字神帝國英語天地

 
 今日主題：Male Lemurs Are Masters of Musk  環尾狐猴的特質香水

 洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
 康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/…/20160525sa_science.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

 中英文稿：
Ring-tailed lemurs are a chatty lot. They vocalize to exchange information. And they also communicate via a veritable smorgasbord of stinky secretions they use to mark their territory and advertise their romantic availability. But male lemurs, which have more scent glands than do females, are really masters of musk—because they sometimes mix their smelly secretions to produce a veritable bouquet of stank. And now researchers have a better idea why.
環尾狐猴們就是話嘮。它們發聲就是為了交換資訊。而且它們也是用臭味的分泌物進行交流，這分泌物它們一般用作標記領地以及散發它們的求愛宣言。但雄性狐猴 可比雌性狐猴的氣味腺要多，它們才是真正的制香高手——因為它們常常混合它們那些臭味的分泌物然後弄出一些臭氣十足的混合氣。現在研究人員們已經對它們這 麼做的原因有了進一步的瞭解。

Male lemurs sometimes use the scent glands on their wrists to mark tree branches and saplings. Other times, they double down, rubbing their wrists against glands on their chests to create a foul and funky fusion. This special blend can then be smeared over objects or wiped onto their tails, which the males wave at their rivals in a display that scientists refer to as a “stink fight.”
雄性狐猴有時候用四肢關節塗抹氣味腺體上的分泌物到樹枝和嫩枝上做標記。其餘時間它們就重複躺下，用關節塗抹腺體上分泌物到胸部並製造出一種惡臭混合物。 這種特殊混合物隨後就可以被用於塗抹在一些物體或者它們的尾巴上，在雄性們向它們的敵人揮舞時起到交流的作用，科學家們對此解釋為臭氣戰。

But why create such a custom combination? Perhaps adding the oily exudate from the chest alters the information conveyed by the wrist. Or maybe it acts as a kind of preservative that makes the wrist signal longer lasting.
但是為什麼要特別調製出這種混合臭呢?或許加入了從胸部分泌出的油狀物後，可以改變關節塗抹到的臭氣所代表的資訊。又或者這種油狀物起到一種防腐保存的作用，以便關節沾染的信號物質能夠持續較長時間。

To find out, researchers gathered secretions from a dozen ring-tailed lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina. They then presented male lemurs with wooden dowels that were doused with either the wrist fragrance, the chest scent, or a mixture of the two. And they found that males spent more time sniffing the stick with the mixture, which suggests that the fragrant combination does contain more interesting information than the solo scents alone.
為了找尋答案，研究人員們從北卡萊羅納州的杜克狐猴中心採集 了12只環尾狐猴的分泌物。然後它們把分別帶有關節塗抹氣味，胸部氣味，以及兩者混合氣味的木釘放到雄性狐猴面前。結果他們發現雄性狐猴在混合氣體的棍子 前流連並且嗅探，這提示我們混合氣確實比單獨的氣味含有更多更有趣的資訊。

But the lemurs were even more interested in the odiferous amalgamation when it was left out to evaporate for 12 hours, licking the sticks to better access the dried volatile compounds. That observation supports the theory that mixing secretions actually boosts their staying power. The results are in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
但是狐猴在隨後的12小時接觸中，對散發出的混合氣味更感興趣，它們甚至舔這些木棍以便更好的接觸到乾燥的不穩定的混合氣味。這項觀察實驗有力的支持了混合分泌物確實會促進狐猴停留狀態的理論。該研究結果已發表在《皇家科學開放科學研究》雜誌上。

So while a rose is a rose is a rose, the perfume of the ring-tailed lemur is a complex concoction, the subtle meaning of which lies in the nose of the beholder.
所以，儘管一支玫瑰是一支玫瑰時確實就是一支玫瑰的味道，環尾狐猴的香水可是混合調製物，裡面蘊含的意味全靠周圍人的鼻子去評判了。