Online dating sites like eHarmony and OkCupid claim they can find you the perfect romantic match by using algorithms. These kinds of sites have catchy slogans like “date smarter, not harder, ” implying that they’ve finally perfected a scientific approach to matchmaking. Just answer a few questions, and their super-secret love science will find the person who is right for you.
eHarmony、OkCupid之类的线上交友网站声称他们可以通过运算法则帮你找到浪漫、完美的配偶，甚至打出如“努力约会不如智慧约会”等朗朗上口的口号，以示他们已经找到一种完善的科学方式来牵桥搭线。你只需回答几个问题，他们的终极机密寻爱科学便会找到最适合你的人选。
While much of the “science” behind online dating sites has been called into question, that doesn’t seem to dissuade us from wanting to make the messy (and often frustrating) world of romantic love into something quantifiable. This idea, of course, is nothing new—and at least one futurist thinker of the early 20th century hoped that new technological developments might one day create the perfect matchmaking device.
尽管线上交友网站所谓的“科学”已遭到质疑，但似乎阻扰不了我们把鱼龙混杂的浪漫爱情世界(通常更令人沮丧)变成可计量事物的愿景。不过这并非一个新奇的想法——二十世纪初有位未来学家、思想家曾预期，新技术的发展有朝一日将可能创造出完美的配对装置。
The April 1924 issue of Science and Invention magazine ran an article by Hugo Gernsback, the magazine’s publisher, which examined the different “scientific” ways to determine if a marriage will succeed or fail.
1924年4月的《科学与发明》杂志(Science and Invention)刊登了一篇杂志出版商雨果·根斯巴克(Hugo Gernsback)所撰写的文章，研究检验婚姻成败的多种“科学”方法。
How much would the average man or woman give to know beforehand if his or her prospective married life is to be success or failure? At present, marriage is a lottery. It seems impossible to predict beforehand how your prospective mate will turn out in the future. Through certain fundamentals, which can easily be ascertained, one can be reasonably certain as to one’s choice. We take extreme care in breeding horses, dogs and cats, but when we come to ourselves we are extremely careless and do not use our heads nor the means that science puts in our hands for scientific breeding. There are certain basic tests which can be made today and which will give one a reasonable assurance of married happiness.
有多少男女会预先知道他们未来的婚姻生活是顺利或是失败？就目前看来，结婚如同买彩票，都是碰运气的事，你的伴侣未来将如何变化似乎无法预测。但事实上，可以通过一些容易确定的基本法则，合理的测定两个人是否合适。我们尽心尽力的饲养马、狗、猫，但当问题落到自己身上时，常常粗心大意以待，或者不假思索、不运用科学方式解决。现在已有一些可行的基础测试方式，为一段幸福的婚姻提供有力保证。
In the article Gernsback explains four different tests that can be administered to a couple in order to determine scientifically whether a marriage will work.
在文章里，根斯巴克阐释了可在夫妻之间执行检验的四种不同方式，科学的测定两人的婚姻是否能够长久。
1) Physical Attraction Test
1) 身体吸引力测试
According to Gernsback, physical attraction is the single most important element for a successful marriage. He explains that in order to measure the level of a couple’s physical attraction for one another, electrodes must be attached to each person’s wrist so that an “electrical sphygmograph” can record their pulse. Then a chain is wrapped around their chests to measure breathing:
据根斯巴克所说，身体吸引力是婚姻成功最重要的因素。他解释道，为衡量一对夫妻对彼此身体的吸引程度，需在两人的手腕上连接电极作为“电子脉波计”记录他们的脉搏，另外在胸部绕一条链子测量呼吸频率：
…around the chest of each is a chain which is secured to a piece of spring covered by a rubber hose. One end of the tube thus formed is sealed, the other connects to a manometer and also to a tambour supplied with a stylus. The stylus leaves a record on a moving paper tape showing the rate of respiration.
……在两人胸部各环绕一条链子，固定于橡胶软管包裹的弹簧片上。软管的一端为封闭状态，另一端连接压力计和附带手写笔的鼓。手写笔在一张移动的纸上记录呼吸率变化图。
Essentially, if your pulse rate rises and you breathe more quickly while embracing or kissing your partner, Gernsback contends that this is scientific evidence of physical attraction.
根斯巴克认为，当你与伴侣拥抱或亲吻时，脉搏加速且呼吸加快，即是彼此身体互相吸引的科学证据。 同情心测试
The sympathy test involves one of the partners watching the other go through something mildly traumatic, like having blood drawn. In the illustration below, the young woman watches her partner and if her muscular contractions and sudden inhalations “due to excitement” are wild enough, then she’s supposed to be sufficiently sympathetic to him as a partner.
同情心测试包括观测夫妻一方看着另一方经受轻度创伤时的反应，例如抽血。下图中，年轻女子正在进行检测，若她肌肉收缩、突然“因刺激”而引起足够强烈的反应，就可以说明她对另一半表现出充分的同情心。 体味测试
Interestingly, Gernsback claims that more marriages are probably wrecked by body odors than any other cause. During the body odor test, the couple is made to smell each other (“not a pleasant experience, ” Gernsback opines) by one person being placed inside a large capsule with a hose coming out the top. The hose is led to the nose of the other person and if the smells aren’t found too objectionable (again, measured by devices strapped to the chest and wrist) then the romantic pairing is deemed safe.
有趣的是，根斯巴克声称体味比其他因素更有可能引发婚姻问题。在测试中，夫妻一方处于密封舱中，另一方通过舱顶的软管来闻对方体味(根斯巴克说道，“这是一个令人不快的试验”)。测试结果仍通过置于手腕和胸部的设备来获取，如果结果显示双方对彼此的体味并不反感厌恶，这对夫妻的浪漫关系便可视为稳定。 神经紊乱测试
According to Gernsback it’s important that at least one partner can be calm under pressure. The nervous disorder test is perhaps the most amusing in that it imagines a man (let’s call him Professor Sixshooter) delivering a surprise gunshot in the air. The “nervous reaction” of both people is recorded on tape and if they both are too startled “marriage should not take place.” I don’t know about you, but I’d be a little uneasy if my partner wasn’t startled at the sound of a gunshot.
文中根斯巴克还提到，在面对压力时夫妻至少有一人仍能保持冷静状态亦是成功婚姻的关键点。神经紊乱测试似乎是四种方式中最滑稽的，设想测试员突然朝空中开抢，记录下夫妻双方的“紧张反应”，看是否会因惊吓而产生“真不该结婚”的念头。不知道你怎么看待这个测试，不过如果我的伴侣在听到枪声后依然稳如泰山，我反而会觉得不自在了。
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