托福阅读材料之压力大的妈妈更容易生女儿

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

研究表明，生活压力大的女性在怀孕时更容易生女儿。

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.

研究结果发现，如果女性在怀孕前处于长期的压力环境，无论是在家庭、工作或感情生活中，那么生女孩的几率比正常情况要高。

The finding, by Oxford University and U.S. 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.

这项研究是由牛津大学和美国研究者共同完成的。该研究显示，经济低迷会造成更多的女性生女孩。无独有偶，也有一些研究表明历史上在重大剧变后男婴儿的出生数量有所下降。

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.

例如，在美国9.11恐怖袭击事件后，纽约市男孩的出生数量降低；1911年前东德柏林墙倒塌引起的经济混乱事件后，男孩的出生数量也有所减少。

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.

不过的研究是个将此现象与生活压力和劳累联系在一起的。此研究表示这是由于压力荷尔蒙升高而引起的。

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.

有338位英国女性参与研究。这些尝试受孕的女性将生活以及性生活记录在日记中，并填写了他们感受到压力的问卷调查。在怀孕前，一直测量她们包括皮质醇在内的压力荷尔蒙指数。

Among the 50 per cent of the women who had the highest amounts of cortisol before pregnancy, the sex ratio was clearly skewed towards girls, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual conference heard.

美国社会生殖医药研究年会听取了这一研究报告。报告显示，怀孕前测试的皮质醇指数的女性中，有50%的人生女孩的几率明显偏高。

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.

此次年会在佛罗里达州的奥兰多举行，报告中表明，压力的女性与压力最小的女性相比，不生男孩的几率要高达75%。当人们遭遇长期的压力（来自工作或者人际关系）环境时皮质醇指数会上升。

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

至于为什么皮质醇的高指数会造成生男孩的几率降低，原因目前尚未明。

But, if the link is firmed up, would-be mothers may be told about the benefits of relaxation, in the same way as they are now advised to take care of their health in other ways.

不过，如果婴儿性别几率与压力荷尔蒙间这种联系得到证实确定，那么准妈妈们就要多注意放松的好处，就像现在通过别的方式保持健康一样，精神放松也很重要。