Forget your chat-up lines and ditch the expensive aftershave, because scientists say the secret to dating is far simpler.
忘掉你的搭訕臺詞，放下那些昂貴的須后潤膚露吧，科學家表示，約會的秘密比這簡單多了。

The key to finding love is all in a name, it seems.
找到愛情的關鍵似乎只在于你的名字。

A team of researchers has discovered that people with names earlier in the alphabet are more likely to be romantically successful.
研究人員發現，那些名字在字母表里靠前的人戀愛更容易成功。

After carrying out an extensive search of studies in the fields of psychology and sociology, as well as computer, behavioural, and neurocognitive sciences, the scientists from Queen Mary University of London found that names are vital for first impressions.
在經過心理學，社會學，計算機，行為學以及神經認知等領域的大量調查后，倫敦大學瑪麗皇后學院的科學家們發現，名字在第一印象中十分重要。

Their study, published in the Evidence Based Medicine journal, suggests that having a name starting with the letters A to M is just as important as the picture you choose for an online dating profile.
這份刊登在《循證醫學》期刊上的調查研究顯示，有一個從A到M之間的字母開頭的名字和你為在線約會網站挑選個人資料照片一樣重要。

Professor Khalid Khan, who led the research, said: 'Alphabetically ordering things has been around for centuries.
該研究小組的負責人 Khalid Khan教授說到：“按字母排序的做法已有幾個世紀之久。”

'Research has shown that this accident of initial letters has important influence on outcomes.
“調查顯示，首字母對于事情結果又很重要的影響。”

'A always comes first. Peoples are drawn to those at the top of any listing.
“A總是排在最前面。人們通常會被排在前面的東西所吸引。”

'Applied to online dating this means that those at the top of the listing get first bite of the attention from potential love-interests and so have a higher chance of being matched.'
“放在網上約會的話，這也就是說最能吸引人們注意力的的還是那些名字靠前的人。也正是這些人要比其他人更有可能配對成功。”

'There is something in human nature that draws us to those at the top of any listing and this phenomenon, though not fully explained, has an impact on online dating. Perhaps we subconsciously give higher value to things that appear to be at the top of the pile.'
“人性中有一些東西使我們會被排在任何列表前端的東西所吸引。這一現象沒有充分的解釋，對于網上交友卻有影響。或許我們在潛意識中也會對排在前面的事物給予更高的評價。”

He added: 'Research shows that people with names in top half alphabet paper to do better in education compared to those in lower half, on average. Amazon and Apple, successful companies begin with A.
“調查顯示，名字首字母排在字母表前半部分的人比排在后半部分的人在教育方面有更高的成就。亞馬遜，蘋果等成功的公司的名字也都是A打頭。”

'This does not mean that things lower down in the alphabet don't have a chance - Zara is a successful company too - it is just that on average their chances are lower.'
“這也并不代表排在字母表后半部分的人沒有機會。Zara就是一個很成功的公司。只不過是在平均幾率上要相對低一些。”

Vocabulary

chat-up lines：搭訕用語
alphabet：字母表
neurocognitive sciences:神經認知科學
phenomenon：現象

（譯者：gaoxiaomi 編輯：馬文英）