文本选自:The Economist(经济学人)
作者:Unknown
原文标题:Birds are just as fashion-conscious as people
原文发布时间:4 Feb. 2023
Birds are just as fashion-conscious as people
Humans are not the animal kingdom's only fashionistas. Tits can be fashion-victims, too, apparently. A study published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology by Sonja Wild and Lucy Aplin of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Biology, in Radolfzell, Germany, shows that, given the chance, they decorate their nests with this season's must-have colour.
Dr Wild and Dr Aplin were following up work published in 1934 by Henry Smith Williams, an American naturalist. He noticed that when he put various coloured balls of yarn out in his garden, almost always one and only one became popular that season for incorporation into local birds' nests. But which particular hue was favoured varied from season to season. This suggested that the colour chosen by one of the early birds was spotted and copied by others.
Williams's work was, however, forgotten until Dr Wild and Dr Aplin came across it while following up on a different study, published in 2009 by a team at the University of Toulouse. This group noted that, during any given breeding season, the blue tits they were investigating tended to incorporate the same herbaceous plants into their nests regardless of how abundant those herbs actually were. This, too, suggested fashion-following—and it likewise led Dr Wild and Dr Aplin to speculate that birds were studying the nests of others and copying them. They therefore set out to re-run Williams's experiment, but this time to collect some actual numbers.
鸟类也会“赶时髦”
精听党背景导读
买一盏能发出淡黄色灯光的床头灯,挂一幅描绘自然风光的风景画,种一盆带着点点绿意的多肉植物……人们总会用各种小东西装点自己的居所。
但出乎意料的是,装饰自己的家却并非人类的专利,鸟类也会装饰自己的巢穴。
比如园丁鸟,雄鸟会精心制作一个巢穴,再找来一些彩色毛线、玻璃、金属丝、纸片、布料、羽毛、花朵等来装饰这个新建成的巢穴。竣工后,带着雌鸟来参观一番,还会衔着装饰品翩翩起舞,以才艺表演讨取雌鸟的欢心。
文本选自:The Economist(经济学人)作者:Unknown原文标题:Birds are just as fashion-conscious as people原文发布时间:4 Feb. 2023关键词:鸟 时尚 颜色
精听党带着问题听
1. “燕窝”用英语可以如何表达?2. 在本文中,威廉姆斯于1934年发表的研究成果是怎么得出的?3. 如何理解第三段中的“set out”?
精听党选段赏析
标题解读
Birds are just as fashion-conscious as people
鸟类也会“赶时髦”
fashion-conscious
adj. 赶时髦的;1. fashion-conscious teenagers 赶时髦的青少年;
段一
Humans are not the animal kingdom’s only fashionistas. Tits can be fashion-victims, too, apparently. A study published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology by Sonja Wild and Lucy Aplin of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Biology, in Radolfzell, Germany, shows that, given the chance, they decorate their nests with this season’s must-have colour.
fashionista n. 时尚达人;时尚人士;
tit n. 山雀;各种小鸟;
fashion-victim n. 时尚受害者(盲目赶时髦的人);时尚牺牲品;
Behavioral Ecology 行为生态学;
Sociobiology n. 生物社会学;
Behavioural Biology 行为生物学;
given prep. 考虑到;如果,倘若;1. Write down the sort of thing you would like to do, given the opportunity. 如果有机会,写下你想做的事情。2. Given the uncertainty over Leigh's future, I was left with little other choice. 考虑到莉前途未卜,我几乎没有选择余地。
decorate vt. 装饰,装点;
nest n. 窝,巢,穴;1. bird's nest 燕窝;鸟巢;
参考译文
人类并不是动物王国中唯一的时尚达人。显然,鸟类也可能成为时尚的受害者。德国拉多夫泽尔马克斯·普朗克行为生物学研究所的索尼娅·怀尔德和露西·阿普林在《行为生态学和社会生物学》上发表的一项研究表明,如果有机会,它们就会用当季必备的颜色来装饰巢穴。
段二
Dr Wild and Dr Aplin were following up work published in 1934 by Henry Smith Williams, an American naturalist. He noticed that when he put various coloured balls of yarn out in his garden, almost always one and only one became popular that season for incorporation into local birds’ nests. But which particular hue was favoured varied from season to season. This suggested that the colour chosen by one of the early birds was spotted and copied by others.
follow up 跟踪,坚持完成,继续做某事;
naturalist n. 自然主义者;博物学者;
yarn n.(棉、毛等的)纱,纱线,纺线;
incorporation n. 合并;1. The incorporation of air bubbles in the glass spoiled it. 玻璃含有气泡,使它的质量降低。
hue n. 颜色,色调;1. dominant hue 主色调;支配彩色;
favour vt. 支持,喜爱;
spot vt. 看见;看出;注意到;
参考译文
怀尔德博士和阿普林博士正在跟进美国博物学家亨利·史密斯·威廉姆斯于1934年发表的研究成果。他注意到,当他把各种颜色的纱线球放在花园里时,几乎总是有且只有一种纱线球在那个季节被加进当地的鸟巢中。但鸟儿偏爱哪种颜色则因季节而异。这表明,一只较早筑巢的鸟儿选用的颜色会受到关注,并被其他鸟儿所模仿。
段三
Williams’s work was, however, forgotten until Dr Wild and Dr Aplin came across it while following up on a different study, published in 2009 by a team at the University of Toulouse. This group noted that, during any given breeding season, the blue tits they were investigating tended to incorporate the same herbaceous plants into their nests regardless of how abundant those herbs actually were. This, too, suggested fashion-following—and it likewise led Dr Wild and Dr Aplin to speculate that birds were studying the nests of others and copying them. They therefore set out to re-run Williams’s experiment, but this time to collect some actual numbers.
