纽约时报 同性恋取向是多种因素共同作用的结果(3)（在线收听）

In a way, the range of opinions by scientists who also identify as L.G.B.T.Q.

自我认同也为L.G.B.T.Q.人士的其他科学家对该研究可谓众说纷纭，一定程度而言，

underscores a central finding of the study: Sexuality is complicated.

这也凸显出了该研究的一大核心发现：性取向是个复杂的问题。

The study analyzed the genetic data of 408,000 men and women from a large British database, the U.K. Biobank,

这一研究分析了英国生物银行收集的来自40.8万名男性和女性的基因数据，

who answered extensive health and behavior questions between 2006 and 2010, when they were between the ages of 40 and 69.

所有人都在2006年至2010年间，当时他们的年龄都在40岁至69岁之间，回答过大量有关健康和行为的问题。

The researchers also used data from nearly 70,000 customers of the genetic testing service 23andMe,

研究人员还调用了基因检测服务供应商23andMe的近7万名客户的数据，

who were 51 years old on average, mostly American, and had answered survey questions about sexual orientation.

这些客户的平均年龄为51岁，大多数都是美国人，都做过有关性取向的调查问卷。

All were of white European descent, one of several factors that the authors note limit their study’s generalization:

所有人都是欧洲白人的后代，不过，作者们认为，这一点也限制了他们的研究的综合性：

Trans people were not included.

跨性别人群没有被纳入考察范围。

The researchers mainly focused on answers to one question:

研究人员主要关心的问题只有一个：

whether someone ever had sex with a samesex partner, even once.

是否和同性发生过性行为，哪怕只有一次。

A much higher proportion of the 23andMe sample — about 19 percent compared to about 3 percent of the Biobank sample —

相比之下，23andMe的样本人群中汇报有过这一经历的人的比例要高得多——约为19%，而Biobank样本的比例仅为3%——

reported a samesex sexual experience, a difference possibly related to cultural factors

这一差异可能与文化因素有关，

or because the specific 23andMe sexual orientation survey might attract more L.G.B.T.Q. participants.

也可能是因为23andMe的调查的性取向属性明确，因而吸引了更多的L.G.B.T.Q.人士参与调查。

Despite its limitations, the research was much larger and more varied than previous studies,

尽管该研究存在一定的局限性，依然比之前的研究广泛丰富，

which generally focused on gay men, often those who were twins or were otherwise related.

因后者关注的重点一般为男同性恋，通常还是双胞胎或有其他亲属关系的男同性恋。

Melinda Mills, a professor of sociology at the University of Oxford,

梅林达·米尔斯，牛津大学社会学教授，

who wrote a commentary that Science published alongside the study,

针对这一现象写了一篇评论发表在《科学》期刊上，

said “Just the fact that they look at women is hooray.”

她表示：“该研究还关注到了女性，就这一点，就值得肯定了。”

There might be thousands of genes influencing samesex sexual behavior, each playing a small role, scientists believe.

科学家们认为，影响同性性行为的基因可能有很多，每一种都只发挥了很小的作用。

The new study found that all genetic effects likely account for about 32 percent of whether someone will have samesex sex.

这项新的研究发现，一个人是否会有同性性行为，基因的作用可能占到了总影响因素的作用的32%。