These foolish things / 這些愚蠢的玩意兒

Of course, love is about more than just genes. Cultural and social factors, and learning, play big roles. Who and how a person has loved in the past are important determinants of his (or her) capacity to fall in love at any given moment in the future. This is because animals—people included—learn from their sexual and social experiences. Arousal comes naturally. But long-term success in mating requires a change from being naive about this state to knowing the precise factors that lead from arousal to the rewards of sex, love and attachment. For some humans, this may involve flowers, chocolate and sweet words. But these things are learnt.

當(dāng)然，愛(ài)情不止與基因有關(guān)。文化社會(huì)因素和后天的學(xué)習(xí)在其中也扮演著重要的角色。一個(gè)人曾經(jīng)愛(ài)過(guò)誰(shuí)？如何愛(ài)過(guò)？對(duì)他(她)將來(lái)任何時(shí)刻的相愛(ài)能力都是決定性的因素，因?yàn)閯?dòng)物（包括人類）能從他們的性和社會(huì)經(jīng)驗(yàn)中進(jìn)行學(xué)習(xí)。性喚醒可本能地產(chǎn)生，但長(zhǎng)期而成功的配偶關(guān)系，卻需要一個(gè)對(duì)愛(ài)情各種精確因素從無(wú)知到熟悉的改變過(guò)程，這個(gè)過(guò)程包括由性喚醒而導(dǎo)致性行為、愛(ài)和附屬關(guān)系產(chǎn)生對(duì)大腦的獎(jiǎng)賞。對(duì)于一些人來(lái)說(shuō)，這可能包括鮮花、巧克力和甜言蜜語(yǔ)：這些都是可以學(xué)會(huì)的。

If humans become conditioned by their experiences, this may be the reason why some people tend to date the same “type” of partner over and over again. Researchers think humans develop a “l(fā)ove map” as they grow up—a blueprint that contains the many things that they have learnt are attractive. This inner scorecard is something that people use to rate the suitability of mates. Yet the idea that humans are actually born with a particular type of “soul mate” wired into their desires is wrong. Research on the choices of partner made by identical twins suggests that the development of love maps takes time, and has a strong random component.

人類常常會(huì)囿于自身的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，因此某些人總喜歡一再地和相同“類型”伴侶約會(huì)。研究人員認(rèn)為，隨著人們年齡的增長(zhǎng)，他們會(huì)在大腦內(nèi)發(fā)展一個(gè)“愛(ài)情地圖”——一個(gè)包含許多人們已經(jīng)熟悉的、魅力事物的藍(lán)圖。這個(gè)內(nèi)部記分卡是人們用于評(píng)價(jià)配偶適合度的依據(jù)。認(rèn)為特定類型的“精神伴侶”與欲望的內(nèi)在聯(lián)系是與生俱來(lái)，這種想法是錯(cuò)誤的。對(duì)同卵雙胞胎擇偶的研究表明，愛(ài)情地圖的發(fā)展需要時(shí)間，而且有很強(qiáng)的隨機(jī)成份。

Work on rats is leading researchers such as Dr Pfaus to wonder whether the template of features found attractive by an individual is formed during a critical period of sexual-behaviour development. He says that even in animals that are not supposed to pair-bond, such as rats, these features may get fixed with the experience of sexual reward. Rats can be conditioned to prefer particular types of partner—for example by pairing sexual reward with some kind of cue, such as lemon-scented members of the opposite sex. This work may help the understanding of unusual sexual preferences. Human fetishes, for example, develop early, and are almost impossible to change. The fetishist connects objects such as feet, shoes, stuffed toys and even balloons, that have a visual association with childhood sexual experiences, to sexual gratification.

針對(duì)家鼠的研究工作使Pfaus博士等研究人員力圖查明：具有異性魅力的特征模板，是不是在性行為發(fā)展的關(guān)鍵時(shí)期形成的？他認(rèn)為，即使在沒(méi)有伴侶連接習(xí)性的動(dòng)物當(dāng)中——如家鼠——這些特征仍可能通過(guò)性獎(jiǎng)賞的經(jīng)驗(yàn)固定下來(lái)。家鼠能條件反射地偏愛(ài)特別類型的伴侶。舉例來(lái)說(shuō)，性獎(jiǎng)賞同時(shí)伴隨著某種提示條件，比如具有檸檬氣息的異性。這項(xiàng)工作也許有助于對(duì)異常的性偏愛(ài)的理解。例如，人類的戀物情結(jié)發(fā)展于早期，而且?guī)缀跏遣豢筛淖�。戀物癖者�?huì)把童年時(shí)期在視覺(jué)上和性經(jīng)驗(yàn)關(guān)聯(lián)的物體與性滿足連接起來(lái)，諸如腳、鞋子、布玩具甚至氣球等。

So love, in all its glory, is just, it seems, a chemical state with genetic roots and environmental influences. But all this work leads to other questions. If scientists can make a more sociable mouse, might it be possible to create a more sociable human? And what about a more loving one? A few people even think that “paradise-engineering”, dedicated to abolishing the “biological substrates of human suffering”, is rather a good idea.

因此，關(guān)于愛(ài)的所有光彩之處，看上去只不過(guò)是具有遺傳基礎(chǔ)和受環(huán)境影響的一種化學(xué)狀態(tài)。與此相關(guān)，這兒涉及的一切還將導(dǎo)致更多其他的問(wèn)題。如果科學(xué)家能制造一只社會(huì)性更強(qiáng)的老鼠，那么他們是否可能產(chǎn)生一個(gè)社會(huì)性更強(qiáng)的人呢？創(chuàng)造一個(gè)更惹人喜愛(ài)的人，其結(jié)果又將如何？一些人甚至認(rèn)為致力于廢除“人類受難的生物學(xué)基體”的“天堂工程”，是一個(gè)非常不錯(cuò)的主意。