各位單身的男性朋友，你認為最理想的另一半是什么樣子呢？美麗？大方？賢惠？溫柔？聰穎？健康？活潑……你有沒有想過，你尋找配偶的標準會和你的母親有著千絲萬縷的聯系呢？你的母親會不會對你的擇偶標準有什么影響呢？

    If a man's mother is highly educated, chances are the woman he marries will have a similar education, according to a new study.

    一項最新研究發現，如果媽媽的受教育水平較高，那么兒子選擇的配偶往往擁有相似的教育背景。

    Researchers at the University of Iowa found that nearly 80 percent of high-achieving men who were sons of mothers with college degrees married women with a similar education.

    艾奧瓦大學的研究人員發現，在母親受過高等教育的成功男士中，近80%的人選擇的配偶都擁有相似的教育背景。

    And 62 percent of men whose mothers had graduate degrees tied the knot with a graduate degree holder.

    而在母親為研究生的男士中，有62%所找的伴侶也是研究生。

    "These young men look up to their mothers as role models. They grew up in a family where their mothers were educated women," sociologist Christine Whelan, who conducted the study, said in an interview.

    開展該研究的社會學家克里斯丁·韋蘭在接受采訪時說："這些年輕男士都以他們的母親為榜樣。他們的母親都是受過良好教育的女性。"

    "For an increasing number of these men … when they make their own choices about someone who they think will be a good wife in the future or a good mother, they go back to their role models."

    "現在這樣的男人越來越多，他們擇偶時，往往會以母親作為賢妻良母的標準。"

    Whelan and her colleague Christie Boxer studied data on 3,700 people who took part in a survey about men and the educational level of the women close to them.

    韋蘭及其同事克里斯蒂·波克瑟研究了一項共有3700人參加的調查數據，該調查主要針對的是男性及其身邊女性的教育水平。

    All the men surveyed were considered to be high achievers in their 20s and 30s who earned salaries in the top 10 percent for their age group.

    所有參與調查的男性都是二三十歲的成功人士，他們的收入水平在同齡人中位居前列。

    The researchers found that more than 70 percent of the men had mothers who worked while they were growing up, and that the same group was twice as likely to marry women who made $50,000 or more a year.

    研究人員發現，在這些成功男士中，超過70%的人的母親在他們成長過程中一直都上班，而這些男士選擇年薪不少于5萬美元的女性為配偶的可能性為一般人的兩倍。

    Whelan, who interviewed more than 100 men and has written a book entitled "Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women," found many men welcomed the idea of a working spouse.

    韋蘭發現，很多男性都希望自己的伴侶有工作。韋蘭曾采訪過100多位男士并著有《為什么聰明男人選擇聰明女人》一書。

    "They are increasingly excited about the idea that they won't have to be the only bread winner in the family, so these men are attracted to women who have a job and express a continuing interest to work," Whelan explained.

    她說："男人們越來越希望自己不是家里唯一掙錢養家的人，所以他們喜歡有工作而且愿意一直工作的女性。"