Chapter 20 Scene 18 best choice

Although the windows of the room were open, the room was very stuffy.The woman walked out of bed naked, slowing down, not wanting to wake up the young man sleeping next to her.She walked down the stairs naked, through the open French doors, and out into the blinding sunlight.The tiles on the patio floor were hot to the feet.The woman stopped for a second, then ran a few quick steps and jumped into the large swimming pool.She swam back and forth in the water, and the cold water flowed over her thighs and pubic hair, washing away the traces of making love just now, and at the same time taking away the "reflux" from her body.

The woman swam for about 10 minutes when the young man who had stayed on the bed also came out into the patio.Bare and tanned, he ran over the hot tiles and jumped into the water.The man's diving movements were not perfect, he swam fiercely towards the woman, stepping on the water while kissing her.They enjoyed the water together like this, and after several minutes, the woman told the man that he could go back.The man obediently swam back to the pool, climbed ashore, and went into the house to bathe and change. The woman also left the swimming pool. She picked up the towel hanging on the poolside bench to dry her body, and then walked onto the grass, enjoying the cool green grass under her feet.She was not at all worried that anyone around her would see her naked.Because the land she owns is quite large, and the surrounding trees and walls are very high, and the neighbors live far away from her, the woman believes that her privacy can be completely guaranteed.Now the young man reappeared in front of the French doors, waving goodbye to the woman.The woman was just about to walk back to the patio, but she stopped, stood in the middle of the grass, and waved to the man as well. She felt that she was a bit like a Greek statue at this time.In fact, the woman just celebrated her 40th birthday a few months ago.Although she has given birth to 3 children, and one of them is already in her twenties, she still maintains her figure very well.

After the young man turned and left, the woman walked back to the patio.This young man was probably the nicest man she had met in the past five years.Her ads are succinct and punchy: "Looking for a short-term gardener to tend a large garden in the summer. Ideal for students working in the summer." Every summer, she interviews more than two dozen applicants.Women make final decisions based primarily on the young students' looks, intelligence, maturity, confidence and sex appeal.A woman can seduce a man of her choice in such a short period of time, it never takes her more than two weeks.And she sees it as proof that she still has good looks and good judgment.It is also because of this that she can have sex with young men two days a week during the three months of each summer.These men are at least 20 years younger than her.Of course, in addition to sex, women also let these men help her weed and mow the lawn.

This summer she hired two young men, both medical students, and both were her type.They come to work on Tuesday and Friday respectively.The woman stretched her body and reclined on the bench in the patio. She once again fantasized that one day she would be able to have sex with two young people in bed at the same time.However, this dream may not be realized until one day in the future.Under the sun, the woman dozed half asleep and half awake. She recalled that day, and it was from that day that she began to have such a satisfactory life. Everything a woman has now started on her 14th birthday.On that bitterly cold day, she and her mother went out to buy jeans.While they were shopping, it was snowing heavily outside.The woman's family lives outside the city, and even on a day with good weather, it takes 45 minutes by bus to get home.When they walked to the bus stop that day, the snow was getting heavier and heavier. They waited for a long time, but the bus never came. Finally, a man came.This person parked in front of them in a large luxury car.The woman and her mother were not completely unfamiliar with the man, who had an apartment in the city and a luxurious mansion in the small town where the woman lived.The woman's father had worked as a gardener and handman in the man's house and helped him tend his house and land.Before that day, the woman had often seen men around her house, though she never had a chance to speak to him.She only knew that the man was nearly fifty years old and very rich.A man has a spouse who has lived with him for 20 years, but they have not had children.A woman used to hear her parents talk about a man's affair and his troubles with women outside, but women were never interested in these topics.

On that day, the man drove them home. Along the way, the woman was deeply moved by the man's tenderness.Although the woman was only 14 years old at that time, she had already developed quite attractively.At the time, she looked mature and confident, almost like a 20-year-old girl.The woman noticed that she was constantly looking for something to say in the car.She likes this man very much.She felt that being with him felt so natural that it hardly required any extra thought.A week later, the man drove past the woman while she was waiting for the school bus.From that day on, men drove her to and from school more and more frequently.The woman also accepted this sudden new change. Her classmates often made fun of her because of it, but she didn't take it seriously at all.

