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This is something that holds true both inmodern times and throughout human history. Dominance can provide a staggeringshort-cut to mating opportunities: genetic evidence indicates that about 8% ofthe male population of Asia today is a descendent of Genghis Khan and hisfamily.
无论是在现代社会，还是在整个人类历史上，这一点都是始终成立的。较高的支配地位为男性赢得交配机会提供了非常惊人的捷径：基因证据显示，今天约有8%的亚洲男性是成吉思汗（Genghis Khan）及其家族的后代。
A study by the appropriately-named NigelBarber linked British facial hair fashions between 1842 and 1971 to the ratioof men to women in the marriage market. It found that in times with a greaterproportion of single men competing for fewer women, beards and moustachesbecame more fashionable.
在奈吉尔.巴伯尔（Nigel Barber ）进行的一项研究中，他将英国在1842年至1971年间的胡子修剪时尚潮流与婚姻市场上的男女比例联系了起来。结果显示，每当男性对女性的竞争比较激烈时，胡子就会变得流行起来。
Beards aren’t the only feature that canconvey dominance – voices do too. People tend to vote for leaders withlower-pitched voices, and during competitive tasks men lower the pitch of theirvoice if they think they are more dominant than their opponent. Like facialhair, voice pitch also easily distinguishes men and women.
胡须并不是能彰显支配地位的唯一特征——声音也具有同样的作用。人们倾向于将票投给那些声音较为低沉的领袖。而在竞争激烈的任务中，如果某人认为自己比竞争对手更占上风，也会压低自己的声音。如同胡须一样，音调也能很容易的判断出一个人的性别。
To help trace the evolutionary origin ofbeards and voices, we tested whether they were seen as attractive, dominant orboth. We asked 20 men and 20 women to rate the dominance and attractiveness ofsix men who were video-taped on four occasions as they let their facial hairgrow. We then used computer software to create four versions of each videowhere the men’s voices had been changed to sound higher and lower-pitched.
为了寻找胡子和嗓音在进化上的起源，研究人员开展了一系列测试，看看人们是否认为它们代表着吸引力和支配地位。研究人员让6名男性分别在四种不同的胡子状态下拍摄了四段视频，然后让20名男性和20名女性对他们的吸引力和支配能力进行评估。他们还用电脑软件做了四份不同版本的视频，改变了片中男人声音的高低。
Beards didn’t affect a man’sattractiveness rating consistently, but those who let their facial hair growwere perceived as more dominant
胡子对男人的吸引力没有确切的影响，但留有胡子的男性被认为更具有支配能力
We found that male voices that soundeddeeper than average were rated as the most attractive. Really deep or highpitches weren’t as popular. In contrast, men’s voices were perceived asincreasingly dominant the lower they were. Beards didn’t affect a man’sattractiveness rating consistently, but those who let their facial hair growwere perceived as more dominant than others –in line withprevious research.
结果发现，音调低于平均值的男性被认为是最有吸引力的，过高或过低的音高都不受欢迎。不过，男人的声音越低，在受试者心目中的支配能力就越强。胡子对男人的吸引力没有确切的影响，但留有胡子的男性被认为比其他人更具有支配能力，这与此前的研究是一致的。
The tension between attracting a mate andcompeting with others doesn’t just apply to beards and voices. Men on averagealso think their body should be more muscular than women report that they want,while women on average believe they need to be thinner and wear more make-upthan men report that they want. We’re not always thatgreat at judging what the other sex finds appealing, but maybe that’s in partbecause our instincts are to out-compete our peers as well as attract apartner.
吸引异性和与同性竞争之间存在的矛盾在胡子和嗓音方面并不适用。平均而言，男性总希望自己比女性心中的理想形象多一些肌肉，而女性则认为自己应该比男性喜欢的更瘦一些、妆更浓一些。我们似乎不太擅于判断异性究竟认为什么样的特征具有吸引力，或许一部分原因是因为，我们的本能做法便是打败同性、吸引异性。
Of course, most of this research has beencarried out within western populations. Make-up use, average body composition,and even the very ability to grow facial hair all differ enormously across theworld – meaning we could get different results elsewhere.
当然，这些研究大多数都是在西方国家进行的。化妆品的使用、身体平均构成、甚至长胡子的能力都可能因为世界不同的地区而存在非常大的差异，意味着如果我们是在别处开展这些实验的话，也许又会得出不同的结果。
But the point is that, whether it’s facialhair or something else, we often see this pattern of competing requirementsleading to differences in appearances. Think you can please everyone all of thetime? You can’t.
但关键是，不管是胡子还是其它东西，我们总喜欢将一个人的竞争能力与外貌联系在一起。你以为你能一直取悦所有人吗？那是不可能的。
