英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

◎陳成良

Women may get a glow during pregnancy, but now it turns out that men feel they are more attractive as well - only after the baby has arrived.

女人懷孕期間可能會容光煥發，但現在研究發現，男人也會因此而感到自己更有魅力——不過是在寶寶出生以後。

In the first study of its kind, men said that their self image improved after the birth in what is being called a ‘hidden benefit’ of becoming a dad.

在首次探討此一課題的研究中，男人表示他們的自我形象在寶寶出生後有所提升，這就是所謂初為人父的「潛在益處」。

The scientists said that men could get the boost because they feel they are more masculine having just seen a mini version of themselves enter the world.

科學家稱，男人自我形象改善是因為他們剛目睹自己的迷你版降臨世間，這讓他們感覺自己更有男子氣概。

They could also get a kick out of women cooing over them as they walk around with their baby.

在男人抱著寶寶外出散步時，那些圍著他們輕聲交談的女人們也讓他們感到愉快。

Women by contrast did not experience such a lift about their appearance - possibly because the physical demands of raising a child left them a shadow of what they used to be.

相形之下，女人在孩子出世後卻沒有感覺自己外貌有所改善，這可能是因為帶小孩較勞累，讓她們無暇自顧，所以感覺自己還是老樣子。

Lead researcher Alicia Cast, an associate professor the University of California-Santa Barbara, said：‘I was talking about this paper with my husband and he commented on the attention he got when he was seen in public holding our son after he was born. Like： "Aren’t you a good dad", "Look at that new dad with his baby"’.

首席研究員、加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校的副教授艾麗西亞．卡斯特說：「我和我的丈夫談論這篇論文時，他提到他抱著剛出生的兒子外出時所得到的關注。像是『真是個好爸爸』、『看那個抱著寶寶的新手爸爸』」。

新聞辭典

masculine：形容詞，指男子的、男子氣概的。例句：He’s so masculine!（他真是男人中的男人。）

coo：動詞，指輕柔地低聲說話、鴿子發出的咕咕聲，如The visitors cooed over the newborn baby.（客人對著剛出生的寶寶輕聲低語。）

get a kick out of：片語，從某件事得到樂趣、感到愉快。例句：I get a kick out of you. （ 和你在一起感覺很愉快。）

文章出處：<a href="http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/">自由時報電子報中英對照新聞