Men find averagely shaped women more attractive than fashion models and Playboy centrefolds, claim scientists.

Researchers found that men preferred the shape of ordinary women, equivalent to dress size 14, than so-called super-attractive models, according to a study that compared the body shapes of ordinary women, Playboy centrefolds, models from the 1920s and 1990s and glamour¹ girls.

Professor Rob Brooks² at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues, asked 100 male students to judge the attractiveness of 201 line drawings of female torsos with different hip³, waist and shoulder measurements.

They discovered that men preferred the average body size of women aged⁴ 25 to 44 to so-called "superattractive models".

"The orthodoxy says that you will be attractive with a certain waist-hip ratio no matter how the rest of your body varies," Prof Brooks told the reporters. "Our study shows this is not the case,".

When compared with groups of real women, including Playboy centrefolds, Australian escorts advertising⁵ on the internet and average Australian women between the ages of 25 and 44, the latter group most closely matched the preferred body shape.

That is equivalent to a size 14 dress, or 36-28-38 and 5ft 4in tall, the average size of women in both Australia and Britain.

科学家最新研究表明，在男性看来，与时尚模特和《花花公子》插页女郎相比，一般身材的女性更有魅力。

研究人员将上世纪20年代至90年代间的普通女性、《花花公子》插页女郎、模特和美女的身材进行了对比，结果发现，男性更偏爱穿14码衣服的普通女性的身材，而不是风情万种的模特。

澳大利亚悉尼市新南威尔士大学的教授罗布•布鲁克斯和同事开展了此项调查，他们让100位男生对201幅女性身形素描的魅力作出评价，这些女性的臀围、腰围和肩宽各不相同。

研究人员发现，与所谓的“超模”相比，男性更钟爱年龄在25岁至44岁之间的身材普通的女性。

布鲁克斯教授在接受记者采访时说：“传统观点认为，只要你有一定的腰围和臀围比例，那么不管你其它部位的身材怎样，你都会很有魅力。但我们的研究结果表明并非如此。”

如果将《花花公子》插页女郎、在网上做广告的澳大利亚女伴、以及年龄在25岁至44岁之间的澳大利亚普通女性相比，那么男性最钟情最后一组女性的身材。

在澳大利亚和英国，这类女性穿14码的衣服，三围是36-28-38，身高5.4英尺。

Vocabulary:

centrefold: a magazine center spread; especially a foldout of a large photograph or map or other feature.(杂志的中间插页）

line drawing：素描

escort：an escort is a person who accompanies another person of the opposite sex to a social event. Sometimes people are paid to be escorts.（陪同，护送）