Love at first sight is a myth — and lovers need to meet at least four times before Cupid's arrow strikes their hearts, said a study.

一份研究表明，第一次见面就相爱只是一个神话--至少需要见面四次之后，丘比特的箭才会射中彼此的心。

The findings showed that people often find themselves drawn¹ to individuals after multiple encounters, even when there was no initial attraction.

这一发现表明，人们经常发现自己是在多次见过某人之后才被吸引过去的，甚至在开始没有一点吸引力。

"Cupid's arrow is often slow to strike. It may be attributable to the gradual change in attractiveness from repetition," Ravi Thiruchselvam, Psychologist at Hamilton College in New York, was quoted as saying by dailystar.co.uk last Sunday.

英国《每日星报》上周日引用来自纽约汉密尔顿学院的心理学家Ravi Thiruchselvam的话称："丘比特的箭经常射的很慢。这是因为经常的见面会导致吸引力不断的变化。"

For the study, the team gave snaps of people's faces to a group of young men and women.

为了进行此项研究，研究团队给参加测试的一组年轻男女一些人的照片。

The researchers then wired the participants brains to monitors as the group ranked the attractiveness of people in the pictures.

在根据照片上的人的吸引力进行分级时，研究人员同时监测受测者的大脑反应。

The subjects were then shown the snaps for a second time, and rated those they found attractive much more highly.

然后给受测者再看一次这些快照，然后将他们认为有较高吸引力的人进行评级。

The attraction was even stronger on the third occasion and strongest of all on the fourth.

这种吸引力在第三次的时候会更强，而在第四次达到最强。

The fourth attempt showed extra activity around the excitement and pleasure centres of the brain of the participants

在第四次时，试验会显示，受测者大脑的兴奋和快乐中心的活动会活跃很多。