媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background：英国人看到自己的父亲跳舞，总会感到有些尴尬，难为情。所以短语 dad dancing 也就被英国人用来形容让人看了不舒服的，笨拙的舞步。来自英格兰西北部诺桑比亚大学的几位科学家最新的研究结果将为我们解答什么舞姿能吸引女性？

The researchers asked young men to dance in a laboratory to a very basic drum rhythm. Their dances were played back to a group of women who rated them on a scale of one to seven.

The researchers had expected that the movement of arms, legs and hands would be important as they can often conveyexpressive gestures.

But instead they found that there was a greater focus on the torso, neck and the head. And higher ratings were given for variation and mixing up dance moves.

What went down badly though were twitchy and repetitive movements – often called 'dad dancing'.

The researchers also found from blood tests on the dancers that those who had good moves were in better physical condition. And so, as is the case with courtship rituals with wild animals, dancing ability may well be a way of assessing a suitable mate.

• movement [´mu:vmənt]   n.活动；运动；动作   (初中英语单词)
• convey [kən´vei]   vt.运送；传达；转让   (初中英语单词)
• physical [´fizikəl]   a.物质的；有形的   (初中英语单词)
• ability [ə´biliti]   n.(办事)能力；才干   (初中英语单词)
• suitable [´su:təbəl, ´sju:-]   a.合适的，适当的   (初中英语单词)
• laboratory [lə´bɔrətəri]   n.实验室；研究室(所)   (高中英语单词)
• variation [,veəri´eiʃən]   n.变化；变动   (高中英语单词)
• rhythm [´riðəm]   n.(诗的)韵律；格律   (英语四级单词)
• expressive [ik´spresiv]   a.有表现力的   (英语六级单词)
• courtship [´kɔ:tʃip]   n.求爱(时期)   (英语六级单词)