译者按：那些想通过喷香水来吸引异性的人可能要失望了。本文给出的最新研究告诉我们并不存在着“性吸引费洛蒙”这种化学物质。不过，即使知道了这种反直觉的事实也不会阻止人们继续购买香水吧。毕竟，希望（心理安慰）总还是要有的。
本文译自《经济学人》3月11日刊

费洛蒙只存在于想象中

Sexual attractiveness

My chemical romance

我的化学罗曼史

Two putative human sex pheromones turn out not to be
两种假定的人类性费洛蒙（信息素）结果证明并不是

1. FOR several decades biologists have pondered the question of whether men and women produce pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical signal from one animal to another. Often, though not always, such chemicals indicate sexual availability—and when it comes to human mating signals in particular, those looking into the matter have a couple of specific molecules in mind.

1）几十年来，生物学家一直在思考男人和女人是否会制造信息素的问题。信息素是从一个动物传递到另一个动物的化学信号。通常，虽然并不总是这样，这样的化学物质表明了性的可获得性——并且特别是当涉及人类交配信号时，那些研究这件事的人总会想到一些特定的​​分子。

2. Androstadienone (AND) and estratetraenol (EST) are derived, respectively, from male and female hormones and are exuded in sweat. The idea that they are pheromonal is thus worth investigating. The results of such investigations as have been made so far, though, are contradictory. Some experiments have found that these molecules make opposite-sex faces, or photographs thereof, appear more attractive to heterosexual volunteers. Others discern no such effect.

thereof: relating to something that has just been mentioned

2）雄烯二烯酮（AND）和雌四烯醇（EST）分别源自雄性和雌性激素，并且在汗液中渗出。因此，它们有信息素的性质这个想法是值得研究的。然而，迄今为止进行的这类调查的结果是矛盾的。一些实验已经发现这些分子使异性面部或其照片对异性恋志愿者显得更有吸引力。其他实验则没有观察到这样的效果。

3. Unfortunately, most of these studies were done with groups of volunteers too small for clear conclusions to be drawn, or using less-than-rigorous experimental methods. (That has not stopped businesses taking up the idea: several brands of “pheromone perfume” based on EST and, especially, AND are available for hopeful Romeos and Juliets) To try to clear up the confusion, a group of researchers led by Robin Hare of the University of Western Australia have performed one of the most stringent studies to date. They report their results this week in Royal Society Open Science.

stringent: a stringent law, rule, standard etc is very strict and must be obeyed
e.g. stringent anti-noise regulations
clear up: To clear up a problem, misunderstanding, or mystery means to settle it or find a satisfactory explanation for it.
e.g. During dinner the confusion was cleared up: they had mistaken me for Kenny.

3）不幸的是，大多数这些研究是用一些志愿者小组进行的，这些志愿者小组太小，无法得出明确的结论，或使用了不够严格的实验方法。 （这并没有阻止企业对这个想法感兴趣：抱有希望的罗密欧和朱丽叶们可以买到一些基于EST，特别是AND的“信息素香水”品牌）为了试着解释这一困惑，由西澳大学的Robin Hare领导的研究小组已经进行了迄今为止最严格的研究之一。他们本周在《皇家学会开放科学》杂志上报告了他们的结果。

4. Dr Hare and his colleagues took 43 men and 51 women, all of them straight, and gave them two tasks. One was to decide whether an androgynous computer-generated face was, on balance, more likely to be female or male. The other was to rate members of the opposite sex shown in photographs for both their sexual attractiveness and their likelihood of being unfaithful.

on balance: if you think something on balance, you think it after considering all the facts
e.g. I think on balance I prefer the old system.

4）Hare博士和他的同事们找了43名男性和51名女性，他们都是异性恋，给了他们两个任务。一个是决定计算机生成的雌雄同体的脸，全面考虑来看，更可能是女性还是男性。另一个是评估照片中显示的异性成员的性吸引力和他们不忠的可能性。

5. The participants completed both tasks twice, on consecutive days. On one day they were exposed to the appropriate molecule (AND for the women; EST for the men) and on the other to a placebo that ought to have had no effect. Crucially, the study was double-blinded, which meant that neither the researchers nor the participants knew which day was which. This should have made it impossible for unconscious biases on the part of the experimenters or the subjects to have had any effect on the result.

5）参与者在连续几天两次完成了两项任务。一天，让他们处于适当的分子中（对于女性为AND；对于男性为EST），另一天则暴露于应该没有作用的安慰剂中。至关重要的是，研究是双盲的，这意味着研究人员和参与者都不知道哪一天是哪一天。这应该会使实验者或受试者的无意识偏差不可能对结果有任何影响。

6. If AND and EST really are aphrodisiac pheromones, the researchers reasoned, then they ought to make participants more likely to assume that androgynous faces belonged to the opposite sex. They should also boost the sex appeal of the people in the photographs—and, because of that boost, increase the perception that those people might be unfaithful, since the attractive have more opportunities for infidelity than the plain.

6）研究人员推论说，如果AND和EST真的是催情信息素，那么它们应该让参与者更容易认为雌雄同体的面孔属于异性。它们还应该提高人们在照片中的性吸引力，并且，由于这种促进，加强了这些人可能不忠的看法，因为有吸引力的人比长相普通的人有更多不忠的机会。

7. In fact, they did none of these things. The study thus found no evidence that either AND or EST is a pheromone. Those who buy pheromone perfumes based on them would therefore appear to be wasting their money. Whether the triumph of hope over experience will cause them to carry on doing so anyway is a different question altogether.

7）事实上，他们并没有像推论假设的那样表现。因此，研究没有发现任何证据表明AND和EST都是信息素。那些基于它们而购买信息素香水的人似乎是在浪费钱。是否是希望战胜经验的满足感会使他们继续这样做就完全是一个不同的问题了。

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试着翻译以下句子：
1、一些实验已经发现这些分子使异性面部或其照片对异性恋志愿者显得更有吸引力。

2、它们还应该提高人们在照片中的性吸引力，并且，由于这种促进，加强了这些人可能不忠的看法，因为有吸引力的人比长相普通的人有更多不忠的机会。

3、是否是希望战胜经验的满足感会使他们继续这样做就完全是一个不同的问题了。

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原文出处：经济学人杂志

译者：七呵夫

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