雙語閱讀：愛我,真心地愛我

Scanning the brains of people in love is also helpingto refine science's grasp of love's various n Fisher, a researcher at Rutgers University, andthe author of a new book on love*, suggests itcomes in three flavours: lust, romantic love andlong-term attachment. There is some overlap but, inessence, these are separate phenomena, with theirown eMotional and motivational systems, andaccompanying chemicals. These systems haveevolved to enable, respectively, mating, pair-bondingand parenting.

對戀愛中人們大腦的掃描，也有助於使科學對各種形式愛情的領會變得更爲精確。Rutgers 大學的一位研究人員Helen Fisher，同時是一本關於愛情的新書作者，她提出，愛會以三種滋味出現：慾望，浪漫的戀愛和長期的附屬關係。三種滋味的愛情雖有一些重疊，但本質上是截然不同的現象，並且具有各自的情緒和激發系統，以及相伴的體內化學物質。這些系統通過進化後以分別讓交配，伴侶聯接和養育子女成爲可能。

Lust, of course, involves a craving for sex. Jim Pfaus, a psychologist at Concordia University,in Montreal, says the aftermath of lustful sex is similar to the state induced by taking opiates. Aheady mix of chemical changes occurs, including increases in the levels of serotonin, oxytocin,vasopressin and endogenous opioids (the body's natural equivalent of heroin). “This mayserve many functions, to relax the body, induce pleasure and satiety, and perhaps inducebonding to the very features that one has just experienced all this with”, says Dr Pfaus.

首先當然是慾望，包括對性的強烈渴求。蒙特利爾Concordia大學的一位心理學家，Jim Pfaus說道，貪慾的性行爲其結果和使用鴉片引起的狀況頗相類似：一種令人興奮的混合化學變化，包括血液複合胺(5羥色氨)，催產素，抗利尿激素和內非肽(身體內的海洛英的天然同等物) 的水平升高。“這可能提供許多功能，如放鬆身體，產生快樂和滿足感, 也可能導致把某些特徵與剛纔的全部經歷聯結起來，”Pfaus博士補充道。

then there is attraction, or the state of being in love (what is sometimes known as romantic orobsessive love). This is a refinement of mere lust that allows people to home in on aparticular mate. This state is characterised by feelings of exhilaration, and intrusive,obsessive thoughts about the object of one's affection. Some researchers suggest thismental state might share neurochemical characteristics with the manic phase of manicdepression. Dr Fisher's work, however, suggests that the actual behavioural patterns of thosein love—such as attempting to evoke reciprocal responses in one's loved one—resembleobsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

接下來便是兩性吸引，雙方處於相愛的狀態 (就是我們所知的浪漫的、或強迫性的戀愛)。這是純粹的慾望的昇華，它使人們總能回到某個特定配偶身邊。這種狀態的特徵，是興奮感和對情感對象打擾式的和強迫性的思戀。一些研究員提到，這一心理狀態可能和狂躁狀態的躁鬱症有相同的神經化學特徵。Fisher博士的工作揭示了戀愛人羣真實的行爲模式，比如：試圖喚起被愛者的報答——類似於強迫性混亂症(OCD)。

That raises the question of whether it is possible to “treat” this romantic state clinically, as canbe done with OCD. The parents of any love-besotted teenager might want to know the answerto that. Dr Fisher suggests it might, indeed, be possible to inhibit feelings of romantic love,but only at its early stages. OCD is characterised by low levels of a chemical called s such as Prozac work by keeping serotonin hanging around in the brain for longer thannormal, so they might stave off romantic feelings. (This also means that people taking anti-depressants may be jeopardising their ability to fall in love.) But once romantic love begins inearnest, it is one of the strongest drives on Earth. Dr Fisher says it seems to be more powerfulthan hunger. A little serotonin would be unlikely to stifle it.

這又產生一個問題，即是否可能和處理OCD一樣，用病理學方式來“處治”這種浪漫狀態。任何沉醉於愛情的青少年，他們的父母可能都想知道相應的答案。Fisher博士提出，抑制浪漫愛情的可能性確實存在，但只能是在感情發展的最初階段。OCD的特徵，是血液中一種叫血液複合胺(5羥色氨)的含量較低。如果Prozac等藥物讓血液中的複合氨在大腦中停留得比正常時間更久，這些藥品就可能阻止浪漫感覺的出現。(這也意味着服用抗抑鬱藥物的人們可能正在危及他們彼此相愛能力。)真摯浪漫的愛情一旦開始，它就成爲了地球上最強大的動力之一。Fisher博士說，這種慾望比食慾強大得多，一點兒血液中的複合氨不太可能扼殺心中如此強烈的情感。

Wonderful though it is, romantic love is unstable—not a good basis for child-rearing. But thefinal stage of love, long-term attachment, allows parents to co-operate in raising children. Thisstate, says Dr Fisher, is characterised by feelings of calm, security, social comfort andemotional union.

儘管浪漫的愛情如此奇妙，但它卻並不穩定——這絕非養兒育女的良好基礎。而愛情的最後階段，即長期的附屬關係，卻使父母在養育孩子方面得以精誠合作——這種狀態，Fisher博士認爲，它的特徵恰恰是平穩感、安全感、社會性的慰籍以及情感的最佳結合。

Because they are independent, these three systems can work simultaneously—withdangerous results. As Dr Fisher explains, “you can feel deep attachment for a long-termspouse, while you feel romantic love for someone else, while you feel the sex drive insituations unrelated to either partner.” This independence means it is possible to love morethan one person at a time, a situation that leads to jealousy, adultery and divorce—thoughalso to the possibilities of promiscuity and polygamy, with the likelihood of extra children, andthus a bigger stake in the genetic future, that those behaviours bring. As Dr Fisher observes, “We were not built to be happy but to reproduce.”

因爲三個階段的系統彼此獨立，所以他們可能同時工作而導致危險的後果。如Fisher博士解釋的那樣，“你可能對長期配偶有深深的附屬感，同時你又因另一人而感受到浪漫的愛情，其間，你又由於第三位異性而產生性驅動力。”這種獨立性意味着你可能同時愛上多個異性而導致妒忌、私通和離婚——儘管也有可能是亂交、一夫多妻、和隨之而來的額外生育，即最終一個更大的預期基因賭注。正如Fisher博士所述，“我們不是爲快樂卻是爲了生殖而被創造的。”

the stages of love vary somewhat between the sexes. Lust, for example, is aroused moreeasily in men by visual stimuli than is the case for women. This is probably why visualpornography is more popular with men. And although both men and women express romanticlove with the same intensity, and are attracted to partners who are dependable, kind, healthy,smart and educated, there are some notable differences in their choices. Men are moreattracted to youth and beauty, while women are more attracted to money, education andposition. When an older, ugly man is seen walking down the road arm-in-arm with a young andbeautiful woman, most people assume the man is rich or powerful.

愛情的各階段在性別之間略有差別。例如，與女性相比，男性的慾望更容易被視覺刺激喚醒。這或許就是爲什麼視覺色情對男性而言更加流行。雖然男人和女人用同樣的強度表達浪漫的愛情，也同樣會被可靠、和藹、健康、聰明和有教養的伴侶所吸引，但不同性別在選擇配偶時還是有着一些顯著的不同。男性更易被年輕和美貌所吸引，而女性更多會青睞於金錢、教育和地位。當人們看到蒼老而醜陋的男人手挽着年輕美麗的女子漫步道旁，大多數都會設想此公不是腰纏萬貫，便有大權在握。