come across 偶遇;无意中发现;
Toulouse n. 图卢兹(法国南部城市);
breeding season 繁殖期;繁殖季节;
blue tit 蓝冠山雀;
herbaceous adj. 草本的;绿色的;
regardless of 不顾,不管;
abundant adj. 大量的,丰富的;充足的;1. abundant rainfall 过量降雨;
herb n. 药草,香草;
likewise adv. 同样地,类似地;
speculate vt. 猜测,推测;
set out 出发;开始;
re-run vt. 重演;重新运行;
参考译文
然而,威廉姆斯的研究被雪藏,直到怀尔德博士和阿普林博士在跟进图卢兹大学一个团队于2009年发表的另一项研究时偶然发现了这项研究。该小组注意到,在任何给定的繁殖季节,他们所调查的蓝山雀倾向于将相同的草本植物纳入它们的巢中,而不管这些草本植物的实际供应是否充足。这也表示了鸟类同样有跟风的习性——这也同样让怀尔德博士和阿普林博士推测,鸟儿会研究其他鸟的巢并模仿它们。因此,他们开始重新进行威廉姆斯的实验,但是这次是通过收集试验数据来进行分析。
精听党每日单词
fashion-conscious
/ˈfæʃn kɑːnʃəs/ adj. 赶时髦的;
fashionista
/ˌfæʃnˈiːstə/ n. 时尚达人;时尚人士;
tit
/tɪt/ n. 山雀;各种小鸟;
fashion-victim
/ˈfæʃn ˈvɪktɪm/ n. 时尚受害者(盲目赶时髦的人);时尚牺牲品;
Behavioral Ecology
行为生态学;
Sociobiology
/ˌsoʊʃɪˌoʊbaɪˈɑːlədʒi; ˌsoʊsioʊbaɪˈɑːlədʒi/ n. 生物社会学;
Behavioural Biology
行为生物学;
given
/ˈɡɪv(ə)n/ prep. 考虑到;如果,倘若;
decorate
/ˈdekəreɪt/ vt. 装饰,装点;
nest
/nest/ n. 窝,巢,穴;
follow up
跟踪,坚持完成,继续做某事;
naturalist
/ˈnætʃ(ə)rəlɪst/ n. 自然主义者;博物学者;
yarn
/jɑːrn/ n.(棉、毛等的)纱,纱线,纺线;
incorporation
/ɪnˌkɔːrpəˈreɪʃn/ n. 合并;
hue
/hjuː/ n. 颜色,色调;
favour
/ˈfeɪvər/ vt. 支持,喜爱;
spot
/spɑːt/ vt. 看见;看出;注意到;
come across
偶遇;无意中发现;
Toulouse
/tuːˈluːz/ n. 图卢兹(法国南部城市);
breeding season
繁殖期;繁殖季节;
blue tit
蓝冠山雀;
herbaceous
/ɜːrˈbeɪʃəs/ adj. 草本的;绿色的;
regardless of
不顾,不管;
abundant
/əˈbʌndənt/ adj. 大量的,丰富的;充足的;
herb
/ɜːrb/ n. 药草,香草;
likewise
/ˈlaɪkwaɪz/ adv. 同样地,类似地;
speculate
/ˈspekjuleɪt/ vt. 猜测,推测;
set out
出发;开始;
re-run
/reɪ rʌn/ vt. 重演;重新运行;
精听党文化拓展
所谓的“赶时髦”就是追赶流行趋势。可是人为什么要“赶时髦”呢?“流行”的语源是“事物像河水流淌一样在世间流过”。河流有时在狭窄的岩石之间形成湍急的激流,有时又在宽阔的河面静静流淌。现在我们所说的流行,是指服装、行为等在世间兴起一时。
历史上的流行,都是从贵族向平民流行的。比如,在古代,贵重的天然染料紫色,只有王族和贵族才有权使用,而当合成染料技术普及,紫色可以很容易地被调配出来的时候,紫色就迅速在平民中间流行开来。现在,已经不存在从贵族向平民流行的趋势了,现在的流行体系也发生了很大的变化。
罗杰斯将追赶流行趋势的人分为几类。喜欢挑战新事物、具有冒险精神的革新者占2.5%;采用革新者的设计、发出流行信息的初期采用者占13.5%;在较早的阶段把握住流行趋势的前期多数者占34.0%;在流行趋势已经比较普及的阶段加入的后期多数者占34.0%;最后,因为没有办法而抓住流行尾巴的那部分落后者占16.0%。不过,根据流行对象的不同,几类人的比例也不尽相同,所以以上数字只作为参考。
革新者中又分为两种,一种人并没有意识到自己的创新行为或服饰能引起新的流行趋势,而另一种人则是有意识地在创造新的流行趋势。初期采用者中的大多数人具有“赶时髦”的意识,他们较早地采用与众不同的行为或服饰,从而引领新的流行趋势,对此他们会产生精神上的优越感,并满足自我展示的欲望。前期多数者紧跟流行趋势属于一种同调行为,不过他们也会像初期采用者那样有种优越感。然而,后期多数者追赶流行趋势则纯属同调行为,其中有不少人具有接近强迫观念的意识。落后者则基本上属于传统指向者。
精听党每日美句
The wealth of the mind is the only wealth.
精神的财富是唯一的财富。