If you were described as average-looking, you probably wouldn't see it as a compliment. But perhaps you would be happy if you looked like any of these computer-generated depictions of the 'average woman'.
With flawless skin, youthful faces and bright eyes - these average faces of women from around the world are nothing short of beautiful.
They were created from hundreds of pictures of women from all over the world. Using a face-averaging tool hosted online by experimental psychologists at University of Glasgow, women from 41 different nationalities and ethnicities were used for the experiment.
如果你被稱為「大眾臉」，我想你可能不認為這是一種讚美，但也許你會因為看起來像由電腦描繪而成的「平均長相」而高興。完美無瑕的肌膚、青春的樣貌，以及明亮的眼睛，這些照片是全球各地女性的平均樣貌。英國格拉斯哥大學實驗心理學家利用數百張來自世界各地女性的照片，並透過電腦程式『合成肖像』，將41個不同國籍和種族女性的照片重疊得出各國女性的平均長相。
- Depiction (n.) 描寫；敘述
- Nationality (n.) 國籍；民族
- Ethnicity (n.) 種族
The tool is a modern version of the technique that anthropologist Sir Francis Galton pioneered in the late 19th century, multiple images were carefully laid over one another using a computer technology.
Using the eyes of the women as a focus, it then worked out the average look of each woman from every region but analysing their faces. The method - called 'composite portraiture' - and was first used in the 1880s by Sir Francis Galton. The social scientist and cousin of Charles Darwin first created the image of the average face by superimposing multiple portraits of individuals.
The technique has been used ever since, particularly in the study of 'attractiveness' - which studies people's perception of beauty. However, the results have attracted some controversy - with many saying the results do not reflect reality especially as the 'common' faces are all beautiful.
While many agree that it does make sense the women are all pretty - because averages rule out blemishes - many are perplexed that the women all seem to be in her early twenties - not the average age of any nationality.
『合成肖像』是一個現代技術，人類學家 Sir Francis Galton 於十九世紀後期開創出來的。利用電腦技術，將多張圖像小心重疊，以眼睛作為重點，計算出各地女性的平均樣貌。Sir Francis Galton的社會科學家表弟 Charles Darwin 則是第一位將多張個人肖像透過反覆重疊得出平均長相的人。
從那時起，該技術已被使用至今，特別是在研究人們對美的感知－「吸引力」時。然而，研究的結果也會惹來一些爭議，許多人認為這項研究並沒有反應現實，尤其是這些「平均臉」竟然都是漂亮的。雖然也有多數人認為每位女性都因排除瑕疵而美麗沒有什麼不好，只是不太明白為何這些女生看起來都只有二十出頭？
- Anthropologist (n.) 人類學者
- Composite (a.) 合成的；混合的 (n.) 合成物
- Superimpose (v.) 把‥重疊上去；加上去
- Perception (n.) 感知；察覺；觀念；看法
His perception of the change came in a flash.
他在一瞬間察覺到了這一變化。
- Rule out 排除；畫線去掉
That idea can be completely ruled out.
那種看法可以完全不必考慮。
- Blemish (n.) 瑕疵；汙點；傷疤
- Perplexed (adj.) 困惑的；複雜的
Those behind the project say that many of the criticisms are explained by the process. Instead of having a lot of blurry images with undefined features, they say the method averages the shape of the features before blending the images together.
Some anomalies can be explained by how the pictures were compiled. The prevalence of mousy hair is a result of blondeness being easily 'diluted'. Other results also suggest that the study has a few imperfections. The average South African, for example, should not be pale-skinned as only 9.2 per cent of the population define themselves as white.
幕後工作人員表示，其實許多批評都可以用製作過程來解釋，不是因為圖像模糊，而是在混合圖像之前，他們已經平均樣貌以及五官的形狀了。另外，有些異常現象也可以用照片彙編過程來解釋，假如灰褐色頭髮的人比較多時，那麼金髮色的人相對會被稀釋。雖然還有些不完善的地方，例如，南非的「平均臉小姐」不應該是白皮膚的，因為只有9.2%的人將自身的膚色定義為白色。
- Blurry (adj.) 模糊的；汙髒的
- Anomaly (n.) 異常(現象/事物)；不規則
- Prevalence (n.) 流行；普遍；廣泛
- Mousy (adj.) 灰褐色的；像老鼠的
- Diluted (adj.) 稀釋的；無力的
The project was inspired by the work of South African photographer Mike Mike - who created a web project several years ago called The Face of Tomorrow. The project saw the photographer compile a collection of people's faces from various cities for a final project while he was studying at Goldsmith's University in London. He said: 'Sitting on the underground train, I was intrigued by the sheer diversity of the place – Somalis, Indians, Americans, Zimbabweans, Scandinavians and a hundred other nationalities vying for their place in the metropolis.
'I thought: “What is this place, what is a Londoner?” 'I thought if one could merge all the people in a place like London one would be looking at the future of that place – one would have some notion of what a Londoner is or will become.'
這項計畫的是由南非攝影師 Mike Mike 在幾年前創立一個網站叫「The Face of Tomorrow」開始的，當他還在倫敦就讀 Goldsmith 大學時，開始編譯從各個城市來的無數張臉孔。Mike說：「當我坐地下鐵時，我很好奇地方的純粹多樣性－索馬里人、印度人、美國人、辛巴威人、北歐等其他民族在這個大都市裡爭取屬於他們自己的位置。於是，我開始在想，這到底是什麼地方？什麼是倫敦人？如果我能合併一個地方的所有人，如倫敦，那麼我能不能看到那個地方的未來，將來倫敦人的概念。」
- Compile (v.) 彙編；收集
It takes years of hard work to compile a good dictionary.
編纂一部好詞典要花多年心血。
- Intrigued (adj.) 好奇的；被迷住的
- Vie for (v.) 爭取；競爭
↓台灣的「大眾臉」女孩
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2435688/The-average-woman-revealed-Study-blends-thousands-faces-worlds-women-look-like.html#ixzz2h0ad0kz9
