留胡子的男人更有吸引力？
过去几年间，出现过很多宣布络腮胡行将就木的预言。“很遗憾伙计们，络腮胡没戏唱了，”Mashable网站昭告天下。“络腮胡再也不酷了，”《Vice》说。
But beards are still here — at the Oscars, parading down catwalks and on regular guys. Could it be that beards are more than a fashion statement?
但络腮胡仍然随处可见——在奥斯卡颁奖典礼上亮相，在秀场上巡游，在普通人脸上招摇。有没有这种可能：络腮胡不仅仅是一种时尚宣言?
Science suggests that facial hair — from scruffy day-old stubble to full Grizzly Adams — is imbued with social messages, and can play a significant role in a man’s love life.
最近的科学研究表明，面部毛发——从刚长出一天的不甚整齐的胡茬，到灰熊亚当斯(Grizzly Adams)式的大胡子——都饱含社会讯息，会在一个男人的爱情生活中发挥重要作用。
Last year, researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia decided to explore male facial hair to determine what role, if any, beards play in sexual attractiveness, masculinity and short- and long-term relationships.
去年，澳大利亚昆士兰大学(University of Queensland)的研究人员决意探究男性的面部毛发，以确定络腮胡对性吸引力、男子气概以及短期和长期关系是否有影响，或者有哪些影响。
The team gathered data from 8,520 women, who were divided among three groups. Each group of women was shown pictures of men with varying degrees of facial hair. The images, which had been manipulated by the research team to show the same men more or less bearded, showed the men with clean shaven faces, light stubble (five days of growth) heavy stubble (10 days of growth) and a thick beard representing about one month of growth.
研究团队从共分为三组的总计8520名女性那里搜集了数据。他们向每组女性出示了面部毛发生长程度各异的男性图片。这些图片受到研究团队的操控，以显示同一群男性留有不同程度络腮胡时的面貌，其中有把脸刮得干干静静的样子，也有留着浅浅的胡茬(生长5天)、厚厚的胡茬(生长10天)以及相当于生长了大约一个月的浓密大胡子的样子。
Next, each group of women was asked to mull a different question about the man’s sex appeal.
研究团队向每一组女性都抛出了与男性性吸引力有关的不同问题。
The first group rated the men’s beardless-to-bearded faces for overall sexual attractiveness.
面对从没有胡须到留有络腮胡的男性面孔，第一组女性就总体性吸引力给出了评分。
The second group also rated the photos, but this time they were asked to score the pictures based on short-term attractiveness: Which of the men seemed most desirable for a fling or a one-night stand?
第二组女性也给这些图片打了分，但按照要求，这一次她们的打分是基于短期吸引力：哪些男人看上去最适于一段短暂的风流韵事或一夜情?
The third group rated the men in the photos as long-term prospects: Which of the men had a face that suggested he might be a good candidate for marriage and commitment?
第三组女性给这些男性打分则是基于长期前景：如果要结婚或建立长久稳定的恋爱关系，哪些男人的面孔表明他们或许是上上之选。
The answers, which were published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, varied depending on what the woman was looking for. Overall, the women said the sexiest men were those sporting heavy stubble, followed by short stubble. Men with full beards and clean-shaven men were rated the lowest on the overall sexiness scale.
发表在《演化生物学杂志》(Journal of Evolutionary Biology)上的答案，因女性所追寻的目标的差异而各不不同。总体而言，女性认为，最性感的是那些蓄有厚厚胡茬的男性。蓄着大胡子以及把脸刮得干干静静的男性总体性感程度的分值最低。
What kind of man is most attractive to a woman looking for a short-term fling or one-night stand? Men with light stubble won that contest, closely followed by men with heavier stubble, suggesting that the scruffy look appeals to women looking for fun, but not commitment.
如果一个女人寻求的是一段短期的风流韵事或一夜情，会最受哪种男人吸引?在竞争中获胜的是留着浅浅一层胡茬的男人，紧随其后的是蓄有更厚重的胡茬的男人，意味着有点邋遢的外表会吸引到找乐子的女人，而非寻求长久稳定恋爱关系的人。
But when it came to choosing a long-term partner, a guy with whom a woman could have babies or settle in for the duration, the more facial hair the better. Men with heavy stubble and full beards were the clear winners on this question, suggesting that men who are ready to commit might do better if they shave less often.
但如果女人是在选择长期伴侣，要和一个男人生儿育女或长期安顿下来，男人面部毛发越多就越受欢迎。在这一题上，蓄有厚厚胡茬和大胡子的男人是毋庸置疑的赢家，说明男人如果准备进入长久稳定的关系，或许最好别那么频繁地刮胡子。
The authors of the study theorize that for women who are looking for a long-term mate, beardedness may be more attractive as it “indicates a male’s ability to compete for resources.”
这篇论文的作者们推断，对寻找长期配偶的女人来说，男人留胡子或许更具吸引力，因为这“代表着一个男人争夺资源的能力”。
Barnaby Dixson, a human behavioral ecologist at the University of Queensland and a co-author of the beard length study, has been researching mate preferences for a decade. He explains that both sexes judge men with beards as older and more masculine, and describe them as generous, sincere, industrious and self-confident.
昆士兰大学人类行为生态学专家巴纳比·迪克森(Barnaby Dixson)是这篇关于胡子长度的论文的共同作者，致力于配偶偏好研究已有十年之久。他解释说，男人和女人都会判定蓄络腮胡的男人年纪更大，也更有男子气概，并以慷慨、真诚、勤勉和自信来描绘他们。
But Dr. Dixson, who sports a full beard, says research has also found that facial hair is associated with some antisocial traits, such as aggression and social dominance. While these traits might not be pleasant if you’re looking for a fun fling, they might be alluring if you want an alpha male to support your family and fend off predators.
