最要命的體質，除了招黑，還有招蚊子。

盛夏時節(jié)，除了酷熱，最讓人難以忍受的恐怕就是被蚊子咬，讓人更加難以忍受的則是，周圍有一圈人，但蚊子只咬你一個！為什么被蚊子咬的總是你？

Some people can sit outside all summer long and not suffer from mosquito bites. Others turn into an itchy mess despite bathing in DEET and never leaving the purple glow of the bug zapper.

有些人可以整個夏天坐在戶外乘涼卻不被蚊子叮咬，而另有一些人即便用含驅蚊胺的沐浴露洗浴、隨身帶著滅蚊燈，卻仍遭蚊子叮咬而奇癢難耐。

zapper['z?p?]：n.微波滅蟲器

It's mostly about the invisible chemical landscape of the air around us. Mosquitoes take advantage of this landscape by using specialized behaviors and sensory organs to find victims by following the subtle chemical traces their bodies leave behind.

這主要是因為我們身體周圍空氣中肉眼看不見的化學成分。通過特殊習性和感覺器官，蚊子利用這種化學環(huán)境，跟蹤人體留下的細微化學痕跡找到叮咬對象。

In particular, mosquitoes rely on carbon dioxide to find their hosts. When we exhale, the carbon dioxide from our lungs doesn't immediately blend with the air. It temporarily stays in plumes that mosquitoes follow like breadcrumbs.

具體來說，蚊子能夠靠人體釋放的二氧化碳找到它們叮咬的對象。當我們呼氣時，從肺里呼出的二氧化碳并非立即與空氣混合，而是暫時形成類似于面包粉的團塊狀氣流，而蚊子會跟蹤這種氣流。

plume [plu?m]：n.羽毛；羽毛裝飾物；（尤指污染物）一團物質

"Mosquitoes start orienting themselves to those pulses of carbon dioxide and keep flying upwind as they sense higher concentrations than the normal ambient air contains," said Joop van Loon, an entomologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Using carbon dioxide, mosquitoes can lock onto targets from up to 164 feet (50 meters) away.

荷蘭瓦赫寧恩大學的昆蟲學家約普·范隆說：“蚊子開始自我定位，跟蹤那些二氧化碳氣流，并在它們感覺到二氧化碳濃度比正常環(huán)境空氣的濃度高時保持逆流飛行?！崩枚趸?，蚊子可以鎖定164英尺（約合50米）以外的目標。

upwind[?p'w?nd]：adv.逆風地

ambient air：環(huán)境空氣

entomologist[,?nt?'mɑl?d??st]：n.昆蟲學者

Things start getting personal when mosquitoes get about 3 feet (1 meter) away from a group of potential targets. In close quarters, mosquitoes take into account a lot of factors that vary from person to person, including skin temperature, the presence of water vapor and color.

當蚊子飛到離一群潛在目標大約3英尺遠時，就開始區(qū)分每個人的不同情況。在近距離時，蚊子考慮很多因人而異的因素，包括皮膚溫度、水汽的存在和顏色。

close quarters：近距離

Scientists think the most important variable mosquitoes rely on when choosing one person over another are the chemical compounds produced by the colonies of microbes that live on our skin.

科學家們認為，蚊子選擇某個特定的人作為叮咬目標依據的一個最重要因素是，皮膚上微生物菌落產生的化學成分。

"Bacteria convert the secretions of our sweat glands into volatile compounds that are taken through the air to the olfactory system on the head of the mosquitoes," Van Loon told Live Science.

范隆告訴美國趣味科學網站說：“細菌把人類汗腺的分泌物變成揮發(fā)性混合物，通過空氣進入位于蚊子頭部的嗅覺系統(tǒng)?！?/p>

secretion [s?'kri??(?)n]：n.分泌；分泌物

volatile ['v?l?ta?l]：adj. [化學]揮發(fā)性的；不穩(wěn)定的

olfactory [?l'f?kt(?)r?]：adj.嗅覺的；味道的

These chemical bouquets are complex, including upward of 300 different compounds, and they vary from person to person based on genetic variation and environment.

