经济学人:优化浪漫 恋爱中的经济学(下)

 　　The best matching markets are those that are “thick”, with lots of participants.

　　最好的配对市场是“厚”市场，即有着大量参与者的市场。

　　The more people there are seeking digital dates, the greater the chance of finding a good match.

　　寻求数字配对的人越多，找到一个好伴侣的机会就越大。

　　Odds¹ improve that another person in the crowd also enjoys Wagner, Thai food, or discussions about the economics of matching markets.

　　这种概率会在人海中的另一个人也喜欢瓦格纳、泰国食物或是关于配对市场的经济学讨论时大幅提升。

　　The wealth of information many dating sites request may help to home in on the perfect match, but if the effort involved is enough to deter² potential mates from joining in the first place, then it does more harm than good.

　　许多约会网站所要求的信息财富可能有助于促成完美的配对。但是倘若涉及的尝试多到足以从一开始就把潜在的约会对象吓跑的话，这种设计就是弊大于利了。

　　When Tinder first launched, largely to facilitate casual sex, users assessed one another based only on looks, age and gender³.

　　Tinder最初上线时主要是为了方便随意的性行为，用户之间的评估只是基于外貌、年龄和性别。

　　Simplicity⁴ worked wonders; there are 26m matches made between Tinder users each day.

　　简单带来了奇迹；Tinder用户每天达成的配对有2600万之多。

　　The advantages of thick markets are lost, however, if they become too “congested”, with users overwhelmed by the number of participants and unable to locate a good match among them.

　　然而，如果变得过于“拥挤”，厚市场的优势就会消失，用户会被参与者的数量吓跑，并且无法在参与者当中定位到一个好的伙伴。

　　One response is to specialise.

　　一种应对之策就是专业化。

　　JSwipe, for instance, caters⁵ to Jewish singles while Bumble, an app where women must initiate⁶ contact, is meant to attract feminists⁷.

　　例如，JSwipe就是专门为单身犹太人量身定制的，而女性必须主动发起联系的Bumble则是一个意在吸引女权人士的app。

　　But the most popular apps seek to help their users filter possible mates using clever technology.

　　但是，大多数受欢迎的app都在设法运用聪明的技术帮助用户去筛选潜在的伙伴。

　　Tinder, for example, only provides users with profiles of fellow Tinderites who are nearby, to make it that much easier to meet in person.

　　例如，Tinder只提供给用户邻近用户的简历，以便让见面变得更容易。

　　It has also introduced a “super like” feature, which can be deployed⁸ only once a day, to allow smitten⁹ users to signal heightened interest in someone.

　　它还引入了一个一天只能使用一次的“真爱”选项，以允许被倾倒的用户表达对某人的高度兴趣。

　　In addition, last year it started allowing people to list their jobs and education, to help users to sort through the crowds.

　　除此之外，它还从去年开始允许人们贴出自己的工作和学历，以帮助用户在茫茫人海中搜寻。

　　Users get the benefits both of a big pool of potential partners and various tools to winnow¹⁰ them.

　　用户的收获是一大群潜在的伴侣和各种各样把他们筛选出来的工具的双重好处。

　　The emergence¹¹ of matching apps, for those seeking love or theatre tickets or a lift, has certainly made once-onerous tasks more convenient.

　　针对寻找真爱、搜寻门票或者是设法拼车之人的配对app的出现，的确让曾经耗时费力的任务变得方便了。

　　They may also contribute to more profound economic change.

　　它们或许还会促成更为深远的经济变革。

　　Dating apps could strengthen the trend toward “assortative mating”, whereby people choose to couple with those of similar income and skills.

　　婚配app可能强化了婚姻向“选择性婚配”发展的趋势，让人们借以选择与有着相同收入和技能的人结婚成家。

　　By one estimate, the trend accounts for about 18% of the rise in income inequality in America between 1960 and 2005.

　　据估算，这种趋势在美国的收入不平等于1960年至2005年间的上升中的占比约为18%。

　　A recent study of online dating in South Korea found that it boosted sorting among couples by education.

　　对南韩网上约会的一项最新研究发现，它刺激了根据学历寻找另一半的行为。

　　Better matching may also mean bigger cities.

　　更好的配对也许还意味着更大的城市。

　　Metropolitan¹² goliaths have long been melting-pots, within which those early on in their adult lives link up with jobs, friends and mates.

　　长期以来，大都市就是一个大熔炉，生活在其中的刚踏入成年人生活的人都是通过工作、朋友和伴侣联系在一起的。

　　Matching apps, romantic or not, make it easier to navigate¹³ the urban sprawl¹⁴ and sample all it has to offer.

　　配对app，不管浪漫与否都能让人们更容易地穿行于城市的各个角落之间，并且能更容易地从其必然会提供的各种机会中找到自己想要的。

　　That, in turn, should make the biggest cities relatively¹⁵ more attractive to young people.

　　这相应地也应当让大城市变得对年轻人更具吸引力。

　　Apps cannot yet make break-ups less painful.

　　然而，app不可能减少分手的痛苦。

　　And love remains¹⁶ mysterious enough that even the most refined algorithms cannot predict mutual¹⁷ attraction with confidence.

　　而且爱情的神秘依旧足以让纵然是经过千百次修改的算法也不可能以信心十足地预测相互之间的吸引。

　　But they clearly help, judging by their legions of users.

　　但是，从这些用户大军来判断，它们肯定是起作用的。

　　After all, it is better to have super-liked and lost than never to have super-liked at all.

　　毕竟，有真爱并且迷失于真爱，怎么说都好于压根没有真爱。

　　1.break-ups 关系破裂

　　例句:All marriage break-ups are traumatic.

　　所有的婚姻破裂都是痛苦而难忘的。

　　2.mutual attraction 相互吸引

　　例句:Now, openly they accepted the mutual attraction they felt for each other.

　　现在，他们接受公开的相互吸引，他们彼此感受。

　　3.in turn 转而；轮流

　　例句:The girls took it in turn to wipe down the tables after meals

　　女孩子们饭后轮流擦桌子。

　　4.in the first place 首先；起初

　　例句:I don't think we should have been there in the first place.

　　我认为我们从一开始就不该在那儿。

1 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

2 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

5 caters   

提供饮食及服务( cater的第三人称单数 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• That shop caters exclusively to the weaker sex. 那家商店专供妇女需要的商品。
• The boutique caters for a rather select clientele. 这家精品店为特定的顾客群服务。

6 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。

7 feminists   

n.男女平等主义者，女权扩张论者( feminist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Only 16 percent of young women in a 1990 survey considered themselves feminists. 在1990年的一项调查中，只有16%的年轻女性认为自己是女权主义者。 来自辞典例句
• The organization had many enemies, most notably among feminists. 这个组织有许多敌人，特别是在男女平等主义者中。 来自辞典例句

8 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

9 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

10 winnow   

v．把（谷物）的杂质吹掉，扬去

参考例句：

• You should winnow out the inaccuracies of this paper this afternoon.你今天下午把这篇文章中不精确的内容删掉。
• We should winnow out the errors in logic.我们应该排除逻辑中的错误。

11 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

12 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

13 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

14 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

15 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

16 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。

17 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。