Men find thinner women attractive because they associate their body shape with youth, fertility and a lower risk of disease. This contradicts earlier theories which suggest people are drawn¹ to body types with more fat as they could historically survive a famine.

男性会认为体型偏瘦的女性更有魅力，因为他们将纤细的身材同年轻、生育能力和降低的患病风险联系在一起。而这与早些时候人们树立的理论——更为丰满的体型会吸引男性，因为从历史层面上讲，它们能扛得住饥荒——相矛盾。

Professor John Speakman, from the University of Aberdeen coordinated² the study. He said that in evolutionary³ terms fitness was made up of two things: survival and the ability to reproduce.

这项研究由来自亚伯丁大学的约翰·斯皮克曼教授协调组织。教授称从进化的角度来考虑，身体健康指存活和生育能力这两点。

'What we wanted to investigate was the idea that when we look at someone and think they are physically⁴ attractive,' he said, 'Are we actually making that assessment⁵ based on a hard-wired evolutionary understanding of their potential for future survival and reproductive ability?'

他表示：“我们进行这项研究旨在调查，当我们觉得某人的身材格外吸引人时，我们做出的这一评判是否真的建立在对其未来生存与繁育潜在能力的根深蒂固的进化理解上？”

The scientists built a mathematical model which combined the relationships between levels of obesity⁶, life expectancy⁷ and fertility.

科学家们建立了一个数学模型，把各种程度的肥胖、寿命以及生殖力之间的关系整合起来。

Researchers then tested the prediction on more than 1,300 people, both males and females, from the UK and nine other countries. Participants were shown 21 image cards showing females with different levels of body fatness and were asked to reorder them from least to most attractive.

随后研究人员为了验证他们的猜想，测试了来自英国和其他九个国家的1300多人，男女皆有。被试者们依次浏览过21张肥胖程度各异的女性照片后，被要求将这些照片按魅力由小至大重新排序。

Among all the participants, males and females rated physical attractiveness the same -- Scientists discovered their ideal female body shape is leggy, tall and thin like Taylor Swift, and that people judged that the fatter people were older.

在所有被试者中，男女对魅力体型的评判是一致的。科学家们发现人们所认为的理想女性身材是像泰勒·斯威夫特那样腿长，又高又瘦，而且人们会判定体型偏胖的人年纪更大。

When the age factor was included into the model the optimum fatness fell to a body mass index (BMI) somewhere between 17 and 20 – corresponding exactly to the images people found to be most attractive. This is the BMI range that celebrities⁸ such as Angelina Jolie (right) and Gisele Bundchen (left) fall into.

当年龄因素被纳入这个数学模型时，最优的体型反映在下降的体质指数上——它是17至20间的某个值，恰好对应人们浏览的众多照片中被认为最具魅力的那副身材。而像是（图右）安吉丽娜·朱莉和（图左）吉赛尔·邦辰等明星，她们便属于这样的体质指数范围。

体质指数（BMI）=体重（kg）÷身高^2（m）

This suggests that we find thinness in females so attractive because we equate⁹ it with youth - a BMI of 17-20 corresponds to the average BMI of a young 18-20 year old with maximal fertility and minimal¹⁰ risk of future disease. This was to be consistent across European, African and Asian test groups.

这表明了我们之所以认为苗条的女性如此有吸引力，是因为我们将其与年轻等同。介于17-20之间的体质指数对应的是，生育力达到峰值而未来患病风险率最低的一位18至20岁的年轻女性所拥有的平均体质指数。欧洲、非洲和亚洲的测试群体同样也得到了这一测试结果。

Professor John Speakman added: 'Setting this into an evolutionary framework allows us to understand why we perceive thinness in females to be so attractive.

约翰·斯皮克曼教授补充道：“用进化学的框架来考虑这一问题使得我们明白，我们为什么会认为女性的苗条身材这样吸引人眼球。”