanting one person or thing more than another person or thing

unique - adj. used to say that something or someone is unlike anything or anyone else

beauty is in the eye of the beholder - expression  judgment on what is beautiful is personal, not objective

1 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。

2 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

6 beholder   

n.观看者，旁观者

参考例句：

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 看起来觉得美就是美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. 有人说艺术是一种幽会，因为艺术家和欣赏者可在幽会的乐趣中相遇在一起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。