Is fidelity in our genes?

Did you ever wonder why some guys are less cut out for commitment, while others stick around?

Well, in a type of rodent called a vole, one thing that controls mate bonding is a brain chemical called vasopressin. A gene that influences vasopressin determines how doggedly males will latch on to a lucky female. Scientists can even make promiscuous voles turn monogamous-just by manipulating the gene.

This week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researchers report a link between variation in the human gene and male fidelity.

Nearly two thousand Swedes filled out a standardized test measuring the strength of their romantic partnership.

Men with a particular variant of the gene scored lower than others on the bonding scale, and fewer of them were married. What's more, if a guy had two copies of that variant he was twice as likely to report marital problems.

Ladies, don't fret just yet. It's just a correlation that they've found. Stronger evidence of a causal relationship between DNA and vasopressin in humans is needed.

But in the meantime, hopeful single guys out there may want to hold off on posting their genetic code on Facebook.

"爱情忠诚"由基因决定吗？

你是否曾经想过为什么有些男人在婚姻中易于出轨，而有些男人则忠贞不渝？

在一种叫做田鼠的啮齿动物体内，有一种称为血管加压素的大脑化学物质，这种物质控制着田鼠"配偶"之间的"忠诚"。一种影响血管加压素的基因决定雄性田鼠对雌性配偶的忠诚程度。科学家甚至仅仅靠调控基因就能让"花心"的田鼠恪守"一夫一妻制"。

发表在本周《美国国家科学院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ）的一项研究中，研究者们报道了人类基因的差异和男性忠诚之间的联系。

近2000名瑞典人参加了一项旨在衡量他们爱情关系牢固程度的标准测试。

当男人带有一种特定不同基因时，这些男人的爱情牢固程度比其他人低，而且他们中结婚的人更少。另外，如果一个男人带有两份这种基因拷贝的话，他在婚姻中出问题的可能性是别人的2倍。

女士们，现在还没有必要为此烦恼。这只不过是研究者们发现的一种相关性罢了。人体中DNA和血管加压素之间是否存在因果关系的更有说服力的证据目前还有待发现。

不过与此同时，那些想寻找爱情伴侣的单身汉们可能暂时不会在Facebook上张贴他们的基因图谱了。

Vocabulary:

Fidelity: 忠贞

Cut out for sth: 天生适合做...事

Commitment: 承诺；责任

Rodent: 啮齿类动物

Vole: 田鼠

Vasopressin: 血管加压素

Doggedly: 固执地；顽强地

Promiscuous: 滥交的

Monogamous: 一夫一妻的

Manipulate: 操控

Marital: 婚姻的

Variation: 变化；差异

Fret: 烦恼

Causal: 因果关系的
关键字:双语新闻
生词表: