爱思英语编者按：自古就有“窈窕淑女，君子好逑”的诗句。不少女性都抱怨男性们的目光太多情(amorous)，很多男性也被贴上“看重外表太肤浅”的标签。但国外最新研究发现，这样的评价有欠公允，男性这种择偶的速食主义实源于基因演化。
 

 
男人们常常因为女孩的美貌而瞬间坠入爱河，因此常常被批评称太过肤浅。
Men who fall instantly for a girl just because she looks gorgeous are usually accused of being shallow.

但科学家们表示这并不公平。男性之所以能在一瞬之间就判定对方是否为伴侣的人选，是因为他们的“古老基因”偏好漂亮女人。
But that, say scientists, is unfair. They are merely following their 'ancient' genetic preference to date pretty women and need only milliseconds to decide on a potential partner.

研究者称，男人们之所以喜欢漂亮面孔是由于标致的脸蛋是生育能力的象征；而出于生存本能，他们会选择那些能够为自己传宗接代的女人。
Men go for a pretty face because it is a sign of fertility and the survival instinct draws them to women who can carry on their line, researchers say.

科学家们表示，实验结果一目了然：男人们被批评过于肤浅的行为只是追随长期以来的生存本能。
All in the eyes: Men accused of being superficial are just following long-held survival instincts, say scientists.

相对而言，女性不会凭借外表来判断对方是否为合适伴侣。
Women, on the other hand, do not decide whether men will be a good partner on looks.

她们的生存本能则意味着她们需要判断对方忠诚与否，人品如何，以及是否具备养家糊口的能力。
Their survival instinct means they need to find out whether the man is committed, has a good personality and is a good provider.

该发现来自于阿姆斯特丹大学的马克•范•伍格特教授与乔安娜•范•胡芙博士，以及肯特大学博士后海伦•克劳福共同进行的一项研究。
The findings come from a study by Professor Mark van Vugt and Dr Johanna van Hooff of the University of Amsterdam, and postgraduate student Helen Crawford from the University of Kent.

他们对男性女性各20人进行研究，借此检测人们对于外貌的偏好。
They examined humans' bias towards looks by conducting a series of tests on 20 women and 20 men.

参与实验者被连接到一台可以记录大脑活动的机器上，接下来他们要完成特定任务。
The subjects were hooked up to a machine which recorded brain activity and were then given a task to perform.

受测者在进行这些实验的同时，要观赏一系列异性脸部照片，美丑兼具。 While they were doing the task they were shown a series of photographs of faces of the opposite sex, ranging from attractive to ugly.

男性们看到美女照片时很容易分心，女性则专注如故。
Men were easily distracted when they saw a pretty face but women stuck to the task.

范•伍格特教授表示当男性看到吸引自己的面孔时，他们便会做出快速判断。
Professor van Vugt said that when men saw a face they were attracted to they made a snap judgment.

他说：“可以确定的是男性的目光最不安分，但这是因为他们通过进化更为关注生育能力的体现，而其中之一就是面容的美丽程度。这并非代表他们肤浅。”
'Men definitely have the most wandering eye but it is because they have evolved to pay attention to cues of fertility and one of those cues is facial beauty - it's not that men are shallow,' he said.更多信息请访问：http://www.engbus.cn/

“但我们发现他们确实能在瞬间就对女性做出判断，远超出我们的预想。男性自然能发现那张对自己极具吸引力的漂亮面孔，但他们能在千分之几秒内就确定该女子是否为合适的求偶对象。”
'But we found they do make snap judgments about women much earlier than was previously thought. Of course men find a pretty face attractive but they make that decision on whether a woman would be a good mating partner in milliseconds.'

范•伍格特教授补充说，研究结果显示“窈窕淑女，君子好逑”部分源于进化。他说：“这一行为由来已久，能帮助男性找到最佳配偶来生儿育女。”
The professor added that the findings showed that men's desire for beautiful women was part of evolution. 'This is something very ancient and a way of helping men find the best mate to produce children,' he said.

他表示：“女人不易受有吸引力的男性面孔干扰，这是因为她们需要更多证据来确定对方是一个好伴侣。她们做决定的速度要远远慢于男性。” 'Women were not distracted by attractive male faces because women need more proof of whether a man is a good mate,' he said. 'They make their decision much later than men.'

相关词汇

bias 偏爱
 
committed 忠诚的
 
cue 暗示, 暗号, 指示
 
fertility 生育能力
 
gorgeous 非常漂亮的，华美的
 
millisecond 毫秒
 
shallow 肤浅的
 
superficial 肤浅的, 浅薄的