The sight of a crying girlfriend or wife is never likely to turn a man to thoughts of passion. But it is not just the emotions of an upset partner that dampen the mood in a loving relationship. Female tears contain a chemical that makes her less attractive to the opposite sex, a study has found. While a man might not realise it, his brain sniffs out the signal and his desire is subdued.

電視劇《紅樓夢》一經播出，褒貶不一，不管導演李少紅的翻拍最終能否還原原著的經典，然而“林妹妹招牌式的楚楚動人”還是時隔N年后再一次出現在現代人眼中，我們不禁問道：現在的男人還愛著楚楚動人、淚眼婆娑的林黛玉嗎？經研究，科學家竟然給我們“否定”的答案！研究者發現，戀人在相處過程中，女人的“眼淚攻勢”很難再獲得男人的憐惜與同情甚至愛情，因為女性在哭的時候，男人體內立刻產生“化學作用”潛意識中會覺得異性的吸引力大大減少，男人的腦中會出現“警報”---還是趕快閃吧，這個女人碰不得！

Researchers arrived at the conclusion after asking six women, selected from 60 volunteers, to make repeat visits to a lab where they cried into a test tube while watching a weepy film. The tears were then trickled back down the women’s faces and a group of men asked to lean close. Salty water was used as substitute tears in a second group of women. The men said that both sets of ‘tears’ smelt the same. But when shown pictures of female faces, those who had sniffed the real tears rated the pictures as less attractive, the journal Science reports.

研究者對60名女性志愿者進行實驗，將每一組（6個人）輪流進行實驗：將第一組（會哭的）女人聚集起來觀看“催人淚下”的電影，然后將第二組（不會哭）女人進入影院也隨后觀看電影，與前者不同的是，第二組女人的眼淚是“假”的，是實驗者用“鹽水”滴上去的。這段時間，研究者讓一群男士進入影院，讓他們“依偎”在女人身邊，測試他們對“眼淚女人”的反映！實驗結果顯示，男人壓根分不清“真眼淚”和“假眼淚”，在男士的嗅覺下，兩者并無差別。但在測試他們喜歡哪一組女人時，他們竟然都一致覺得“真流淚”的女人吸引力很低，相反，“假流淚”女人更有吸引力些！

To expose the men to the feelings of sadness that had accompanied the women’s tears, the men then also watched a weepy movie. Levels of the male sex hormone testosterone fell in those who had sniffed real tears but not in the men exposed to the fake ones. The researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, said the results suggest that weeping helps women ward off unwelcome advances. The chemicals in tears could also help protect against violence by lowering male testosterone levels.

來自以色列的研究員稱：“在測試眼淚對男士的效果中，我們發現，女人一旦淚如雨下，男性的睪丸素（男性荷爾蒙的一種）會降低。也就是女人在遇到暴力的時候，哭的力量可以使得男性的寬恕。但是女人要是要是企圖用哭來獲得愛情，讓男人覺得你更加楚楚動人，那就是不可能的了。男人一看到女性哭，頓時覺得女人吸引力降低大大降低，一點都不可愛了！”