Your ability to keep long-distance friendships alive may depend on your gender, according to a new study.

　　一项新的研究显示，性别差异可能会决定一段异地友谊是否长久。

　　Whereas a good gossip on the phone is enough for women to stay close to each other, regular calls have absolutely no effect on men.

　　女性朋友间的电话粥足以维持闺蜜间的感情，不过男性朋友间进行定期通话显然毫无作用。

　　According to psychologists at Oxford University, male friends need to make the effort to meet up face to face if their "bromance" is to survive.

　　来自牛津大学的心理学家认为，如果男人希望“基情”长久，就要经常见面。

　　Professor Robin Dunbar followed a group of 30 teenagers as they left home to start university or pursue careers, and found a "striking sex difference" in the factors that decided whether a friendship flourished or floundered.

　　罗宾·邓巴教授对30个为大学学业或个人事业离开家乡的少年进行了跟踪调查，调查发现，决定一段友谊是继续发展还是就此沉寂的因素存在着“让人震惊的性别差异”。

　　He said: "The caricature is if you move away to another town, girls will be on the phone or Facebook with each other to keep the relationship going.

　　邓巴说：“如果女性搬去别的城镇，通过电话或者脸书，友谊可以维持下去。”

　　"With guys, it is ’out of sight, out of mind’. They just find four more guys to go drinking with."

　　“至于男性，则是‘眼不见，心不念’，他们还是会叫上四五个人一起喝酒。”

　　Prof Dunbar explained that male friendships endure when mates meet up and do stuff together - whether it is a drink down the pub, watching the football, or playing a five-a-side game.

　　邓巴教授解释说，男性朋友间经常见面，一起活动--无论是去酒吧喝酒，看足球赛还是踢室内足球--才能维持友谊。

　　He believes that telephone calls work better for women because female friendships have a greater intensity than male ones - and are more similar to romantic relationships, which can break catastrophically.

　　他认为通电话对女性来说作用更大，因为闺蜜情比基情更亲密--和情侣关系有些相似，有时一旦破裂，堪称一场灾难。

　　Because of this, women are more motivated to safeguard their friendships - even over long distances.

　　正因如此，女性维护友谊的动机才更强烈--即使彼此远隔万里。

　　Prof Dunbar is best known for his theory that all primates, including humans, only have the mental capacity to maintain a stable friendship with a maximum of 150 people.

　　邓巴教授最知名的理论是，灵长类动物的心智使其最多只能和150名同类维持稳定的友谊关系，人类也不例外。

　　This threshold is known as Dunbar’s Number, and it is believed to be because our brain sizes - not to mention our time - is limited.

　　这一上限又名邓巴数，邓巴数产生的原因被认为是我们的脑容量--更不要说我们的时间--都是有限的。

（编辑：何莹莹）