Women who are stressed while trying for a baby are more likely to have girls, research suggests.

據英國《每日郵報》10月17日報道，研究表明，女性在計劃懷孕產子時如果承受較大的壓力，更有可能懷上女孩。

A study found that those who were under pressure at home, work or in their love life in the weeks or months before becoming pregnant had higher than usual odds of giving birth to a daughter rather than a son.

一項研究發現，那些在懷孕前處于家庭、工作或者感情生活壓力下的女性，懷上女孩的幾率比男孩大得多。

The finding, by Oxford University and US researchers, means the economic downturn could see more women give birth to daughters. The study follows others that have shown the number of baby boys goes down following major upheavals.

牛津大學和美國研究人員的這一發現意味著，在經濟衰退時期，會有更多的女性產下女嬰。在此之前，已有其他研究表明，在經歷大的社會動亂之后新生男嬰的總數會有所下降。

For instance, in the months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the number of boys born in New York plunged, while the economic chaos that followed the collapse of the Berlin Wall saw far fewer boys born than expected in the former East Germany in 1991.

比如，在9·11恐怖襲擊后的數月內，紐約出生的男嬰數量下降。而在柏林墻倒塌后引起的經濟蕭條時期，1991年東德出生的男嬰比預期的少得多。

But the latest study is the first to link the phenomenon to the stresses and strains of everyday life and to rising levels of stress hormones.

但這項最新研究還是第一次將這種現象與日常生活的緊張壓力以及增長的應激激素水平相聯系。

Some 338 women from around the UK who were trying to get pregnant kept diaries about their lives and sex lives and filled in questionnaires about how stressed they felt. Levels of stress hormones including cortisol were measured in the months before pregnancy.

英國各地大約338名打算懷孕的女性以日記形式記錄了她們的日常活動和性生活，然后填寫了調查問卷，問卷內容是關于她們所感受到的壓力大小。在她們懷孕前的幾個月內，測試了包括皮質醇在內的應激激素水平。

Of the babies born, 58 were boys and 72 were girls. Normally, in Britain 105 boys are born for every 100 girls.

在出生的嬰兒中，有58個男孩和72個女孩。通常情況下，在英國，每出生100個女孩，就會有105個男孩誕生。

The most stressed women were up to 75 per cent less likely to have boys than the least stressed, the conference in Orlando, Florida, was told. Cortisol levels rise when people suffer long-term stress such as pressure at work and bad relationships.

從佛羅里達州奧蘭多市舉行的會議上得知，比起壓力最小的女性，壓力最大的女性無法誕育男孩的可能性高達75%。當人們長期遭受壓力時，比如工作壓力和不良關系帶來的壓力，皮質醇水平就會上升。

It isn't known why high levels of cortisol appear to cut the odds of having a boy.

我們尚且無法得知為什么高皮質醇水平會降低生育男孩的幾率。

The gender of a baby is determined by the chromosomes in the father's sperm and so is set at conception.

嬰兒的性別是由男性精子的染色體決定的，這在受孕時已經確定。

But it is possible that high levels of cortisol somehow make it more difficult for male embryos to implant in the womb.

但皮質醇水平過高，可能會使男性的胚胎在植入女性子宮時變得更加困難。

In addition, male babies may be more fragile and so more likely to be miscarried when cortisol levels are high, leading to more girls being born.

此外，男性嬰兒可能更加脆弱，當皮質醇水平增高時，流產的可能性更大，這也導致了更多女嬰的誕生。