Italians voted best looking but bald, old are OK too

Italians are considered the most handsome men in the world while men who are balding and aging do not necessarily lose their looks, according to an international survey on what makes men attractive.

A "Male Beauty" survey of nearly 10,000 men and women in 12 countries conducted by market research firm Synovate found that good hygiene was actually the top requirement for men to being considered handsome.

The second main requirement to be considered good-looking was confidence, with nearly one fifth of all respondents saying a man must carry himself well, followed by having a "great smile."

Hair, or a lack of, seemed to have little impact with only one percent of respondents saying that a full head of hair was needed to be handsome.

Older men can also take heart as 60 percent of respondents said a man's appearance gets better with age, with Americans, Chinese, Greeks and Malaysians agreeing with that the most.

"Words like distinguished, refined and dignified are regularly used to describe older men," Bob Michaels, Synovate spokesman, said in a statement.

"Here, men are seen like a fine wine - they only get better. Which is good news for some of us."

But looks did also come down to geography.

The survey, conducted in October in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Greece, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Britain and the United States, found Italian men were considered to be the most handsome -- even though Italy was not one of the countries where people were polled.

They were followed by men from the United States, Russia and Brazil.

In Spain, more men than women consider having muscles and dressing well to be essential requirements, while the opposite was true for Greek women, who were more likely than their male counterparts to think a macho look was appealing.

Far more British, French and Australian women also seemed to value "a great smile" than men do.

Synovate used face-to-face and phone interviews to compile the survey. Respondents were aged between 15 and 64 years.

一项有关男性魅力的全球调查显示，意大利男人被公认为全世界最帅的男士，此外，秃头或年长的男士不一定不帅。

这项名为“男性美”的调查由思纬（Synovate）市场调查公司开展，共对来自12个国家的近1万名男性和女性进行了访问。调查结果显示，成为“俊男”的首要条件是干净整洁。

其次是自信，近五分之一的受访者认为男士应该彬彬有礼，其次是“迷人的笑容”。

而头发的多少似乎并不重要，仅有1%的受访者认为帅哥应该有一头浓密的“秀发”。

年长的男士也不乏吸引力。60%的受访者认为男人年龄越大越有魅力，美国、中国、希腊和马来西亚的受访者最认可这一点。

思纬公司的发言人鲍勃•迈克尔在一份声明中称：“人们常用优秀、优雅、高贵这些字眼来形容年长的男士。”

“男人就像一瓶好酒——越陈越香。这对于我们中的有些人来说可是个好消息。”

不过男人的外表的确与地域有关。

该调查于今年10月在澳大利亚、巴西、加拿大、中国、法国、希腊、马来西亚、俄罗斯、南非、西班牙、英国和美国开展。尽管意大利不在调查国家之列，但意大利男人却被认为是全世界最帅的。

美国、俄罗斯和巴西男人位居其后。

在西班牙，更多的男性认为帅哥应该肌肉健硕、衣着体面，而希腊的情况则正好相反，更多的女性认为帅哥看上去应该要有男人味。

在英国、法国和澳大利亚，更多的女性认为男人拥有“迷人的笑容”很重要。

该调查采用了面对面访谈和电话采访两种方式。受访者的年龄在15岁至64岁之间。

Vocabulary:

carry well:举止优雅；彬彬有礼

come down to:归结为；涉及到