一“聞”鐘情

We’ve all heard people talk about chemistry， something hard to define as a key ingredient in the success of relationships. Evolutionary psychology has said good 1)riddance to 2)Freud and the 3)Oedipus Complex and all that other 4)transcendent stuff and hello to simple survival skills. It hypothesizes that we tend to see as attractive， and thereby choose as mates， people who look healthy. And health， say these evolutionary psychologists， is manifested in a woman with a 70 percent waist-to-hip ratio and men with5)rugged features that suggest a strong supply of 6)testosterone in their blood. However， when it comes to love， the enduring topic， new theories always spring up. Some scientists did some research on that topic and found out that smell is an important part of attraction and a woman needs a good sense of smell to find a man who is just right for her.

Women of the world， are you smelling Mr. Right or Mr. Wrong?

One interviewee named Sara expressed her opinions. “I wouldn’t really know. People choose who they choose and， you know， love is love. But I do like the way men smell， so if they smell good， I get more attracted to them. So eventually maybe I can sniff the right man out.”

Maybe a woman can eventually find her Mr. Right， if her sniffer is working properly. As for men， is it the same case?

“I do believe that sense of smell can affect to you. But it’s also a lot about， you know， just your personal preference on what type of girl you would like，” said Josh， one male interviewee.

The secret of sexual attraction lies in the smell of a person， according to a recent study made by the researchers. Professor Rachel Herz， of 7)Brown University， used a group of 231 8)heterosexual college students to compare what men and women look for when selecting a mate. Though both sexes said a good personality was an important factor in choosing a mate， they could not deny that odor factor worked when it comes to searching for their “significant other.” Female students 9)singled out body odor from all other sensory experiences as the most likely to affect desire， while men were relatively neutral on a lover’s natural scent. And the motivation behind all this is that body smell is linked to a person’s 10)immunological 11)make-up. Professor Herz said that by nature a woman’s sense of smell can attract her， often subconsciously to a man whose genes will work well with her genes to produce healthy and strong children. That’s keeping the human species going.

“It’s true that both sexes valued pleasant 12)disposition as the most important criterion for mate choice. But it is inevitable that they devote much attention to each other’s odor even though women valued smell and ambition more highly than did men， while men valued looks a little more highly than women，” said Professor Herz.

Since smell has always been an important part of attraction， how would people feel about choosing a prospective date based on scent?

One German website is offering 13)lovelorn14)singletons the chance to sniff out their soulmate using their smell. Founded by biologist August Hammerli， Basisnote will have a database of profiles that can help members choose partners based on scent. Users are invited to take a simple test， which they have to pop into their mouth for just five minutes， to create their individual chemistry or scent profile. Their profile， which will also contain the usual information on looks and interests， is then “scent matched” with other suitable profiles with the site providing a scale from 1 to 100 for how well you match. Basisnote also gives users a 15)bar code that represents their scent profile—if you put two scent profiles on top of each other， you can see how well they match. Mr Hammerli claims matching people to the right scent produces healthy babies.

“That is the reason why we feel attracted to those people that have a good match in terms of this scent profile.”

我們都聽說過“化學”這玩意兒，但要將其定義為兩性成功配對的主因則有點兒難。從進化心理學角度來說，它可是擺脫了弗洛伊德和他提出的“戀母情結”及其他先驗理論，而對“單純的求生技能”表示贊許。該理論假定我們往往選擇有吸引力的個體為自己的另一半，即那些看上去健康的人。而所謂的健康，那些進化心理學家說，在女人身上表現為腰臀圍比例成7:10，在男人身上則表現為五官粗獷——這表明他們血液中含有大量睪丸激素。然而，就“愛情”這個永恒的主題，新理論總是層出不窮。一些科學家就該主題做過一些調查，發現氣味是吸引力的重要組成部分，女性需要有良好的嗅覺才能覓得自己的理想伴侶。

世界各地的女士們，你們“嗅”到的是真愛還是錯愛?

一位名叫莎拉的受訪者表述了她的觀點:“我真的不是很清楚。人們選擇他們所選擇的，而且，你知道，愛就是愛。但我的確會留意男性的體味，所以如果他們的體味好，他們對我來說就更具吸引力。所以最終，也許我能‘嗅出’我的真命天子?！?/p>

如果一個女人的嗅覺不錯，也許她最終能找到她命中注定的另一半。那么對于男人來說，情況是否一樣呢?

“我的確相信氣味會影響你的選擇，但你也知道，自己對女孩子的類型偏好也會有很大的影響?！币晃荒行允茉L者喬希說道。

據研究人員最近所做的一次研究表明，異性相吸的秘密在于個人的體味。布朗大學蕾切爾·赫茨教授請來231名異性戀大學生，來研究比較兩性在選擇伴侶時尋求的是什么?！?br>