“物以類聚，人以群分”這個說法已經被很多鮮活的事實證明過很多遍了，連我媽媽都說，自己人能聞見自己人。我們今天要說的，就是這種能夠“聞見”自己人的奇妙感覺。

Gay people really do have an inbuilt radar that helps them seek out like-minded souls, scientists have shown.

科學家表示，同性戀人群的確有一個類似內置雷達的感應體系能幫他們搜尋到同類。

This sixth sense, or 'gaydar', ensures they pay more attention to detail, allowing them to pluck potential partners out of a crowd.

這種第六感，或者“同性戀感應雷達”，會讓他們更多地注重細節，能夠讓他們在人群中找出潛在的發展對象。

The Dutch researchers looked at whether straight and gay people focus their attention differently when faced with a problem.

對于同性戀人群和非同性戀人群在面對問題時關注點是否有所不同這個問題，荷蘭的研究人員做了一項研究。

A total of 42 men and women were shown pictures of outlines of large squares and rectangles, each of which was packed with smaller shapes.

研究人員給42名被試男女展示了畫有大正方形和長方形的一些圖片，每個大的圖形里面都包括很多小的圖形。

Our brains are wired to take in the bigger picture, meaning that if we are shown a square filled with rectangles and asked what is inside, we can easily be fooled into saying 'squares'.

我們的大腦會自動識別大的圖形，也就是說，如果我們看到一個正方形里面有很多個小的長方形，然后被問到正方形里面是什么圖形的話，我們就會很容易被誤導，然后回答說“里面是正方形”。

When the men and women were asked similar questions, the heterosexuals replied more quickly but were less accurate.

上述被試者聽到類似這樣的問題時，異性戀的人通常會回答得很快，但是答案往往不夠準確。

The homosexuals took longer but got more answers right, particularly when asked about the smaller shapes, suggesting they were able to see the small details as well as the bigger picture.

Or they were able to see the trees as well as the wood.

同性戀的人考慮的時間要長一些，不過給出的答案準確率要更高，尤其在被問及小圖形的時候。這表明他們在注意全局的同時也很關注小的細節。也就是說，他們既能看到樹木，也能看到森林。

In everyday life, this attention to detail could help them work out people's sexuality.

在日常生活中，這種對細節的關注就能夠幫助他們判斷一個人的性取向。

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）