In contrast, 19 fragrances significantly reduced the strength of underarm odour for men.

与之相比，19种腋下混合气味成功蒙骗了男性的鼻子。

Lead researcher Dr Charles Wysocki, a behavioural neuroscientist, said: "Taken together, our studies indicate that human sweat conveys information that is of particular importance to females.

研究小组的首席研究员、行为神经科学家查尔斯·维索斯基博士表示，综合实验结果，人类汗腺分泌的气味所传达的信息对于女性尤为重要。

Not only were women better smellers than men, but male odours were harder to block than female odours.

不仅女性的嗅觉比男性敏锐，而且男性的体味比女性的更难隔离。

Underarm odours from the two sexes did not differ in how strong they smelled. However 19% of the fragrances successfully reduced the strength of male underarm odour, compared to over 50% for the female equivalent.

男女腋下体味的强度其实并无差异。但是，男性香水能有效地减弱男性腋下19%的气味，而女性香水则能掩盖超过50%的体味。

Dr Leslie Knapp, an expert in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said there were good evolutionary reasons why a woman's ability to detect body odours should be more acute, as it could literally be an effective way to sniff out a suitable mate.

剑桥大学生物人类学专家莱斯利·纳普博士表示，女性辨别体味的能力之所以更强是因为进化的原因，因为这样女性就可以更有效地闻出适合自己的伴侣。

She said: "Women perhaps need to be more discriminating when they choose who to mate with to produce offspring, as they invest more than males in the reproductive process.

她说：“女性可能在选择与之生育后代的伴侣时需要更有效地识别能力，所以她们在繁衍过程中具备了优于男性的某种能力。”

"Men don't need to be so choosy, they have lots of sperm, and can reproduce with lots of females, but once a woman reproduces with a partner she is tied up for nine months."

“男性不需要如此得谨慎，他们有许许多多的精子，他们可以和许多女性生育后代。而一旦女性怀孕，她们需要经历9个月的忍耐。”

Dr Knapp said there was evidence that odour gave a hint about genetic make-up. She highlighted HLA genes involved in the immune response.

纳普博士说，有证据表明，体味同时也会发出一个人基因组成的信号。她强调，人类白细胞抗原基因就与免疫功能相关。

She said in evolutionary terms it was desirable for a women to mate with a man whose genes were different from hers, as this was likely to produce more robust offspring.

她表示，从进化的角度来说，女性若能和与自己基因组合不同的男性结合是很好的选择，因为那样他们的下一代很可能更健康。