For women, looks may matter more if they live in the city than in rural areas, a new study finds. The results, which are based on body shape rather than overall beauty, showed that in cities the most attractive gals had higher social and psychological well-being.That same link wasn’t found for country residents. The researchers suggest with higher population densities –cities offer more potential friends and sexual partners, allowing city folks to be choosier and so theoretically able to select the cream of the crop to associate with.

　　一项研究发现， 对女性来说，外貌在城市里要比在乡村更重要。这项研究更基于体型因素而不是整体美。结论显示，在城市中，最迷人的姑娘其社会幸福感及心理健康状况都很好，但这种关联在乡村居民中并没有被发现。研究员们觉得这和更大的人口密度有关。在城市里，你会有更多的潜在朋友和性伙伴，这会让城市人变得更爱挑剔，在理论上可以去挑选最优秀的人交往。

　　Though the study is based on women, the researchers suspect similar results would hold for men, with their physical appeal also impacting their personal lives more so in cities where a more“free market” of relationships exists.

　　虽然这项研究基于女性，不过研究员们预测，相似的结论也会发生在男性身上——城市中存在“自由市场”般的人际关系，男性身体上的吸引力会更多地影响他们在城市中的个人生活。

　　In rural areas, people don’t tend to handpick their pals. “Rural areas have more embedded networks for relationships, more densely overlapping relationships where you see the same people and are friends with the same people across time,”said study researcher Victoria Plaut, a cultural and social psychologist at the University of Georgia. “If there is more security, then attractiveness is less likely to matter for forming friendships.”

　　在乡村，人们不倾向于亲自结交朋友。“乡村的人际关系网是更加内嵌式的，人与人关系间的交集更加密集。日子一直在过，但你每天见的总是同一些人，朋友也总是同一些朋友。”乔治亚大学文化和社会心理学家、此项研究的研究员维多利亚·普劳特说道，“这种人际关系网更安全，吸引力对交朋友来说也不那么重要了。”