字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：For River Otters, Social Life Is Shaped by the Latrine / 水獺--社交行為圍繞公廁展開

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/voas…/2016/20161103sa_earth.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：
River otters, like other social animals, have to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of hanging out in large groups. A big group makes it easier to catch fish, which seems like a good deal, but there's a downside to social life too. More otters means more chances for disease transmission, for example, or for aggressive conflict. So they balance these pressures by living in what researchers call a "fission-fusion society."
水獺，和其他群居動物一樣，都會仔細權衡一下和群居的利與弊。群居生活可以更容易抓魚，這似乎不錯，但是，群居對社交生活也有不利的方面。更多的水獺意味著疾病傳染的幾率也就越大，例如矛盾衝突。所以，他們就要平衡一下生活在聚散型群體中的壓力。

"There's this constant dynamic of splitting and joining into larger groups."
這其實就是不斷的分散，然後融合到更大的群體中。

University of Wyoming ecologist Adi Barocas. To understand the factors that drive these social dynamics, Barocas's team, from the University of Wyoming and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, has spent decades spying on the coastal river otters of Alaska near Prince William Sound. To do it, they use motion-activated camera traps as well as implanted radio trackers.
Adi Barocas是美國懷俄明州立大學的生態學家。為了瞭解驅使這些社交動態的因素，來自美國懷俄明州立大學和阿拉斯加漁業和捕獵部門的Barocas的團隊，耗時數十年監測威廉王子灣附近阿拉斯加地區的海岸水獺。為了進行觀察，他們使用了觸發式照相機以及無線電追蹤技術。

"The latrines, which are pretty much communal toilets that the river otters use, they seem to have an important function in the life of river otters."
“廁所,河水水獺使用公的共廁所,似乎對水獺的的生活具有重要的作用。

That's right: river otter society is organized around the bathroom. It makes good sense. By investigating a latrine, an otter can sniff out just how many otters there are in the area, and who they might be.
的確，水獺群體是圍繞廁所形成的。這很容易理解。通過調查公共廁所，一隻水獺就可以嗅出有多少只水獺在這個區域，同時水獺都是誰。

The researchers found that the otters performed more signaling behaviors like sniffing, body rubbing, or urinating, than social behaviors, like grooming or play, at what they called crossover latrines, which were located at the junctions of water bodies.
研究人員發現，與社交行為如打扮、玩耍相比，水獺有更多的信號行為，比如，嗅探,身體摩擦,或小便。就在他們稱之為交換公廁的地方，在一些水體流域的匯合地。

Thanks to all that communicative signaling, these crossover latrines were also more likely to host fusion events, resulting in large aggregations of up to eighteen otters. In other words, the otters see latrines as a place to exchange information, a sort of central marketplace.
由於所有這些交流信號，這些交換公廁也就很可能舉辦加入組織的活動，形成多達18只水獺聚集的一次大型聚會。換句話說，這些水獺把公廁視為一個交換資訊的地方，就像是集市中心一樣。

Because the location of crossover latrines was determined by the physical landscape, this suggests that the complexity of the physical environment plays an important role in determining their social behavior.
因為公廁地點是跟據物理地形確定的，這表明物理環境的複雜性在決定水獺社交行為具有重要作用。

Next, the researchers want to see just how and what the otters communicate at latrines.
接下來，研究人員們想知道水獺在公廁是如何交流以及交流的內容。

"We often see the river otters sniffing at the latrines and also defecating, and before defecating they do a little ritualized behavior that we termed 'the poop dance.'"
我們常常發現水獺在公廁四處嗅來嗅去，同時也會排泄，而在排泄前，它們會做一些儀式行為，我們稱之為排泄之舞。

What scents are they trying to sniff out? Which olfactory compounds are at play? Can the otters control the scents they leave behind? Who's watching the poop dance?
它們試圖嗅到什麼氣味呢?那種嗅覺器官起作用?這些水獺能否控制留下的氣味?誰會觀看這些排泄之舞?

And most importantly, why doesn't anybody ever remember to flush?
最重要的是，為什麼它們不知道沖廁所呢?