It's a well-known fact that yawning is contagious and can spread around a room in a matter of seconds, but it turns out the phenomenon is more common among women.
眾所周知，打哈欠是會傳染的，一個房間里的人陸續打哈欠，也就是幾秒的事兒。更有結果證明，這種傳染在女性之間更為普遍。

During tests, researchers found that while men and women yawn spontaneously at equal rates, women are more likely to yawn in 'reply' to another person's yawn.
在測試過程中，研究人員發現，相同頻率下，男人和女人自發地打哈欠時，女性更可能會受他人影響打哈欠。

Yawning in response to someone else is a recognised sign of empathy, which suggests that women are more empathetic and attuned to others than men.
回應別人的哈欠是個公認的移情標志。因此上面的結果表明，與男人相比，女性更加善解人意。

The research was carried out at Pisa University in Italy.
這項研究是在意大利的比薩大學進行的。

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the internal emotional states of others, and previous research has already shown that women are better at it than men.
移情是理解和分享他人內心情緒狀態的能力，以前的研究已經表明，女性的移情能力要比男性更強。

For example, research has revealed women more often mimic the facial expressions of others, showing they are picking up on the other person's state of mind.
例如研究發現，女性更經常模仿別人的面部表情，這表明她們正在揣摩別人的心理狀態。

A team led by Elisabetta Palagi, set out to examine whether women are more likely to unconsciously mimic another person's yawning.
伊麗莎白·帕拉吉帶領的團隊，對女性是否“更可能無意識地模仿另一個人打哈欠”進行了研究。

To test their theory, the experts secretly observed people in hundreds of work and social situations over a period of five years.
為了檢驗他們的理論，專家們在五年時間里，秘密觀察了數百名不同工作背景和社會環境的人。

They particularly noted if subjects 'returned' another person's yawn within three minutes.
他們特別注意受試者是否會在三分鐘內對他人的哈欠做出回應，

The authors, writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, defined yawning scientifically as 'an involuntary sequence of mouth opening, deep inspiration, brief apnoea [stopping breathing] and slow expiration'.
研究結果發布在《皇家社會開放科學》雜志上。作者把哈欠科學地定義為“先張口，深吸氣，簡短的無呼吸狀態[呼吸暫停]，然后慢慢的呼氣”這樣一個不由自主的過程。

While they said men and women yawned spontaneously at equal rates, they discovered that once someone had yawned, female participants were more likely to yawn as well.
雖然研究人員稱男人和女人打哈欠的自發率相同，但他們也發現，一旦有人打了個哈欠，女性更容易跟著打哈欠。

Explaining why they think women are more likely to unconsciously mimic somebody else's sleepiness, the researchers said that having a close emotional bond with the 'trigger' yawner – if they are friends or relations - makes a person more likely to pick up on their mood than that of a stranger.
在解釋為什么認為女性更可能會無意識地模仿別人的哈欠時，研究人員表示，如果你與最先打哈欠的人有親密的情感關系——比如打哈欠的人是你的朋友或親戚，你就會比一個陌生人更容易理解他們的心情。

The rates of contagion were significantly lower between acquaintances than between friends and family members, and significantly higher in women than in men.
熟人之間的接觸傳染率明顯低于朋友與家庭成員之間的接觸傳染率，而女性之間的接觸傳染率又明顯高于男性。

The phenomenon has been seen in other social animals, such as chimps, dogs and wolves.
在其他群居動物（如黑猩猩、狗和狼）身上，研究人員也看到了這種現象。

英文來源：每日郵報
譯者：陳靈花gnnu
審校&編輯：欽君、杜娟