今年相亲类节目(可翻为blind date reality show)特别火，下面这篇来自于2008年1月刊“Economist”的文章阐述的正好是男女相互吸引、寻找伴侣的文章，非常契合这个大势，所以大家可以作为考研阅读素材，也可以适当背诵其中一些好的句子用于英语写作。加油!

　　How to find a mate

　　如何寻找伴侣

　　The scent of a woman (and a man)

　　男人与女人的体味

　　Jan 10th 2008

　　From The Economist print edition

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

　　一种新型的婚介所借助人的体味来为人们搭线

　　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为什么特殊的人之间会相互迷恋，而他们理应相互吸引的却毫无感觉，其中一个回答就是人类的意识，因此人们认为他们被幻觉所控制。不管会有其他的感觉，据说美丽会迷惑人们的双眼。然而，拥有数亿元资产的香水产业也证明，美丽也同样被嗅觉左右。

　　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月在波斯顿发布的ScientificMatch.com被建造去将这种观察力转换为钱。他的创建者，一位名叫艾瑞克•霍尔兹的工程师(一位坦诚的系列约会者)，正在利用数十年前由瑞士伯尔尼大学的调查员克罗斯整理的一项调查。

　　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闻男人穿了三天的T恤衫，以此来评估他们的吸引力，进而分析男人与女人的DNA，尤其是看组成一部分免疫系统的基因，即我们所熟知的主要组织相容性复合体免疫。从老鼠的研究中Wedekind先生得知，排除传染，MHC在性别吸引中扮演了一个重要的角色。

　　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.

　　确实如此。女人们更喜欢与她们的MHC差异很大的男性T恤衫。更重要的是，MCH相似的女性喜欢用相同品牌的香水。正如一个更为传统的体味美学观点所建议的一样，香水的角色应该是体现皮肤下的气味也不是遮盖住他。

　　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.

　　那也更容易让人理解。一个有着广泛MHC基因的孩子，免疫反应将会更好的预防疾病。正如上篇所说那样，MHC在人类这样需要合作与群居生活的生物中就显得尤为重要。而且，比较MHC可以取代比较血缘关系，从而有助于近亲结合。

　　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.