People who live in the tropics have more baby girls compared with those living in other parts of the world, work reveals.
研究顯示，住在熱帶的人，比生活在世界上其他地方的人生更多女孩。
It may be down to the hotter weather or the longer days, says US researcher Dr Kristen Navara.
美國研究人員那瓦拉說，這可能是因為天氣較炎熱，或白天較長的緣故。
She says this climate may change miscarriage rates and sperm quality.
Or there may be some evolutionary advantage to having more girls than boys if you live by the equator.
她說，氣候可能改變流產率與精子品質。或者是住在接近赤道的地方，生較多女孩可能比生男孩多一些演化好處。
Experts already know that the birth rates of boys and girls vary across the globe.
專家已經知道生男孩與女孩的機率，世界各地不同。
While some of this can be explained by society—in countries like China baby boys are favoured and many unborn girls are electively aborted—there are natural processes at work.
有些時候這種情況可用社會來解釋—在中國等國家，男孩比較受歡迎，還未出生的女孩會被選擇性地墮胎—不過自然過程也有影響。
Research suggests the female foetus is less fragile than the male foetus, which is more prone to the effects of the environment on pregnant women.
研究人員認為，男胎比女胎脆弱，比較容易受到環境對孕婦的影響。
新聞辭典
produce：動詞，生育。例句：All our friends seem to be busy producing offspring at the moment.
（我們的朋友現在似乎都在忙著生兒育女。）
miscarriage：名詞，流產。例句：I had two miscarriages before I gave birth to my daughter Heather.（我生女兒海瑟之前，曾經流產兩次。）
by：介係詞，在……旁邊，靠近。例句：A small child stood sullenly by her side.（一個小孩繃著臉站在她身旁。）
No comments:
Post a Comment