評論
打印
I was recently traveling in the Highlands of New Guinea, and I was talking with a man who had three wives.
最近，我正在新幾內亞高地旅行，我訪談了一位有三個老婆的人。
I asked him, "How many wives would you like to have?"
我問他：“你想要多少個老婆？”
And there was this long pause, and I thought to myself,
他停頓了很長時間，我就想，
"Is he going to say five? Is he going to say 10? Is he going to say 25?"
“他會說5個？還是10個？或許是25個呢？”
And he leaned towards me and he whispered, "None."
結果他靠過來小聲說道：“一個都不想要。”
Eighty-six percent of human societies permit a man to have several wives: polygyny.
當今，86%的人類社會允許男人有好幾個妻子：一夫多妻。
But in the vast majority of these cultures, only about five or ten percent of men actually do have several wives.
但在大多數這些社會中，有多個妻子的男性僅達5%~10%。
Having several partners can be a toothache.
有多個伴侶可是件頭疼的事。
In fact, co-wives can fight with each other, sometimes they can even poison each other's children.
事實上，妻子們之間會產生爭執。有時甚至會毒害對方的孩子。
And you've got to have a lot of cows, a lot of goats, a lot of money, a lot of land, in order to build a harem.
而且你必須得有很多的牛羊、大量金錢和土地，才能建立起一個妻妾成群的閨房。
We are a pair-bonding species. Ninety-seven percent of mammals do not pair up to rear their young; human beings do.
我們是雙紐帶的種群，97%的哺乳動物不用成雙成對地撫育兒女，但人類卻是這樣的。
I'm not suggesting that we're not -- that we're necessarily sexually faithful to our partners.
我并不是建議人類在性方面無需忠誠彼此，
I've looked at adultery in 42 cultures, I understand, actually, some of the genetics of it, and some of the brain circuitry of it.
但在研究了42種文化中的外遇行為之后，我明白了其中有基因的原因，而有一些則是大腦回路的問題。
It's very common around the world, but we are built to love.
整個世界都非常普遍，但愛是我們與生俱來的能力。
