Ever found yourself dumped by a friend embarking¹ on a romance? Don't worry, you're probably not the only one. For according to Oxford² University scientists, every time we start a relationship we jettison³ two of our closest friends.

你是否曾发现自己在开始一段恋情的时候被朋友抛弃？不必担心，你很可能不是唯一一个遭遇这种事情的人。因为按照牛津大学科学家的说法，我们每开始一段感情，就会抛弃两位最亲密的朋友。

Most of us simply don't have enough time for intimate friendships with more than four or five people, their research shows.

And a new love interest leads to two friends being pushed out of the inner circle.

Professor Robin⁴ Dunbar, one of Britain's leading experts in evolutionary⁵ biology, explained: 'If you go into a romantic relationship it actually costs you two friends in that inner core of relationships.

'Instead of having the typical five friends, they only have four in that inner circle. And bearing in mind（记住，考虑到） that one of those is the new person that has come into your life, it means you have to give up two others.'

Men tend to have four or five intimate friends, women five or six, he said.

However, men were just as likely to jettison（投弃） friends at the start of a new romantic attachment⁶ as women, found the study of those aged⁷ 18 to 60.

'Your attention is so wholly（完全地） focused on the romantic partners, you just don't get to see the other folks you had a lot to do with before,' the professor told the British Science Festival in Birmingham. 'Those relationships start to deteriorate⁸（恶化，退化） .'

But it's not just romance that can push out close friends, he explained. Children or buying a dog can have the same effect.

'You can only have five slots for deeply intense and meaningful relations. Those individuals don't have to be human. They can be your dog - or your favourite chrysanthemum⁹（菊花） plant. They can be people in an entirely¹⁰ fictional¹¹ world - they can be soap opera characters. They can be God or they can be saints.'