When it comes to predicting whether or not a heterosexual romantic relationship is going to last, the female partner's friends seem to be particularly astute, according to new study findings.

　　最近一项科学研究发现，在男女双方恋爱中，女方的闺中好友能够更准确地预言这对恋人未来感情的发展。

　　The couple's joint friends are often good at predicting the success of the relationship as well, researchers report.

　　研究员称，恋人双方共同的朋友通常也同样能够较准确的预言这对恋人的恋情是否能够成功。

　　"People often turn to their friends for social support; however, we don't always believe that relationship 'outsiders' can offer truly useful insightregarding our own relationship," lead study author Dr. Christopher R. Agnew of Purdue University in Indiana said.

　　该项研究的主要发起人，印第安那州普度大学的克里斯托弗·阿格纽博士说："虽然人们在社交活动中经常向朋友寻求帮助，但通常我们并不认为旁观者能够真正了解自己的恋情。"

　　To investigate, Agnew's team performed a study of 74 male-female couples and their network of friends, including both their joint friends and their individual friends. All of the participants, including the couple members, were asked to give their perceptions about the couple's relationship, rating factors such as the male's and female's commitment to each other and their closeness.

　　为此，阿格纽博士的研究小组组织了74对男女恋人和他们的朋友进行调查研究，这些朋友包括男女双方共同的朋友和他们各自的朋友。所有参加调查的人，包括恋人们自己，都预言了恋爱的结果，其中包括男女双方对彼此感情的投入以及他们的亲密程度等。

Study results show that the perceptions of the couples' joint friends and those of the female's friends were more successful in predicting the relationship's fate through the next 6 months than the perceptions of the male's friends.

　　试验后的6个月中，恋人们感情发展的实际情况表明，当初双方共同的朋友以及女方朋友的预言比男方朋友的预言要准确。

　　Furthermore, the perceptions of the female's friends remained significant predictors of the couple's fate even when the couple members' own perceptions were taken into consideration.

　　不仅如此，女方朋友的的预言甚至比恋人们自己的预言还要准确。

　　What's more, the female's friends' perceptions of the couple's commitment and closeness also significantly predicted whether or not the pair would break up.

　　此外，女方的朋友除了能够准确预言恋人双方对彼此的感情投入程度和亲密程度之外，还能够准确预言这对恋人最终是否会走向分手。

　　The reason for this may be that couple members have a "tremendous personal stake in the romance that clouds (their) judgments regarding it," the researchers suggest.

　　研究者认为，恋人们本身之所以不能准确地预测自己恋情的发展，正是应了"只在此山中，云深不知处"这句话。

　　The female's friends, in contrast, are "less biased" and are therefore able to make more successful predictions, the authors explain. In addition, women, in comparison to men, are known to share more realistic and more intimate information about their relationships with their friends. Thus, her friends may have more access than his friends to the relevant information on which their relationship predictions are based, Agnew and colleagues point out.

　　相形之下，女方的朋友可以更准确地看待他们的恋情，所以能够更成功地预知他们恋情的发展。另外，和男性相比，女性朋友之间的交流更加实际、更加亲密。因此，阿格纽博士和他的同事指出，恋人双方中女方的朋友会比男方的朋友更加了解他们的恋情，因而能够在此基础上做出更准确的预言。

　　In other findings, couples with a higher number of joint friends were more committed, satisfied and invested in the relationship, and were more likely to have remained together by the 6-month follow-up.

　　研究还表明，拥有共同朋友较多的恋人们对自己的恋情更加忠诚、满意和投入。在预测试验结束后的6个月中，他们的恋情会相对更趋于稳定。

　　For those with a significant number of individual friends, however, "don't be too quick to discount the relationship assessments of your friends," study co-author Dr. Stephen M. Drigotas in Texas said. "They might have an accurate glimpse into what sort of relationship you have with your partner."

　　该项研究的另一位作者，来自德克萨斯州的史迪芬·德里戈特斯博士说："对于各自拥有不少朋友的恋人们来说，可不要小看朋友对自己恋情的看法，因为朋友很可能对你的恋情有着更准确的看法。"
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