The following summer, the woman loses her virginity during that long summer vacation.Her opponent was a 17-year-old boy whom women and classmates had secretly admired for months.The woman's first sexual intercourse experience was very painful. It was not until later that she began to enjoy sex, and she gradually became the envy of her classmates.Because she often described to her classmates how she and her lover had sex, but sometimes she also mixed a lot of her own imagination into the details. In the fall of this year, men resumed driving women to and from school.The day before a man's spouse was diagnosed with cancer, a woman rode to school in his car.But from the next day, the man suddenly disappeared.In order to receive treatment conveniently, he and his spouse decided to move to the city.He disappeared for some time and did not reappear to the woman until several weeks after the death of his spouse.The woman didn't hear until much later that his spouse had died the day after her 15th birthday.From then on, as long as the man didn't go to the city to work, he would definitely take her to and from school.And they also began to meet each other and wait for each other.

When winter comes, the woman's boy lover gets his driver's license, and he also gets a dilapidated second-hand car.Women and he often make love in that cold backseat with bad springs.The woman begins to fantasize about one day being able to do the same thing with the other man in the back seat of his fancy car. "It will be the same as in bed," the woman thought.Even today, the woman is lying on a bench by the swimming pool and still clearly remembers the action she made that day.The action that changed her life.One day, when the man was walking her home, they were waiting for the green light.The woman suddenly put her hand on the man's thigh, leaned over, and kissed the man's cheek.

But they never had sex in a man's car.Just a week after she kissed him, the woman lay in his bed and experienced for the first time the difference between a 50-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy.In the spring and summer of the second year, women have sex with men and boys at least twice a week.Neither men nor boys know that women have other objects besides themselves.When autumn comes, the woman finds out that she is 3 months pregnant. She only told her parents and the man about it.The woman told the parents that the boy's father was the young boy, but he had gone off to college and his parents had moved out of town.The woman told the man again that the child in her belly was his.A man is terrified of being exposed for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, but at the same time he feels genuine affection for a woman and her unborn child.He believes that the child in a woman's womb is his.So he told the woman's parents that he was willing to provide financial help, because as long as his employees encountered difficulties, he would always provide the same help.The woman later gave birth to a baby girl.During this period of men's sponsorship, the woman completes her education and her parents take care of the baby for her.

A woman does well in school despite her thoughts about her baby.Again the man offered to help, and he volunteered to sponsor the woman to go to college.In the first two years of college, a woman changed a total of 10 sexual partners.During this time, women arrange to meet men twice a term.Usually, she would go back to the man's apartment in the city on the weekends, in addition to having sex with the man, and enjoying the taste of the high life at the same time. The woman didn't end up with a college degree.In her junior year of college, the man asked her if she would go on a trip with him for a few months.This meant that she had to choose between travel and studies, and the woman finally decided to give up her studies.Next, after they returned from their trip, the two decided to pick up the 6-year-old daughter from the woman's parents, and the family has lived together ever since.She later forced the man to sell his original apartment and buy the luxury house she now lives in.They spent nearly 10 years together.The two lived in comfort and luxury. They often traveled abroad and met with wealthy people like themselves. The woman later gave birth to two other boys.

Their three children were all raised by nanny. All three children were later sent to boarding schools, and were rarely at home.The woman is convinced that the father of the eldest son is her spouse.But she's not quite sure who the father of her youngest son is.It could be her spouse, or it could be the politician.At one point, she had sex with the politician every day for a week.If it wasn't the politician, then there was also the surgeon who was probably the father of the youngest son.He had been friends with the man's family and had treated his ex-spouse when she had cancer. The woman's spouse died when their youngest son was just six years old.He was 65 at the time and died of a heart attack.Looking back now, the man has been dead for 10 years.A woman inherits her spouse's house and enough property to splurge, she can still afford her children's education, she can travel as she pleases, and besides, she can allow herself the occasional luxury of, say, employing young gardener.Since the death of her spouse, countless men have wanted to come and spend their lives with her.Many of them were widowers, as well as divorced men like their spouses, most of whom were wealthy.Women are never short of sexual partners.Sometimes she even had several sexual partners at the same time.But women don't want to spend their lives with any man permanently.Also, she finds more and more attractive young men who are making their way up the ranks.Compared with those men who have already succeeded in starting a business or enjoying their ancestral property, young men are more aggressive and ambitious, and they are more attractive to women than those men who are enjoying their success.

