研究:女性有四個“閨蜜”最理想

Two might be company and three a crowd, but it seems four is perfect when it comes to friends.

The average woman needs this number at any one time in her life, a study suggests.

Researchers say females are becoming far more selective and will bother forming close bonds only with those they know they can trust and share experiences.

Having four friends is also ideal as it makes up a group of five - which ensures no one is ever left out, the researchers say.

If two or three women begin confiding in each other or sharing a joke there is always another person for the others to talk to.

A study of 1,000 women aged 18 to 45 found that just under half (49 per cent) believe that four is the perfect number of best friends to have.

By contrast just one in five thought having three close friendships was best.

This finding contradicts the famous scenario in the Sex and the City TV series and films in which Sarah Jessica Parker's character Carrie Bradshaw is content to have three close friends - Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha.

A better example might be the five protagonists of the TV series Desperate Housewives, although Teri Hatcher's character Susan Mayer's fellow housewives Bree, Edie, Lynette and Gabrielle may not always act in the most loyal, friendly way.

The poll, commissioned by the Silver Bay Point wine range, found that only one in 25 thought it preferable to have more than 50 close friendships.

The study also found that within each group there are usually clearly defined roles such as the agony aunt, the homemaker, the career girl, the socialite and the quiet one.

Females responding to the survey said that the most important factors determining friendships were being able to share confidences and experiences.

兩個人做伴，三個人結羣，但說到有幾個朋友合適的問題，四個似乎最理想。

一項研究顯示，女性在她一生中的任何階段都需要四個朋友。

研究人員稱，如今的女性在擇友方面較之以往挑剔很多，她們只會選擇和那些她們認爲可以信任和吐露心聲的人做朋友。

研究人員稱，之所以說有四個朋友最爲理想還在於這樣可以組成一個五人的朋友圈，從而保證沒有人“落單”。

如果其中的兩個人或三個人在一起談心或說笑話，總還有一個人能和其他人做伴。

一項對1000名年齡在18歲到45歲之間的女性開展的研究發現，近一半（49%）的女性認爲擁有四個好朋友最理想。

只有五分之一的人認爲擁有三個好友最理想。

但與此不太相符的是，《慾望都市》電視劇及電影中由莎拉•傑西卡•帕克飾演的凱莉•布拉德肖與她的三個“閨蜜”——夏洛蒂、米蘭達和薩曼莎倒是相處得很好。

而電視連續劇《絕望的主婦》中的五個主人公可能是個更好的例子，儘管泰瑞•海切爾飾演的主婦蘇珊•梅爾的四個朋友——布里、伊迪、麗奈特和蓋布瑞爾並不總是那麼的忠誠、友好。

這一由銀灣角葡萄酒業委託開展的調查發現，25人中僅有1人認爲擁有50個以上的好友最理想。

研究還發現，在每個朋友圈中，通常都有明確的角色定位，比如知心大姐、家居女、職場女強人、社交名媛和乖乖女。

此外，受訪女性認爲，能互吐心聲和分享經歷是決定一份友誼最重要的因素。

Vocabulary:

agony aunt: a person who gives advice to people about their personal problems 知心大姐

homemaker: a person, especially a woman, who works at home and takes care of the house and family 料理家務者；（尤指未出外工作的）主婦

socialite: a person who goes to a lot of fashionable parties and who is well known because of this 社交名流