讀懂女性暗示 送對聖誕禮物
Every Christmas men struggle with the last-minute rush to find the perfect present for their partner.
Yet had they listened a little More closely to their wife or girlfriend in the run-up to the big day, they could have saved themselves a lot of stress.
Experts have identified four hinting styles that women use to try to ensure their favoured choice is placed under the Christmas tree.
The problem is, they found, men are oblivious to the signals – four out of five miss the hints.
The study broke down what it dubbed ‘adventising’. Most women (56 per cent) were found to be ‘pepper-hinters’ or ‘present pointers’. Next came ‘Chinese whisperers’ followed by ‘careless listers’.
But despite all these tactics, less than a third of men picked up any of the subliminal messages – compared with more than half of women.
The report comes as it was revealed that more than a third of us have been disappointed by our partner’s choice of presents and one in six is left upset or angry.
Body language expert Professor Geoff Beattie advises women to use heavy verbal tips to their partners to get what they want. He added: ‘Hinting is an important part of everyday social interaction but to do this successfully it is vital that gender differences are taken into account.
‘Women know what they want and are increasingly turning to “adventising” in order to get it – using clues to advertise to men what they want for Christmas.
‘However, their covert suggestions can at times fall on deaf ears and men are missing out on a massive two thirds of crucial hints dropped by the ladies in their life.’
For the study, which was commissioned by Boots, male volunteers watched a video that depicted a couple chatting in the run-up to Christmas. The film showed the various hinting styles, with most men unable to identify them.
Recent research by the National Autonomous University of Mexico found that women are more adept at shopping than men because they are better at recalling landmarks – helpful when trying to get back to a dress they may have seen two hours earlier.
每年聖誕節，直到最後一刻，男人們還會爲給自己的伴侶尋找完美的禮物而煩惱。
其實，他們只要在這個重要的日子之前稍稍多留意一下妻子或女友的表現，就可以免去許多心理負擔。
專家發現，女性通常會使用四種暗示方式，以確保在聖誕樹下收到心儀的禮物。
但專家發現，問題在於男性察覺不到這些信號，五分之四的男性會忽略這些暗示。
該研究將其所謂的“事前廣告”做了劃分。研究發現，“頻繁暗示型”或“禮物點名型”的女性最多（56%），其次是“口口相傳型”，最後是“隨意列舉型”。
然而，儘管女性會使用上述技巧，能領會其中任何一種潛藏信息的男性還不到三分之一。相比之下，一半以上的女性能夠領會這些暗示。
在報告發布的同時，有消息透露，我們當中超過三分之一的人對伴侶選擇的禮物感到失望，有六分之一的人甚至爲此而感到沮喪或生氣。
肢體語言專家傑夫•比蒂教授建議女性向伴侶使用強烈的言語提示，以便得到自己想要的東西。他還說：“暗示是日常社交中的重要組成部分，但是要想暗示成功，很關鍵的一點就是要考慮到性別差異。
“女性知道她們想要什麼，也越來越多地開始做‘事前廣告’，以得到想要的東西。她們會作出一些暗示，告訴男性她們想要的聖誕禮物。
“但是，男性有時會對她們含蓄的建議置若罔聞。愛人向他們做出的重要暗示有三分之二都被忽略了。”
該研究由英國Boots連鎖藥店委託進行。在研究過程中，男性志願者們按要求觀看了一段視頻，視頻描述的是一對夫婦在聖誕節準備過程中的一段閒聊。視頻展示了各種各樣的暗示方式，但大多數男性志願者都沒能識別這些暗示。
墨西哥國立自治大學最近的一項研究發現，女性比男性擅長購物，因爲她們更善於記住各種地標，這些地標能幫助她們找到兩小時之前看過的一件衣服。
Vocabulary:
run-up: a period of time leading up to an important event; the preparation for this （重要事情的）前期；準備階段；準備
oblivious: not aware of something（不知道；未注意；未察覺）
break down: to divide into parts to be analysed 劃分（以便分析）
dub: to give somebody/something a particular name, often in a humorous or critical way（把……戲稱爲；給……起綽號）
Chinese whisper: the passing of information from one person to another, and then to others, when the information gets slightly changed each time（某件事情）口口相傳，最終走樣
subliminal: affecting your mind even though you are not aware of it（下意識的；潛意識的）
fall on deaf ears: to be ignored or not noticed by other people（不被理睬；不被注意；被置若罔聞）