The woman's daughter, who lives abroad with her spouse, is 25 and only recently announced her pregnancy.The woman's two sons, aged 18 and 19, are both medical students.A woman is very proud of her children, especially her two sons.She doesn't feel proud of what she's done for her children, in fact she doesn't do much for them.What makes her proud is the children themselves and what they do.The two sons are completely different from each other, perhaps because their fathers are not the same.However, they all have handsome appearance, intelligence, rare maturity and self-confidence, and gentle and considerate personalities.The woman was sure that the two sons would win the hearts of many girls. The two sons have been in the habit of bringing friends home to live with them during the holidays since they were teenagers.Many of them were taken aback when they discovered that women's whole families like to swim naked together.This year's summer vacation starts in two weeks, and the woman's two sons will come back this year with their girlfriends (not boyfriends) for a week, and then they will travel abroad.The woman guessed mischievously, wondering if the two sons will swim naked with her this year?If they swim naked with themselves, wonder if their girlfriends will join in? Thinking of this, the woman stood up from the bench, and dragged the towel slowly across the patio, she should be ready to wait for her evening male companion to pick her up.As the woman walked into the house, she was thinking: Although she is a gardener's daughter, she has accomplished a lot in this life. The woman in this scene is secretly thankful that she has had a good life, although of course she is judging her life's achievements purely in terms of hedonistic values.Perhaps by most people's standards, or by her own standards, this woman is indeed "doing a good job."And, even by biological standards, her accomplishments are remarkable. Of the many factors that affect human reproductive outcomes, none is more influential than the choice of mate.However, choosing a mate is a complex task, especially for women, and the factors influencing the choice of a mate are even more complex.Because in general, women have to make all kinds of compromises.This chapter is divided into 4 scenarios. We plan to discuss two topics in this chapter: one is the problems faced by human beings (especially women) when choosing a spouse; the other is how men and women face these problems. solve. For example, the heroine in this scene, her example has almost clearly explained the obstacles to reproduction that ordinary women face when choosing a mate.First, when this woman chooses a long-term partner, she already presupposes an environment in which she can easily and successfully raise her offspring (at least it seems that this environment will provide her offspring with every possible opportunity).Second, she managed to get their genes from the popular men around her.Therefore, the children she gave birth to have quite good looks and abilities, and this appearance and abilities also enable her children to make full use of their excellent conditions.The reproductive strategy of the woman in the scene is fraught with risks, but she has excellent instincts.She uses all of her traits of boldness, cunning, poise, and beauty to perfection, while walking a tightrope to avoid illness, exposure to affairs, and abandonment. For a woman, when she chooses a life partner from one or more men, two things must be considered: First, the man must be able to help her raise children.Second, the offspring of the man's genes mixed with her own had to be attractive, fecund, and successful.The better the environment and the assistance a woman receives in raising her children, the more each child will be able to develop the abilities they have inherited. A woman's difficulty in choosing a mate is that there are too many men who can provide her with genes other than long-term partners.She can even get a lot of men to give her genes (sex takes a few minutes at best, anyway).However, women have limited options when it comes to finding a long-term partner.Because usually most men in most societies cannot provide living assistance to more than one woman and her children at the same time.Not only do men not have the time, energy and resources to provide this support.Therefore, when women choose a long-term partner, they are limited to certain men: men without family burdens, men who are about to abandon their original spouses, men who have enough time, energy and financial resources to support more than one family.Another problem women face when looking for a long-term