字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：City Birds Outwit Country Counterparts  城市鳥兒戰勝農村同行

 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/…/20160407sa_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：
City dwellers can attest that the animals they share the city with—the pigeons, rats, roaches—can be pretty brazen when they're prowling for a bite. While visiting Barbados, McGill University neurobiologist Jean-Nicolas Audet, noticed that local bullfinches were accomplished thieves.
城市居民可以證明，與他們共享城市的動物——企鵝、老鼠、蟑螂，在尋找食物的時候，可以說是厚顏無恥。麥吉爾大學的神經生物學家珍-尼古拉斯`奧戴特在參觀巴巴多斯時，注意到當地的紅腹灰雀是出了名的小偷。

"They were always trying to steal our food. And we can see those birds entering in supermarkets, trying to steal food there." And that gave him an idea. "Since this bird species is able to solve amazing problems in cities, and they're also present in rural areas, we were wondering" are the rural birds also good problem-solvers, and they just don't take advantage of their abilities? Or are they fundamentally different?
“它們一直都在頭偷我們的食物。我們看到這些鳥進入超級市場，試圖偷那裡的食物。”這給了奧戴特靈感。“城市中的鳥類能夠解決問題，農村地區存在這些問題，我們在想”農村的鳥類也善於解決問題，它們只是沒有充分利用自己的能力?而是這些鳥完全不同呢?

So Audet and his McGill colleagues captured Barbados bullfinches, both in the island's towns and out in the countryside. They then administered the bird equivalent of personality and IQ tests: assessing traits like boldness and fear, or timing how quickly the finches could open a puzzle box full of seeds. And it turns out the city birds really could solve puzzles faster. They were bolder, too, except when it came to dealing with new objects—perhaps assuming, unlike their more naive country cousins, that new things can either mean reward…or danger. The study is in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
所以，奧戴特和麥吉爾大學的同事逮捕了巴巴多斯島嶼城鎮以及農村的紅腹灰雀。之後，他們對鳥類的性格以及智商進行監測：評估了勇氣以及恐懼等特徵，或者灰 雀多長時間可以琢開箱子裡的種子。結果表明，城市的鳥兒能夠更快的解決難題。同時，它們的膽子也更大。但是，在處理新事物方面，則不如農村的鳥兒，因為新 鮮的事物對它們意味著獎勵或者危險。該研究結果發表在《行為生態學》雜誌上。

The city birds bested their country counterparts in another trait: they have more robust immune systems, possibly from scavenging food and water in dirty places. Which suggests that sometimes, a city's dirt and grit could be the very thing that gives avian residents a wing up.
城市的鳥兒在另外一個方面也擊敗了農村鳥兒：它們有更強健的免疫系統，可以淨化骯髒地方的食物和水。這表明，有時候，城市的灰塵和沙礫可能幫助鳥類。