Historian Lucy Worsley caused a furore when she remarked last year that she had been 'educated out of the natural reproductive function'.

历史学家露西·沃斯利去年提到她因为受教育而放弃“自然生殖功能”，引起了不小的轰动。

Now it seems she might have had a point, after a new study has revealed a clear correlation between intelligence and childlessness - with cleverer women more likely to choose not to have a family.

现在看来她可能是有道理的，一项新的研究表明智商和是否有子女之间有着密切联系——较为聪明的女性大多选择单身。

The study, which was conducted by Satoshi Kanazawa, a researcher at the London School of Economics, found that a woman's urge to have children decreases by a quarter for every 15 extra IQ points.

这项研究由伦敦政治经济学院的学者金泽哲指导，该研究表明，智商每高出15分，女性想要孩子的欲望就减少25%。

When Kanazawa, who used data from the UK's National Child Development Study, added controls for economics and education, the results remained the same - the more intelligent the woman, the less likely she was to have children.

金泽哲所使用的数据来自英国全国儿童发展研究中心，他还表示，即使考虑到经济水平和受教育程度，结果还是一样——女性越聪明，她们就越不想要孩子。

Worsley isn't the UK's only famously clever childless woman, with others including BBC presenter Kate Humble and actress Helen Mirren.

历史学家沃斯利并不是英国知名的无子女高智商女性，同样还有BBC主持人凯特·汉博和演员海伦·米伦。

In the USA, Oprah Winfrey, Cameron Diaz and Eva Mendes are among the famous names who have said they'll never become mothers, with Diaz adding: 'I have the life I have because I don't have children.'

在美国，奥普拉·温弗瑞，卡梅隆·迪亚兹和伊娃·门德斯都是的没有孩子的女性，迪亚兹说：“我能过我自己想要的生活，是因为我没有孩子。”

Mendes too has said that she values her lifestyle too much to share it with children. 'I don't want kids,' she said. 'I love sleep and I worry about everything.'

门德斯也曾说过她实在是太珍惜自己的生活方式了，不想让孩子来破坏它。“我不想要孩子，” 她说。“我喜欢睡觉，不想什么事都操心。”

Humble, meanwhile, told the Times that she just 'doesn't have a maternal gene' and resolved not to have children at the age of 14.

汉博曾告诉《时代》周刊，她就是“没有母性基因”，从14岁时起，就下定决心不要孩子。

'People are very judgmental,' she added. 'It's as if I made a selfish decision not to have children, but I never, ever, wanted them.'

“人们很爱品头论足，”她说。“好像我不要孩子很自私似的，但我绝不，永远不会要孩子。”

One in five 45-year-olds is childless, while among those with degrees, the figure rises to 43 per cent, suggesting that Kanazawa's findings are sound.

自1990年以来，不生孩子的女性比例翻了一倍，45岁女性中有五分之一都没有孩子，其中有学位的女性不生孩子的比例高达43%。这也映证了金泽哲的研究结果的合理性。

A social study, conducted by social scientist Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee of the University of York, revealed that the notion that happiness comes from having children is illusory and offers yet another clue to why so many clever women are rejecting motherhood.

由约克大学的社会学家Nattavudh Powdthavee博士领导的一项社会调查表明，“孩子使人幸福”这一概念是不正确的，这也是很多聪明女性拒绝生育的原因之一。

'Parents spend much of their time attending to the very core processes of childcare: problems at school, cooking, laundry, it's these small but negative experiences that are more likely to impact on our day-to-day levels of happiness and life satisfaction.' said Powdthavee in an interview with the Times.

在接受《时代周刊》采访时，Powdthavee说：“父母花费很多时间在悉心照料孩子上：上学、做饭、洗衣，这些琐碎有浪费精力的小事反而会日益影响幸福满足感。”