字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：Gators Guard Birds That Nest Nearby  短吻鱷保護鳥巢安全

 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/…/20160330sa_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：
Florida’s Everglades are home to lots of large wading birds, like egrets and herons. But the Glades also have lots of raccoons and possums. For the mammals, the birds’ nests are an all-you-can-eat buffet. And when an invasion occurs, "sometimes thousands of birds will abandon their nests, and just leave, and there's littered remains of dead chicks and eggs that have been eaten." Lucas Nell, an ecologist at the University of Georgia.
佛羅里達大沼澤地有大量的涉禽，如白鷺以及蒼鷺。但是，這裡也有很多的浣熊和負鼠。對於哺乳動物來說，鳥類的巢穴就是如同可以隨便吃的自助餐。“當入侵事 件發生時，有時成千上萬的鳥類就會捨棄自己的巢穴，隻身離開，而巢穴裡面就剩下死亡的幼雛和蛋，被入侵者吃掉。”喬治亞大學的生態學家盧卡斯•尼爾說到。

Nell says that, in order to seek protection from their furry foes, birds actually prefer to build their nests in plots of swamp with a resident alligator. In fact, in one study a graduate student planted fake alligators. And the birds seemed to prefer to build nests close to them. "Where there's a water source, there are alligators, so it's sort of this moat of protection around these colonies."
尼爾說，為了免受毛絨敵人的入侵，實際上鳥類喜歡將巢穴建在沼澤地附近，與鱷魚為鄰。在一項的研究中，一名研究生設置了假的鱷魚。鳥類似乎喜歡將巢穴建在鱷魚的附近。“哪裡有水源，哪裡就有鱷魚，水源就像這裡殖民地的護城河。”

Nell and his colleagues took to the Everglades at night, hunting for gators near and far from nests. "You have to use a spotlight and you see the little demon eyes shining out of the marsh." They lassoed the gators, pulled them into the airboat, and took blood samples and body measurements.
尼爾和同事們在晚上來到大沼澤地，在巢穴遠近處尋找鱷魚。“你必須用聚光燈，就能看到這些惡魔的眼睛在沼澤地閃爍。”他們利用套索套住鱷魚，將它們拉到汽船，對鱷魚進行血液抽樣和身體測量。

Turns out the gators near bird colonies were 13 percent fatter. Which means this unusual arrangement may be mutually beneficial. The birds get protection. And the alligators? They feast on any chicks that get kicked out of the nest, as well as on the rest of the extra-productive swamp life, fertilized by all that guano. The findings are in the journal PLoS ONE.
結果表明，相比較而言，離鳥巢近的鱷魚胖約13%。這意味著，這種不尋常的安排對雙方都是有益的。鳥類需要保護。那麼鱷魚呢?它們享受著被踢出鳥巢的雛鳥以及以鳥糞為肥的其他沼澤生命的盛宴。該研究結果發表在《PLoS ONE》雜誌上。

There is one drawback for adult birds who stray too close to their bodyguard: Gators are not discriminating diners. "I liken it less to a bodyguard situation, more like keeping some psychopathic murderer in your yard, to keep out cat burglars."
但是成年鳥離自己的保鏢太近有一個弊端：鱷魚是不挑食的。“我認為這不像一個保鏢的局面，而更像為了阻止竊賊，而將變態殺手養在家裡”。