TED演讲:人类性进化的启示(2)

 　　All Cacilda and I have done is extend this sharing behavior to sexuality.  我和卡希尔达只是将这种分享行为扩展到了性上

　　So we've argued that human sexuality  我们认为人类的性

　　has essentially¹ evolved, until agriculture,  直到农业出现之前

　　as a way of establishing and maintaining  一直是作为一种方式来建立和维持

　　the complex, flexible social systems, networks, that our ancestors were very good at,  我们祖先所擅长的那种复杂灵活的社会网络

　　and that's why our species has survived so well.  我们人类能够如此好地存活，这就是原因

　　Now, this makes some people uncomfortable,  这让有些人觉得有些不舒服

　　and so I always need to take a moment in these talks to say, listen,  因此，讲到这里，我总是需要解释一下，听着

　　I'm saying our ancestors were promiscuous,  我说我们的祖先是混杂交配的

　　but I'm not saying they were having sex with strangers.  但我没有说他们会同陌生人发生性关系

　　There were no strangers. Right?  其实根本就没有陌生人

　　In a huntergatherer band, there are no strangers.  在狩猎采集的队伍里，没有陌生人

　　You've known these people your entire life.  这些人都是一辈子待在一起的

　　So I'm saying, yes, there were overlapping² sexual relationships,  我想说，没错，这里有重叠的性关系

　　that our ancestors probably had several different sexual relationships  我们的祖先可能有多个不同的性关系

　　going on at any given moment in their adult lives.  同时存在于成年生活的某个特定时期

　　But I'm not saying they were having sex with strangers.  但我没说他们会同陌生人发生性关系

　　I'm not saying that they didn't love the people they were having sex with.  我也没说，他们不爱和他们发生关系的人

　　And I'm not saying there was no pairbonding going on.  我也没有说这里没有配偶关系

　　I'm just saying it wasn't sexually exclusive.  我只是说，交配并不具有排他性

　　And those of us who have chosen to be monogamous   我们中不少人选择只进行夫妻交配

　　my parents, for example, have been married for 52 years monogamously,  例如我父母，他们52年来一直都是如此

　　and if it wasn't monogamously, Mom and Dad,  如果父母不是只进行夫妻交配

　　I don't want to hear about it  我显然不想听到

　　I'm not criticizing this and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this.  我没有批评这种做法，这样做没什么错

　　What I'm saying is that to argue  我只是想说

　　that our ancestors were sexual omnivores  我们的祖先是性杂食者

　　is no more a criticism of monogamy  这并不是对夫妻单配的批评

　　than to argue that our ancestors were dietary omnivores  就像说我们的祖先是饮食杂食者

　　is a criticism of vegetarianism³.  并不是批评素食主义一样

　　You can choose to be a vegetarian,  你可以选择成为素食者

　　but don't think that just because you've made that decision,  不过不要认为你作出了这样的选择

　　bacon suddenly stops smelling good.  培根肉就突然变得不香了

　　Okay? So this is my point.  这就是我的观点

　　That one took a minute to sink in, huh?  这可能需要点时间理解

　　Now, in addition to being a great genius, a wonderful man, a wonderful husband,  达尔文是一个伟大的天才，一个出色的丈夫

　　a wonderful father, Charles Darwin  一个出色的父亲

　　was also a worldclass Victorian prude.  同时也是维多利亚时代一位世界级的拘守礼仪者

　　All right? He was perplexed  让他感到很迷惑的是

　　by the sexual swellings of certain primates⁵, including chimps⁷ and bonobos,  特定灵长类动物的性突起，包括黑猩猩和倭猩猩

　　because these sexual swellings tend to provoke many males to mate with the females.  因为这些性突起会挑逗多个雄性来同雌性交配

　　So he couldn't understand why on Earth would the female have developed this thing  他不能理解，如果只需要同配偶交配

　　if all they were supposed to be doing is forming their pair bond, right?  为什么雌性会进化得到这种东西

