经济学人下载:健康指标 从表面判断

Science and technology
科学技术

Health indicators
健康指标

On the face of it
从表面判断

More evidence that symmetrical features indicate good health
更多证据表明对称容貌显示身体健康

BEAUTY may be in the eye of the beholder, but a symmetricalface is usually a big help.
情人眼里出西施，但对称的容貌通常有助于美感。

In contrast, asymmetry is often associated with malignance.
相反，非对称通常与丑恶相联。

Biologists have long speculated why this is.
生物学家长期思考为什么会出现这种情况。

In theory, evolution provides a logical answer: unfit individuals are less likely than fitter folk to be able to maintain the symmetrical development of their bodies when exposed to stress and disease.
就理论上而言，进化论就是其逻辑答案。在面临压力与疾病时，非健康者可能不如健康者能保持自身的对称发展。

In other words, many parts of the body are supposed to be symmetrical, so any deviation from perfect symmetry indicates that an animal has not been able to grow as intended.
换句话说，身体的许多部位本是对称的，那么，从完美对称变为非对称表明身体已不可能按正常发展。

As an animal is unlikely to want to mix its genes with an unfit or diseased partner, evolution selects symmetry as an attractive trait.
由于健康者不大可能愿意其基因与非健康/患病者的相结合，进化论便选择对称作为一个有吸引力的特征。

Whether asymmetry and poor health or fitness really go hand in hand has not been easy to prove.
很难证明非对称者是否与非健康或健康真正相关联。

Research on this in humans causes ethical problems and can raise hackles.
关于人类这个问题的研究导致种簇问题，造成愤怒。

Now a new study conducted with macaque monkeys hints that there is indeed a connection.
现在，以狝猴为例的一项新的研究表明他们的确有关联。

Previous studies with macaques have demonstrated that the animals will gaze longer at symmetrical faces than they do at asymmetric ones, which could be interpreted as the monkeys finding such faces more attractive.
先前有关狝猴的研究实验表明，相比非对称性狝猴，狝猴愿意花更多长凝视拥有对称性容貌的狝猴，这可能理解为狝猴发现那些具有对称性容貌的具有更多吸引力。

The results of these studies have led researchers to believe that the monkeys have a preference for symmetry just as humans do.
研究结果使得研究者相信狝猴与人类一样偏爱对称性容貌者。

However, a clear connection between health and symmetry had not been made.
然而，健康与对称性的关联还未得到确切的证明。

Fascinated by this question, Anthony Little of the University of Stirling in Scotland and Annika Paukner of the National Institutes of Health in America established a new study with 93 female macaque monkeys.
受这个问题的困扰，苏格兰斯特林大学的安东尼.里特与美国国立卫生研究院的安妮卡.波克恩一起对93只狝猴进行一项新的研究。

The monkeys came from three different groups and had been raised in some degree of captivity.
这些狝猴来自三个不同群组，受到不同程度的圈养。

All of the monkeys, between the ages of five and 20, were photographed, face forward.
所有这些狝猴年龄都在5岁-20岁，他们面朝前面一起接受拍照。

Dr Little and his colleagues analysed facial symmetry using a computer to measure the distance of various features, like the edges of the nostrils, lips and eyes, from a line drawn down the centre of the monkey's face.
一条中间直线划分狝狒面部，里特博士和他的同事使用电脑测量不同器官的两边距离，包括鼻孔，嘴唇，眼睛。

These distances were then compared and any differences between them were added to an overall asymmetry score.
然后，对这些测量的距离进行对比，把所有的差距汇总，就成了非对称数据。

Thus a perfectly symmetrical face, with eyes, lips and nostrils exactly the same distance from the central line, would earn a score of zero.
因此，非常完美的对称面貌，眼睛，嘴唇以及鼻子两边离中间线的距离是相同的，因而总对称分数为0。

A highly asymmetric one would score the sum of all the distance differences between features on the face.
他们记录下非常不对称的狝猴脸部器官的差距和。

The team then considered the overall health of the monkeys during their first four years of life.
前四年这个团队关注这些狝猴的总体健康。

This comparison was made from veterinary records and evidence of health problems.
他们对兽医记录的以及健康问题的证据进行对比。

The researchers looked out for minor wounds that had been noted by staff but left to heal on their own; major wounds such as bites that required stitches; levels of subcutaneous fat and muscle; the quality of their coat; and their weight gain.
研究人员关注那些工作人员之前注意到却任其自愈的小伤口；诸如咬伤之类需要缝合的大伤口；因咬而需缝线的大伤口；皮下脂肪厚度，肌肉的强壮；表皮质量以及体重增加。

These health factors were compiled into two scores, one reflecting wounds and one reflecting the monkey's general condition, and they were compared with the asymmetry scores.
这些健康因素分成两组分数，一组反映伤口情况，另一组反应狝猴总体身体状况，这些与不对称性数据进行比较。

Dr Little and his colleagues report in Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology that whereas wounds showed no relationship to asymmetry, as the monkeys' condition scores declined so too did their facial-symmetry results.
里特博士和他同事在《行为生态学和社会生物学》杂志上报道：虽然伤口与不对称性无任何关系，但猴子身体状况越差，它们的脸部就越不对称。

The researchers argue that this health connection is what makes macaque monkeys look longer at symmetrical faces than they do at uneven ones.
这些研究员认为，这一健康关联是因为狝猴对着对称面貌比不对称面貌时间长。

Thus facial symmetry really does appear to be an indicator of health, at least among macaques.
因此，面貌对称性真正能呈现身体健康指标，至少狝猴是这样。

And what is true for them is likely to be true for people too.
因此，适用于狝狒的这一原理可能也适用于人。