但蓄着大胡子的迪克森说，研究还发现，胡子和一些妨碍社交的特点有关，比如攻击性和社会主导地位。尽管如果你要找的是一时的放纵，这些特点也许不讨喜，但假如你想要的是一个男性精英来养家和抵御外敌，它们也许颇具吸引力。
It’s not just women who prefer bearded alpha males — men also prefer men with facial hair.
不仅仅是女性更喜欢留胡须的阿尔法男，男性也更喜欢有胡子的男性。
Dr. Dixson and colleagues asked 1,577 men and women from Brazil and the Czech Republic about facial hair. Compared to heterosexual women, gay men had stronger preferences for men with more facial hair.
迪克森和同事向1577名来自巴西和捷克的男女提出了有关胡子的问题。和异性恋女性相比，同性恋男性对胡子更多的男性的喜爱之情更加强烈。
“Homosexual men preferred hairier stimuli than heterosexual women, supporting past findings that homosexual men have strong preferences for masculine traits,” the authors reported.
“同性恋男性比异性恋女性更容易受毛发的刺激，这支持了过去的发现，即同性恋男性对男性特征有强烈偏好，”作者在文章里写道。
Brazilians preferred bigger beards than Czechs. Homosexual men preferred men with beards similar to their own. Czech women preferred men with beards that were similar to the beards their fathers had during their childhood.
巴西人喜欢的胡子比捷克人喜欢的更大。同性恋男性更喜欢胡子和自己的类似的男性。捷克女性更喜欢胡子和童年时期她们父亲的胡子类似的男性。
The study, published in March in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, also found that men often preferred thicker facial hair than their real partners actually had. The authors noted that the fact that people don’t end up with their “ideal” — at least in terms of his beard — may be because their ideal is not readily available, so they “compromise.”
3月发表在《进化和人类行为》(Evolution and Human Behavior)期刊上的这项研究还发现，男性更喜欢的胡子，通常比他们现实生活中伴侣实际蓄的胡子更浓密。文章作者指出，人们最终不会得到“理想”的结果——至少就胡子而言——这个事实，也许是因为他们的理想不容易实现，因此他们“妥协了”。
Not every man can grow a beard naturally. More men with hairless faces have begun seeking hair transplants, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. In 2014, the latest year for which data are available, 13,956 men around the world had hair transplants to enhance their beards, up from 4,707 in 2012. More than 3,100 of the men were in the United States. Beard transplants are most popular in Asian countries, where nearly 4,200 men had the treatment in 2014.
并不是所有男性都能自然地蓄胡须。据国际毛发修复外科协会(International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery)称，因为脸上没有胡子而开始寻求胡须移植的男性增加。2012年，全球4707名男性接受了胡须移植手术，以增加胡子，而到了2014年，这个数字上升至13956人。这是距今最近的数据。这些男性中超过3100人是美国人。胡须移植手术在亚洲国家颇受欢迎。2014年，亚洲有近4200名男性接受了移植手术。
Whether men choose to grow beards may also depend on the context in which they live. A 2016 study found that beards are more common in crowded cities where average incomes are lower. In this environment, where money is scarce and there is more competition for mates, men may feel they need to ramp up their masculinity. On the flip side, “when competition in the social environment is reduced and the need to signal dominance is of less importance, men may dial down their masculinity through shaving or grooming their beards,” Dr. Dixson wrote in an email. Which may be why beards seem to be less common in the less populated suburbs.
男性是否选择留胡子也许还取决于他们所处的环境。2016年的一项研究发现，在平均收入较低的拥挤城市，胡子更常见。在这种环境下，资金缺乏，对伴侣的竞争更加激烈，男性可能觉得需要提升自己的男子气概。另一方面，“当社会环境中的竞争减少，需要发出自己占主导地位的信号的重要性降低时，男性也许会通过刮胡子或修剪胡子来减少阳刚之气，”迪克森在一封电子邮件中写道。这也许就是为什么在人口不那么密集的郊区，胡子似乎不那么常见的原因。
Another factor that influences whether men decide to grow some stubble is the frequency of beardedness around them. “When beardedness becomes too common, it is less attractive than when it is rare,” Dr. Dixson wrote. “This may explain why fashions and trends in beardedness fluctuate over time.”
影响男性是否决定留一些胡子的另一个因素，是周围出现留胡子的现象的频率。“当留胡子变得太常见，就没有留胡子的现象罕见时那么有吸引力了，”迪克森写道。“这也许解释了为什么留胡子的时尚和潮流会随着时间而波动变化。”
Christopher Oldstone-Moore, author of the 2015 book “Of Beards and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair,” maintains that history more than biology establishes meanings for facial hair. “I wonder if the positive effects of beards are a matter of the current cultural preference for beards, and perhaps the idea that bearded men are more mature, confident and reliable is because that is what we are tending to associate with beards these days,” Dr. Oldstone-Moore, a senior lecturer at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, wrote in an email. “Whenever masculinity is redefined facial hairstyles change to suit.”
2015年的著作《关于胡子和男人：揭露真相的胡子历史》的作者克里斯托弗·奥德斯通-莫尔(Christopher Oldstone-Moore)坚持认为，历史比生物学更多地证明了胡子的意义。“我想知道胡子的积极作用是不是当前的胡子文化偏好问题，而认为有胡子的男人更加成熟、自信和可靠的观点，或许是因为这是我们现在倾向于和胡子联系在一起的特征，”在俄亥俄州代顿的莱特州立大学(Wright State University)担任高级讲师的奥德斯通-莫尔在电子邮件中写道。“无论什么时候，只要男子气概的定义变了，胡须的样式就会相应地跟着有所改变。”
