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    今年相親類節目（可翻為blind date reality show）特別火，下面這篇來自于2008年1月刊“Economist”的文章闡述的正好是男女相互吸引、尋找伴侶的文章，非常契合這個大勢，所以大家可以作為考研閱讀素材，也可以適當背誦其中一些好的句子用于英語寫作。加油！

    How to find a mate

    如何尋找伴侶

    The scent of a woman （and a man）

    男人與女人的體味

    Jan 10th 2008

    From The Economist print edition

    A new kind of dating agency relies on matching people by their body odour

    一種新型的婚介所借助人的體味來為人們搭線

    ONE of life's little mysteries is why particular people fancy each other—or， rather， why they do not when on paper they ought to. One answer is that human consciousness， and thus human thought， is dominated by vision. Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder， regardless of the other senses. However， as the multi-billion-dollar perfume industry attests， beauty is in the nose of the beholder， too.

    生命中非常神秘的一件事就是為什么特殊的人之間會相互迷戀，而他們理應相互吸引的卻毫無感覺，其中一個回答就是人類的意識，因此人們認為他們被幻覺所控制。不管會有其他的感覺，據說美麗會迷惑人們的雙眼。然而，擁有數億元資產的香水產業也證明，美麗也同樣被嗅覺左右。

    ScientificMatch.com， a Boston-based internet-dating site launched in December， was created to turn this insight into money. Its founder， an engineer （and self-confessed serial dater） called Eric Holzle is drawing on an observation made over a decade ago by Claus Wedekind， a researcher at the University of Bern， in Switzerland.

    于12月在波斯頓發布的ScientificMatch.com被建造去將這種觀察力轉換為錢。他的創建者，一位名叫艾瑞克？霍爾茲的工程師（一位坦誠的系列約會者），正在利用數十年前由瑞士伯爾尼大學的調查員克羅斯整理的一項調查。

    In his original study Dr Wedekind recruited female volunteers to sniff men's three-day-old T-shirts and rate them for attractiveness. He then analysed the men's and women's DNA， looking in particular at the genes that build a part of the immune system known as the major histocompatability complex （MHC）。 Dr Wedekind knew， from studies on mice， that besides fending off infection， the MHC has a role in sexual attractiveness. It changes odours in ways the mice can detect （with mice， the odours are in the urine）， and that detection is translated into preferences for particular mates. What is true for mice is often true for men， so he had a punt on the idea that the MHC might affect the smell of human sweat， as well.

    研究初期，Wedekind先生招集了一些女性志愿者去聞男人穿了三天的T恤衫，以此來評估他們的吸引力，進而分析男人與女人的DNA，尤其是看組成一部分免疫系統的基因，即我們所熟知的主要組織相容性復合體免疫。從老鼠的研究中Wedekind先生得知，排除傳染，MHC在性別吸引中扮演了一個重要的角色。

    It did. Women preferred T-shirts from men whose MHC was most different from their own. What was more， women with similar MHCs favoured the use of similar commercial perfumes. This suggests that the role of such perfumes may be to flag up the underlying body scent rather than mask it， as a more traditional view of the aesthetics of body odour might suggest.

    確實如此。女人們更喜歡與她們的MHC差異很大的男性T恤衫。更重要的是，MCH相似的女性喜歡用相同品牌的香水。正如一個更為傳統的體味美學觀點所建議的一樣，香水的角色應該是體現皮膚下的氣味也不是遮蓋住他。

    That makes evolutionary sense. The children of couples with a wide range of MHC genes， and thus of immune responses， will be better protected from disease. As the previous article suggests， that could be particularly important in a collaborative， group-living species such as humanity. Moreover， comparing MHCs could be a proxy for comparing kinship， and thus help to prevent inbreeding.

    那也更容易讓人理解。一個有著廣泛MHC基因的孩子，免疫反應將會更好的預防疾病。正如上篇所說那樣，MHC在人類這樣需要合作與群居生活的生物中就顯得尤為重要。而且，比較MHC可以取代比較血緣關系，從而有助于近親結合。

    The promise of an MHC-based match is not only that your partner's old laundry will smell better but all sorts of other benefits too. The biological compatibility created by complementary immune systems apparently promises better orgasms， a lower likelihood of cuckoldry， more happiness and so on. Nor are heterosexuals the only ones who can benefit. Gay men and women respond as strongly to MHC-derived smells as straight people do—though， as might be expected， their response is to the smell of people of the same sex， rather than the opposite one.

    Indeed， the only people for whom MHC matching might not be expected to work are women on the Pill. Chemical contraception， which mimics pregnancy， messes up the system because of an intriguing twist. When women are pregnant， they prefer the smell of MHCs that are similar to their own. This means they are happier in the company of their relatives， which may， as the previous article also suggests， bring evolutionary benefits of its own.

    ScientificMatch.com does not rely entirely on the MHC. Besides sending off a swab taken from the inside of their cheek and a cheque for $1，995， hopeful singles have to answer the usual questionnaire about income， background and details such as whether they would prefer a skiing holiday to one spent sketching. They are not， however， asked whether they wear their T-shirts for three days on the trot.