經典:愛情遊戲中的8個絕對吸引法則

Symmetry equals sex
　　Starting at conception, the human body develops by neatly splitting cells. If every division were to go perfectly, the result would be a baby whose left and right sides are mirror images. But nature doesn't work that way. Genetic mutations and environmental pressures skew symmetry, and the results have lifelong implications.
　Good symmetry shows that an individual has the genetic goods to survive development, is healthy, and is a good and fertile choice for mating.
　　對稱=性感
從受精那一刻開始，人的身體就是通過規則的細胞發展起來的。如果每次的都非常完美，那結果將是一個人身體的左邊和右邊就是彼此的鏡像。不過自然並不是這麼運作的。基因突變和環境壓力破壞了這種對稱性，而結果將有終生的影響。
很好的對稱性說明這個人有良好的基因來支持他的生存發展，說明健康，同時也說明是一個能生養的好配偶。

Those hips
Body shape is of course important, too. And scientists have some numbers to prove it. Psychologist Devendra Singh of the University of Texas studied people's waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).
　　Women with a WHR of 0.7—indicating a waist significantly narrower than the hips—are most desirable to men.

臀腰比例
體型當然也很重要。科學家們已經用一些數字證實了這點。德克薩斯大學的心理學家Devendra Singh研究的就是腰-臀比例(WHR)。
　WHR爲0.7的女性，也就是腰明顯比臀細的女性最受男性歡迎。

Face it
　The structure of a person's face also gives insight to fertility.
　Estrogen caps bone growth in a woman's lower face and chin, making them relatively small and short, as well as the brow, allowing for her eyes to appear prominent, Thornhill explained. Men's faces are shaped by testosterone, which helps develop a larger lower face and jaw and a prominent brow.
　　Men and women possessing these traits are seen as attractive, Thornhill said, because they advertise reproductive health.
　　看得到
　　臉的結構也可以提供生育能力的一些信號。
　　雌性激素會抑制女性臉部下方和臉頰的骨骼生長，使得這兩個部位相對較小、較短，額頭部位也是如此，讓她的眼睛更深邃。而男性的面孔則受到雄性激素的作用，幫助臉部下方和下巴的骨骼發育，並長出更突出的額頭。
　　有這樣特徵的男女看起來更吸引人，Thornhill說，因爲他們宣告着生殖健康。

Sniff this
　Research reported last month found women both smell and look more attractive to men at certain times of the month.
　　And symmetrical men smell better.
　　Borrowing sweaty undershirts from a variety of men, Thornhill offered the shirts to the noses of women, asking for their impressions of the scents. Hands down, the women found the scent of a symmetrical man to be more attractive and desirable, especially if the woman was menstruating.
　　聞得到
　　最近的研究指出，女性在一個月中的特定時間聞起來、看起來更吸引人。
　　對稱的男人圍起來更好。
　　Thornhill收集了很多男人汗淋淋的襯衫，並讓女人用嗅覺感覺判斷對哪個男人印象更深。和前面的一樣，那些對稱男性的期爲聞起來更有吸引力、更誘人。尤其如果女人正處於月經期。

Animal attraction
　Pheromones clearly act as sexual attractants in the animal world. Older male elephants, for example, exude sexual prowess with a mix of chemicals the younger bulls can't muster.
　　Milos Novotny of the Institute of Pheromone Research at Indiana University has shown that special molecules produced by male mice can simultaneously attract females and repel, and even anger, rival males. Other studies have found similar responses throughout the animal kingdom.
　　動物間的吸引
　　信息素在動物世界裏是種致命吸引物。比如，年長的公象就會分泌一種混合了多種化學物質的汗液，這是年輕的公象可望不可即的。
　　印第安那大學信息素研究所的Milos Novotny發現，雄性老鼠分泌的一種特殊的物質可以馬上吸引雌性，同事擊退、甚至激怒其他的雄性。其他的研究也發現，在整個動物界中都存在這類似的現象。

Sex goes visual
　　Pheromones, like other scents, hitch a ride through the air on other particles, such as water droplets. They generally hover just 10 inches off the ground, however. So odds are slim they'll waft up to a human nose and fuel sudden passion at a nightclub.
　　Watch any construction worker whistling at a passing woman from half a block away, and you can see how visual cues can be more powerful.　
　　視覺吸引
　　信息素就和其他味道一樣，需要通過通過空氣中的其他微粒進行傳播，比如水蒸氣。不過它們只在距地面10英寸左右的地方存在。所以但夜總會裏，這些氣味能夠進入鼻子裏、並馬上點着激情的機會並不大。
　相反的，如果你見過建築工人們在女人從老遠走過來就大吹口哨的話，你就明白視覺的信息是多麼強大。

Lasting relationships
　　The rules of attraction might drive our initial decisions, for better or worse. But lasting relationships are about much more than what we see and smell.
　　Behavior plays a key role, with biology an intriguing contributing factor.
　　One of the oldest theories about attraction is that like begets like. It explains that eerie perception that married couples sometimes look awfully similar.　
　　長久的關係
　　人與人之間的吸引規律可能最促使我們做出最初的決定，不論決定是好還是壞。但是維持一段關係就遠不是光看或者聞聞就夠了。
　行爲起到了重要的作用，這其中生理原因發生了複雜的影響。
　　有一條很古老的吸引規律是，已婚的夫妻看起來出去的相似。在2005年，西安大略州大學的心理學家Philippe Rushtopn研究了人類基因之間的關係，根據一系列有遺傳性的人格特徵，他發現，擁有相似的基因在朋友關係或選擇配偶中起到了34%的作用。

True love
　　Somewhere amid attraction and sex, we all hope, are strong feelings of love. But which of all the motivations really drives us?
　Interestingly, brain scans in people who'd recently fallen in love reveal more activity related to love than sex. "Romantic love is one of the most powerful of all human experiences," says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University. "It is definitely more powerful than the sex drive."
　The rules of attraction make up a pretty long list. No scientist knows the order of the list. But near the top is perhaps one of the toughest characteristics to gauge in advance in the search for the perfect partner.　
　　真愛？
　　不論是吸引還是性愛，我們都希望是源於濃濃愛意。不過到底是那個動機最終促使我們行動呢？　　有趣的是，對那些才墜入愛河的人進行的腦部掃描發現，和愛有關的活動比和性有關的更多。“浪漫的愛情是在人類所有的體驗中最強烈的一種。”羅特格斯大學的人類學家Helen Fisher說，“它絕對比性衝動要強烈得多。”
　我們可以列出一長串的吸引法則。沒有人知道哪個更爲重要。不過名列前茅的應該是那些尋找完美伴侶時所提出的要求。