　　Chimps and bonobos, Darwin didn't really know this, but chimps and bonobos mate  达尔文当时还不知道，黑猩猩和倭猩猩

　　one to four times per hour with up to a dozen males per day  每小时会交配一到四次，每天最多会和十多个雄性交配

　　when they have their sexual swellings.  这就是拥有性突起时发生的情况

　　Interestingly,  有趣的是

　　chimps have sexual swellings through 40 percent, roughly, of their menstrual cycle,  黑猩猩在月经周期大约40%的时间拥有性突起

　　bonobos 90 percent,  而倭猩猩的数字则是90%

　　and humans are among the only species on the planet  而人类是地球上唯一一种

　　where the female is available for sex throughout the menstrual cycle,  雌性在整个月经周期中都能发生性关系的物种

　　whether she's menstruating, whether she's postmenopausal, whether she's already pregnant.  无论是月经来潮还是停经后，甚至已经怀孕

　　This is vanishingly rare among mammals.  这在哺乳动物中是独一无二的

　　So it's a very interesting aspect of human sexuality.  这是人类性方面很有趣的一个侧面

　　Now, Darwin ignored the reflections of the sexual swelling⁴ in his own day,  达尔文在当时忽略了对性突起的思考

　　as scientists tend to do sometimes.  科学家们有时会这样做

　　So what we're talking about is sperm⁸ competition.  下面来看精子竞争

　　Now the average human ejaculate has about 300 million sperm cells,  一般男性一次射出大约三亿精子

　　so it's already a competitive environment.  这是竞争性很强的环境

　　The question is whether these sperm are competing against other men's sperm  问题是，这些精子是同其他男人的精子竞争

　　or just their own.  还是只在自己之间竞争

　　There's a lot to talk about in this chart.  这张图中有很多值得讲的

　　The one thing I'll call your attention to right away  我首先希望大家注意的是

　　is the little musical note above the female chimp⁶ and bonobo and human.  雌性大猩猩，倭猩猩和人类上方所画的音符

　　That indicates female copulatory vocalization.  表示雌性交配发声

　　Just look at the numbers.  看看数字

　　The average human has sex about 1,000 times per birth.  人类平均要做爱大约一千次才能生出一个孩子

　　If that number seems high for some of you,  这个数字对于你们有些人可能高了

　　I assure you it seems low for others in the room.  不过放心，肯定有人觉得这个数字低了

　　We share that ratio with chimps and bonobos.  我们只同黑猩猩和倭猩猩在这个比例上近似

　　We don't share it with the other three apes,  其它三类猿的数字都不是这样

　　the gorilla⁹, the orangutan and the gibbon, who are more typical of mammals,  大猩猩，红猩猩和长臂猿，它们都是典型哺乳动物

　　having sex only about a dozen times per birth.  大约十几次交配就能生出一个孩子

　　Humans and bonobos are the only animals that have sex facetoface  所有动物中，只有人类和倭猩猩会面对面交配

　　when both of them are alive.  当双方都活着的时候

　　And you'll see that the human, chimp and bonobo  还可以看到，人类，黑猩猩，倭猩猩

　　all have external testicles, which in our book  都有外置睾丸，我们在书中

　　we equate¹⁰ to a special fridge you have in the garage just for beer.  将这说成是车库中随时取用啤酒的特置冰箱

　　If you're the kind of guy who has a beer fridge in the garage,  车库里有冰箱放啤酒的话

　　you expect a party to happen at any moment, and you need to be ready.  你就做好了随时开派对的准备

　　That's what the external testicles are.  外置睾丸就是这个用途

　　They keep the sperm cells cool so you can have frequent ejaculations.  它们能够让精子保持冰爽，让你能够更频繁地射精

1 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

2 overlapping   

adj./n.交迭（的）

参考例句：

• There is no overlapping question between the two courses. 这两门课程之间不存在重叠的问题。
• A trimetrogon strip is composed of three rows of overlapping. 三镜头摄影航线为三排重迭的象片所组成。

3 vegetarianism   

n.素食，素食主义

参考例句：

• More and more people are believing in vegetarianism and diet for health. 而今越来越多的人们相信素食和节食有利于身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She is an exponent of vegetarianism. 她是一个素食主义的倡导者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

5 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

6 chimp   

n.黑猩猩

参考例句：

• In fact,the color of gorilla and chimp are light-color.其实大猩猩和黑猩猩的肤色是较为浅的。
• The chimp is the champ.猩猩是冠军。

7 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

8 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

9 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

10 equate   

v.同等看待，使相等

参考例句：

• You can't equate passing examination and being intelligent.你不能把考试及格看成是聪明。
• You cannot equate his poems with his plays.你不可以把他的诗歌和他的剧本相提并论。