這些混合物的化學氣味很復雜，含有300多種成分，而且因為基因差異和環(huán)境不同，因人而異。

upward of：超過，多于

"If you compare a father and daughter in the same household, there can be differences in the ratios of the chemicals the microbes are making," said Jeff Riffell, an associate professor of biology at the University of Washington who has studied mosquito attraction.

美國華盛頓大學研究蚊子吸引力的生物學副教授杰夫·里費爾說：“即使拿一個家庭里的父親與女兒做比對，微生物產生的化學物質比例可能也有差異?！?/p>

For instance, men with a greater diversity of skin microbes tended to get fewer mosquito bites than men with less diverse skin microbes did, a 2011 study in the journal PLOS ONE found. Moreover, men with less diverse microbes tended to have the following bacteria on their bodies: Leptotrichia, Delftia, Actinobacteria Gp3 and Staphylococcus, the researchers said.

譬如，2011年發(fā)表在美國《公共科學圖書館·綜合》雜志上的一篇研究報告發(fā)現，皮膚微生物多樣性較高的男性往往比皮膚微生物多樣性較低的男性少招蚊子叮咬。而且研究人員稱，皮膚微生物多樣性較低的男性，他們皮膚上往往有下列幾種細菌：纖毛菌、代爾夫特菌、放線菌Gp3和葡萄球菌。

In contrast, men with a diverse array of microbes tended to have the bacteria Pseudomonas and Variovorax on their skin, that study found.

研究發(fā)現，相比之下，有多種多樣微生物的男性，在他們的皮膚上往往有假單胞菌和貪嗜菌。

Subtle differences in the composition of these chemical bouquets can account for big differences in how many bites a person gets. The composition of those microbial colonies can also vary over time in the same individual, particularly if that person is sick, Riffell said.

這些化學氣味成分的細微差異在一個人遭蚊子叮咬時會產生巨大差異。里費爾說，同一個人，這些微生物菌落的組成也可能隨時間變化而不同，尤其是在此人生病的時候。

We don't have much control over the microbiomes on our skin, but Riffell did offer some advice based on his research.

我們對皮膚上的微生物沒有太多控制權，但里費爾根據他的研究結果給出了一些建議。

microbiome：微生物組，微生物群系

"Mosquitoes love the color black," so consider wearing something lighter at your next cookout, he said.

他說，“蚊子喜歡黑色”，因此下次露天燒烤時，可以考慮穿淺色衣物。

cookout ['k?ka?t]：n.（美）野外郊游時烹調的野餐；野烹食物

關于為什么有的人容易招蚊子，除了以上原因，還有很多說法：體溫說，血型說，二氧化碳說……今天就來給大家上一堂科普課，告訴你為什么有的人特別招蚊子“喜歡”，小本本準備起來！

1、容易流汗，體溫較高

汗液是蚊子覓食的信號之一，所以往往汗液量比較多的人更容易受到蚊子的“青睞”。這是因為汗液中含有乳酸、氨基酸和氨類化合物，容易吸引蚊子的注意。另外，蚊子的觸角內有一個受熱體，對溫度很敏感，而汗液較多的人體表散熱快，故而對蚊子的吸引力更大。

2、呼出的二氧化碳比較多

科學家研究發(fā)現，蚊子身上有一個觸須居然可以感受到50米外的二氧化碳濃度。因此，產生二氧化碳越多的人，越能吸引蚊子。也可以說，新陳代謝較快的人越招蚊子，一般來說，像小孩，體型較大，孕婦，肺活量大的人更容易招蚊子喜歡哦。

3、身體有刺激性較大的氣體

蚊子的嗅覺是非常靈敏的，特別是對一些刺激性較大的氣體非常的敏感。所以，那些愛化妝的人往往比不化妝的人更容易招惹蚊子。因為很多化妝品中都會有大量的香氣，這對蚊子來說可是不小的誘惑。

那么，你是容易招蚊子的體質嗎？

來源：livescience、新浪網、參考消息網

編輯：yaning