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  3. For several decades biologists have pondered the question of whether men and women produce pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical

For several decades biologists have pondered the question of whether men and women produce pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical

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问题     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. 【F1】 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.
    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. 【F2】 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.
    【F3】 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. 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.
    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.
    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. 【F4】 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.
    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. 【F5】 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.
【F1】
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答案通常，这样的化学物质表明了性的可获得性，虽然并不尽如此——并且特别是当涉及人类交配信号时，研究者总会想到一些特定的分子。
解析 本句是由and连接的并列句，主干句的主语是such chemicals，谓语是indicate，宾语是sexual availability；并列句的主语是those，谓语是have，宾语是a couple of specific moleeules in mind。第一个并列句中often是时间状语，though not always是插入语。第二个并列句中when it comes to human mating signals in particular是时间状语从句，looking into the matter作those的后置定语。此处those looking into the matter的翻译适当省译为“研究者”，令译文更加流畅简洁。省译法是英译汉常用的方法之一，也是译员在翻译过程中常用到的翻译技巧。英语中有很多在汉语中可有可无的辅助词，例如代词、冠词、连接词以及介词等。在翻译的过程中采用省译法，可以使译文言简意赅，符合翻译的简洁性。当然，省译法虽然只是减去了一些词的翻译，但是仍然需要保持原文的意思，这一点是必须要遵守的。
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