鳥  

今日主題:Small-Brained Birds More Likely to Get Shot / 大腦較小的鳥類更易被射擊

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/2016/20161108sa_mind.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:

The old expression “bird brain,” referring to a small or inadequate brain size—it’s not all that accurate. Take crows, for example, and other corvids,like jays and magpies. “Many corvids have relatively large brains for their body size, and can do amazing things.” Anders Møller, an evolutionary biologist at the French National Science Research Council. “So this ‘bird brain’ expression is a little bit simplified.” Some birds are so intelligent that they’re informally referred to as “primates with feathers.”

舊的表達“鳥的大腦”指的是大腦尺寸較小——但是這樣的描述並不正確。就以烏鴉以及其他鴉科如松雞和喜鵲為例。“許多鴉科大腦與其身體尺寸相比較,尺寸比較大,並且這些鴉科動物可以做令人吃驚的事情。”Anders Møller是法國國家科學研究委員會的進化生物學家。“所以,“鳥的大腦”這樣的表述有一點簡單化了。”有一些鳥類非常的聰明,以至於它們被人類通俗地稱為“長著羽毛的靈長類動物”。

 

But even among the smartest bird species, there’s still natural variation in brain size. Which is a big deal—when it comes to being hunted. Møller worked with a taxidermy shop in Denmark, which had data on nearly 4000 birds brought in to be stuffed since 1960. A lot of the birds were just found dead—hit a window or wire—and people picked them up. But 300 of the specimens had been hunted.

但是,即使在最聰明的鳥類中,它們的大腦尺寸也存在自然變異。這是一件大事——當鳥類在被捕獵的時候。Møller和丹麥的一家標本店合作,這個標本店裡有自從1960年將近4000只鳥類的標本資料。很多人們發現了死了的鳥——由於撞擊窗戶或電線——人們將這些鳥兒撿起。但是其中300個鳥類的標本是通過獵殺製作的。

 

So Møller’s team then compared the brain sizes of birds that got shot to those that didn’t. They controlled for the birds’ age, sex, body size, and species. And they found that the hunted specimens’ brains were actually five percent smaller, on average, than the brains of birds that died by other means. “The surprising thing is that, if you make a similar kind of analysis of liver or heart size, there is absolutely no difference there. So this is specific to the brain.” The results are in the journal Biology Letters.

所以,Møller的團隊將那些被獵殺的鳥類的大腦尺寸和其他鳥類的大腦進行比較。他們控制了鳥類的鳥類、性別、身體尺寸以及物種。研究人員發現被獵殺的鳥類的大腦尺寸,比因其他原因死亡的鳥類的大腦相比,小百分之五。“令人驚訝的是,如果對肝臟或者心臟的尺寸進行類似分析,尺寸沒有任何的區別。所以,尺寸的區別是大腦的獨有特徵。該研究結果發表在《生物學報》雜誌上。

 

The researchers assume that individuals with larger brains had what they called “superior escape ability.” That is, they were better at not getting shot.

研究人員認為擁有較大尺寸大腦的個體具有“出眾的逃生能力”。也就是說,他們不易遭到射擊。

 

As game season begins, Møller has this observation for hunters: “When you are sitting at the dinner table and eating the duck that you managed to shoot, with all likelihood it’s one with a disproportionately small brain.” Most certainly food for thought.

隨著賽季開始,Møller對捕獵者說道:“當你坐在餐桌旁,吃著你射殺的野鴨時,很有可能這只野鴨具有一個非常小的大腦。”這的確是引人深思的事情。。

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