partner is that they must choose a long-term partner from among a small number of men from which to choose.The most reliable method at this time is to examine the men's past achievements.But this approach will inevitably lead to the following results: usually men are likely to already have other spouses.When this happens, the only option a woman has left is a young single man who has not been a long-term partner of any woman.The only thing a woman can do at this time is to check whether this man may become her partner, and secretly pray that her judgment is correct. According to several surveys conducted around the world, when women are looking for a long-term partner, they tend to choose men with wealth, status, stability and stability, and the results of these surveys are consistent everywhere.In previous cultures, as long as a woman can find a mate who has the above four conditions, her children have a better chance than others to survive, and are more likely than others to have health and the reproductive health that comes with it force.The same surveys would yield the same results even if they were conducted in today's industrialized advanced countries. To sum up, women are well aware of what their long-term partner must have, but for most women, some degree of compromise is necessary.For example, one man is very rich, but he is not considerate at all; another man has a high status, but he is not steady;In short, when a woman encounters the above situations, she must be able to make the best choice.Of course, she doesn't need to be with her original spouse forever.And according to other research, when a woman changes mates, she must score higher on this aspect of choice than before. Men's appearance is a secondary issue for women when they are looking for a mate to help them raise their children, but it is more important for women to choose short-term sexual partners.Features women find most attractive in men include: healthy eyes, skin and hair, muscular buttocks, a waist-to-hip circumference ratio of 9:10, well-shaped legs, broad shoulders, quick wit, and a certain talent .In addition, men with symmetrical body shapes are also attractive to women.All of these conditions can be considered reasonable indicators of a male's genetic health, fertility, and competitiveness.In other words, these conditions are also genetic traits that women expect their children to have. Women have different requirements for long-term and short-term partners.In general, women are more selective and compromise when choosing a short-term partner.Women choose short-term partners based on two principles: one is to first determine the best long-term partner, and then seek the best genes by having an affair.We stated earlier that extramarital behavior can be risky (scenarios 8 to 11), so this approach only works if women can successfully avoid various risks.Another principle is to choose the most suitable male possible, but this male may neither provide the best genes nor be the best long-term mate. So far we have explained the fruits of reproduction from various points of view, and indeed we can find behavior and experiences similar to human females in animals as well.In other words, human females are not the only ones who are forced to compromise in order to obtain the protection and genes of males (male animals).A well-known related study of birds showed that all of the above behaviors associated with females can be seen in blue tits.The females who mate with males who have not only the best genes, but also the best sexual abilities and the best habitats, are all faithful to their mates.There are other males with poorer genes that live in the immediate vicinity of the best males with their mates.The mates of the lesser males will find ways to have affairs with the best males whenever they get the chance.These females sneak into neighboring areas, repeatedly lure the best males to mate with them, and then return to their mates as if nothing happened.On average, about one-third of the chicks born to these hens had fathers who were not the female's mate.The proportion of this probability will vary with the popularity of the male bird, for example, among the offspring of the male bird most popular with female birds, the probability of non-biological offspring is the lowest at zero, while the probability of non-biological offspring of the least popular male bird is zero. Among the children, the possibility of non-biological children may be as high as 80%. Surprisingly, similar phenomena can also be found in human society.On average, about one in 10 children is not fathered by their biological father.And some men are indeed more likely to be deceived by women (usually those who are less economically or socially disadvantaged).And if the above phenomenon is viewed in terms of actual figures, the proportion of men who are deceived is: about 1% of men with higher status (the United States and Switzerland), 5% to 6% of middle-class men (the United States and the United Kingdom), Among men of lower status it is about 30% (UK, France, US).In addition, higher-status men even have a tendency to deceive lower-status men by letting them raise their children for them.Likewise, many anthropological studies have clearly come up with exactly the same results.Men with higher status and wealth can get a spouse earlier and have children sooner.Their spouses are less likely to have sex with other men to become pregnant; they themselves are more likely to impregnate the spouses of other men.In other words, higher-status males are more likely to have higher reproductive outcomes than lower-status males. Having said that, let us go back to the bird research mentioned earlier.Unless a male bird has lost the ability to reproduce, the chances of all his offspring being born to other males are very slim.Because in order to get a mate to help raise their children, the female bird will more or less leave it with some opportunities to be a father.The same thing happens with humans.Especially when we want to see which of a woman's children is her spouse's biological child, which is methodical for women in general.For example, for the woman in scene 18, among her three children, the second child is most likely to be her spouse's biological child; the first child is most likely not; pregnancy. All too often we see women become pregnant by the time their relationship is established with a long-term partner who may not be the biological father of the baby in the woman's womb.Sometimes the spouse even knows the truth but is willing to accept the woman and her unborn baby.We have already explained the reasons for this.However, sometimes a woman's spouse doesn't necessarily know the truth.On average, women are least likely to have an affair in the weeks or months before they conceive their second child.But children after the second child were increasingly more likely to come from extramarital relationships.When women choose a long-term partner, they must first find the best mate and the best gene provider, and then make the best compromise between the two.In fact, this task is just one of many problems that women face when seeking a mate.In addition, after a woman chooses a mate, she must try to make the mate play the role she expects.However, he will only play the consort role required by the woman if the mate finds the woman sufficiently attractive.If the first choice of spouse feels that women are not attractive enough, women have to make some compromises again.Therefore, the spouse candidate that a woman finally chooses is the result of her best compromise between "wanting him" and "being able to attract him".The woman in Scene 18 apparently had a very successful mate-finding mission, as she was looking at a man 35 years her senior who was not only wealthy but also successful in his career. In the end, this man was chosen from among many others her.Although this woman had an affair, not only was she not discovered by her spouse, but she also successfully obtained genes from other men.This woman won repeatedly in the mate selection process because the men around her were willing to take the risk of having sex with her.In other words, the woman chose a mate successfully because she was attractive to men, whether it was her spouse or lover, they thought she was attractive enough. Why on earth do men find the woman in scene 18 attractive?What criteria do men use to choose their spouses and lovers?And what is the difference between the mate selection criteria held by men and those held by women? Basically, men consider three things when choosing a woman: health, fertility, and chastity.Of course, this choice will not be made in the male consciousness.Often, when a man observes a woman, he does not immediately consider whether the woman is fertile or parenting.But in fact, a man's body naturally makes him feel attractive to women with the above-mentioned abilities.The difference between men and women is that they have the same criteria for choosing a spouse and a lover.Whether it is choosing a spouse or a lover, men are most concerned about appearance and behavior. Among the conditions related to appearance, the most important thing is body shape, especially the circumference ratio of waist and hips.Regardless of whether women are fat or thin, men prefer to choose women with a waist-to-hip circumference ratio of 7:10.And one thing worthy of our attention is that, no matter from a historical point of view (based on sculptures, paintings), or from a cultural point of view (based on rock paintings, small sculpture portraits), this male preference for women It's all exactly the same.Although men in some cultures prefer plump women and men in other cultures prefer thin women, men in all cultures prefer women with thinner waists than hips.Because women have this body shape: good hormone secretion, excellent resistance to disease, and excellent reproductive ability. In addition to the above-mentioned figures, the female characteristics that men all over the world consistently pursue are: healthy eyes, hair and skin, and face shape (especially a symmetrical face shape).And a woman with the above-mentioned characteristics, in fact, just happens to show that she is in good health and has the ability to reproduce.In addition, men in most cultures are also obsessed with the size and shape of women's breasts.There is considerable variation between cultures on this point, and we have not been able to prove a direct correlation between a woman's breast size and her ability to breastfeed.In addition, men also tend to pursue certain characteristics of women, such as submissiveness and dependence.Because this trait shows that women can maintain chastity.However, such traits are relatively easy to disguise, at least in the short term, and women are able to conceal them very well. Among the criteria that men and women adopt when choosing a mate, there is another one that is different between the sexes.Women's choice of long-term partners is more inclined to older men than themselves, because older men have more social experience and opportunities to accumulate wealth, and these are necessary conditions for women to have children.But once a man passes 50, unless he is very wealthy, he becomes less and less attractive to young, fertile women.Because if a woman gives birth to a child with such a man, there is a high possibility that he will die before the child becomes an adult. When men are looking for a mate, they like to choose women who are mature enough to reproduce, but on the other hand, men also like to choose women who can have children for many years in the future (that is, they hope that women are mature enough, but not too mature).Because in this way, with the efforts of him and his spouse, he can get more children.Therefore, whether it is a 20-year-old man or a 70-year-old man, when he is looking for a new mate, he tends to choose a woman who is 20 years old or younger.This is why many successful men abandon their middle-aged spouses and families and reorganize their families with younger women. Likewise, an older female will have children with a younger male as long as she is still fertile.And when a man's physical strength is at its peak, women are more likely to feel his physical attraction.Often, however, younger men are less likely to maintain a long-term relationship with an older woman, to let her leave their existing children, or to have children of their own with her.Therefore, for an older woman, she will choose a younger man as an affair partner, but at the same time, she will also try to keep her original long-term partner relationship. Generally, older women are less likely to choose a younger man as their long-term partner. The woman in scene 18 is less scruples because of her personal wealth.She can ask any gardener to live with her within a certain period of time, and she can even have children with the gardener.Since the genetic potential of these gardeners has been carefully selected by herself, there is no doubt that she can have other children with any gardener.She does not need to consider her own health status, nor does she need to worry about the reproductive results of her original and future children and grandchildren.Of course, she doesn't need to feel that her newborn children will be shameful.The woman does not appear to be acting on this assumption until the end of Scene 18.But she still has time if she wants to, and in fact, a lot of wealthy women do. When females lose their ability to reproduce, or when males become less and less attractive to fertile young females, both sexes modify their mate-seeking criteria.At this time, the choice of a long-term partner will still affect the reproductive results of both men and women, but of course its influence will not occur on the children born to them and their new spouses, but on their original children and their descendants.In other words, the important criteria for both sexes to choose a spouse at this time become: wealth, status, and whether they can be good stepparents or stepgrandparents.And for most people, in choosing a mate in this situation, they still have to make certain compromises. Speaking of which, everyone may already know that no matter at any age, the moment when the conflict of interests between men and women is the most serious is when both parties choose a spouse.Because everyone chooses the best spouse according to their own preferences, but everyone may not be able to match the preferences of the person they choose.The competition for choosing a mate is so intense that any decision must be compromised and there is only so much time available to choose.Whether it is a man or a woman, if you compromise too easily, you may miss the opportunity to choose a better person in the future.Conversely, if too much time is spent chasing the best option, it can also lead to mistakes.In the process of choosing a mate, both sexes will ultimately pay the price if they make mistakes in compromising, or fail to attract the opposite sex at all.Only those who can make a correct judgment between "continue to search" and "compromise in time" can get the best mate. Women tend to choose spouses with wealth and status, and are more willing to be loyal to such spouses. These behaviors will allow women to obtain excellent reproductive results.Because sons born to a woman with such a spouse are more likely to achieve higher reproductive outcomes than sons born to a lower-status man.In addition to relying on the relationship between him and his spouse to bear children, these boys, like their own fathers, will have more opportunities than ordinary men to let other male spouses bear children for them.In other words, after a woman chooses a man with wealth and status as a mate, she will have a higher reproductive outcome if she gives birth to a son than to a daughter. So far, the highest number of children born by men is 888 (a former king of Morocco); while the highest number of children born by women is 69 (27 pregnancies).From the perspective of ability, men can have more children than women.Because the reason is obvious: a man can have many different women to bear his children, but a woman must bear every child of her own (although surrogate mothers have also appeared recently).In other words, highly reproductive sons produce more offspring than highly reproductive daughters.The higher the son's social status, the better his reproductive success.And, since wealth and status are innate conditions that can be passed on to their children just as some people are born with the ability to create them, higher-status partners are more likely to be more likely than lower-status partners Partners produce more sons.And in fact, we know that higher-status couples do indeed have more sons.根据世界各地的多项研究显示，地位较高的伴侣所生的子女当中，确实是儿子多于女儿（举例来说，大家只要去看看各地的名人录就能得到证明）。通常儿子与女儿人数比为115：100。这种倾向生儿子的偏差在统计上并不显著，但有时这个数字也可能出人意料。例如说，历代的美国总统所生的儿子与女儿之比为，换句话说，儿子与女儿之比即等于是148：100。 为什么不是所有女性都比较容易生下儿子呢？事实上，在某种程度范围之内，女性确实比较容易生下儿子。以平均数字来看，女性生出的儿子与女儿人数之比约为106：100。但由于男孩在幼儿期夭折的可能性比女孩高，所以等到男孩和女孩长到开始繁殖的年龄时，男女双方人数之比就几乎相等。但即使如此，一般女性生下儿子的比例还是比不上配偶地位较高的女性，另一方面，配偶地位较低的女性和根本没有配偶的女性也比较容易生下女儿。造成这种现象的原因是什么呢？ 原因是，由于从繁衍观点来看，男性不像女性那样能够稳收成果。姑且不论男性本身拥有繁殖大量子女的潜力，但一般来说，男性很可能在开始繁殖之前就先失去了生命。而且，就算男性竭尽全力，他也可能遭遇许多情况使他无法生出子女。而在上述状况下，因为儿子的繁衍竞争力不佳，所以这时生下儿子就不是获得繁衍成果的最佳选择。举例来说，请大家想像一下，假设在某个社会里每名女性只生两个孩子。如果这时有1名男性和3名女性生下了6个子女，那么，这时这个社会里就会有2名男性找不到对象帮他生下后代。另一方面，女儿这时能够成为追求繁衍成果的较佳选择，主要因为两个理由：首先，相对地来说，女儿即使无法为她的母亲创造繁衍成果（即生下大量子女），但她还不至于一个孩子也生不出来；其次，任何母亲都能确信自己女儿所生的子女是她的亲生孙子。而对于儿子所生的子女，做母亲的就无法确信他们都是自己的亲生孙子。 尽管一般来说男孩并非追求繁衍成果的理想选择，但在下面的情况下，女性还是值得生下儿子的：男孩的存活率很大；具备胜过其他男性的繁衍竞争条件。根据这个原则，无怪乎那些配偶地位较低的女性，以及那些根本没有配偶的女性都比较倾向于生下女儿；而那些配偶地位较高的女性则倾向于生下儿子。同样的，也难怪大部分的女性都是介于上述两种倾向之间，既非专门生儿子也非专门生女儿。 场景18里那名女性在选择配偶时所做的决断可以说无懈可击。她在求学期间先生下一个女儿，接着，她成为一名富有且地位颇高的男性的配偶之后，又连续生了两个儿子。至于为什么她所生的儿子与女儿的人数比例为2：1？关于这一点，我们却无法找出确切理由。造成这种结果的理由当然不是因为地位较高的男性倾向于制造较多“生儿子”的精子。因为事实上，这种男性的临时情人反而倾向于多生女儿（例如场景里的女性所生的第一个孩子就是女儿。而她这时还不是男人的配偶）。而且，这些男性也不可能专把大量“生儿子”的精子射进配偶体内，再把大量“生女儿”的精子射进情人体内。对于造成上述结果的理由，最合理的解释就是，生男生女的比例其实是由女性的身体来决定的。女性的身体不仅在精子通过输卵管里的受精区时能够自行调节“生儿子”与“生女儿”的精子比例，而且女性的身体也能主动选择要让哪种性别的胚胎着床。当胚胎的性别“不适”于女性所处的状况时，她的身体很可能就会阻止胚胎在子宫里面着床。 对大多数人来说，特别是对青春期后期那些首次开始物色长期伴侣的男女来说，选择配偶的整个过程简直就像令人忧心又充满陷阱的雷区。场景18里介绍的这个女人根据自己无意识的指示，因而精确无比地通过了这段惊险地带。她能正确地完成择偶任务，主要还是因为父母遗传给她的优良基因具备了各项优点。女人总共生下3名子女（当然她今后仍有可能生出更多子女），每名子女的亲生父亲都比他（或他们）的同辈拥有更卓越的繁衍成果。女人的女儿已经长大并且即将开始繁殖（即将生出女人的孙辈）。女人的两个儿子具备了极佳的繁衍潜力，他们将来不但能够创造自己的家庭，同时也可能成为其他女性进行外遇时物色的对象。因此，不论从任何角度来看，场景里的女人的子孙都将以成倍的速度继续增加，绵延不断。而比起那些繁衍成果不如女人的其他女性来说，多年之后，女人的基因分布在后代体内的比例肯定会超过其他女性。总而言之，不论从生物学角度或是从享乐主义的角度来看，这个女人的人生算是非常成功的。