TED演讲:谈乌鸦的智慧(2)

 And in doing so, we were breeding them for parasitism¹. 为了做到这点，人类用喂养的方式来让它们寄生于我们。

We were giving them all sorts of reasons to adapt new ways. 我们给了动物们适应新环境的各种理由。

So, for example, rats are incredibly responsive breeders. 比如：老鼠的生育能力变得超强。

And cockroaches², as anyone who's tried to get rid of them knows, have become really immune³ to the poisons that we're using. 而蟑螂，逮过蟑螂的人都知道，它们已经不在乎我们的“诱饵”了。

So I thought, let's build something that's mutually beneficial; something that we can both benefit from, 于是我想，为何不制造出一些能让我们人类和这些“寄生虫”共同受益的东西呢？

and find some way to make a new relationship with these species⁴. 从而让人类找到一条与其共处的新路子。 

So I built the vending⁵ machine. 这就是我制作动物专用自动售货机的理由。

But the story of the vending machine is a little more interesting if you know more about crows. 不过如果你多了解一下乌鸦，这个自动售货机的故事会更有趣。

It turns out, crows aren't just surviving with human beings; they're actually thriving. 乌鸦们不仅仅是在人类环境中‘生存’得不错--事实上，他们活得还很精彩。

They're found everywhere on the planet except for the Arctic⁶ and the southern tip of South America. 你在地球上任何一处角落--除了两极和南美至南端--都可以见得到乌鸦。

And in all that area, they're only rarely found breeding more than five kilometers away from human beings. 通常它们的栖息地离人类居所不出5公里。

So we may not think about them, but they're always around. 虽然你也许不会想到这一点，可是它们确确实实一直都这么活在我们身边。

And not surprisingly, given the human population growth, more than half of the human population is living in cities now. 这也不奇怪，我们的地球上人口暴涨，其中有半数以上居住在城市。

And out of those, nine-tenths of the human growth population is occurring in cities. 除此之外，90%的人口增长就都发生在城市里。

We're seeing a population boom⁷ with crows. 乌鸦这个种群也在经历同样的发展。

So bird counts are indicating that we might be seeing up to exponential growth in their numbers. So that's no great surprise. 所以鸟类的数量在我们看来将会有一个爆炸型的增长，这并没有什么奇怪的。

But what was really interesting to me was to find out that the birds were adapting in a pretty unusual way. 但令我感到吃惊的是，这些鸟儿竟然学会了通过一些奇特的方式在我们的社会里求得生存。

And I'll give you an example of that. This is Betty. She's a New Caledonian crow. 大家看看下面的例子：它的名字是Betty，它是一只New Caledonia（北美地名）的乌鸦。

And these crows use sticks in the wild to get insects and whatnot out of pieces of wood. 在森林里，它们会用树枝从林木里挑出虫子和其他食物。

Here, she's trying to get a piece of meat out of a tube. 此时它正尝试用铁线取出瓶子里的那块肉。

But the researchers had a problem. They messed up and left just a stick of wire in there. 但是研究者们遇到了一个问题。他们把试验搞砸了，因为只留下了一根线在那里。

And she hadn't had the opportunity to do this before. You see, it wasn't working very well. So she adapted. 而Betty以前可没尝试过这样的挑战。你可以看到，它进行得并不顺利。于是它想出了一个新法子。

1 parasitism   

n.寄生状态，寄生病；寄生性

参考例句：

• Gastrointestinal parasitism is characterized gastroenteritis, unthriftiness and anemia. 胃肠道寄生虫病的特征是：胃肠炎，瘦弱和贫血。 来自辞典例句
• Many biologists think that sex, for example, is a response to parasitism. 比如说许多生物学家认为性就是对寄生病菌的一种反应。 来自互联网

2 cockroaches   

n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At night, the cockroaches filled the house with their rustlings. 夜里，屋里尽是蟑螂窸窸瑟瑟的声音。 来自辞典例句
• It loves cockroaches, and can keep a house clear of these hated insects. 它们好食蟑螂，可以使住宅免除这些讨厌昆虫的骚扰。 来自百科语句

3 immune   

adj.免疫的，有免疫力的，不受影响的，免除的

参考例句：

• I am immune from the disease,for I had it once.我对这病有免疫力，因为我已得过一次了。
• Be immune from corruption.拒腐蚀，永不沾。

4 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

5 vending   

v.出售（尤指土地等财产）( vend的现在分词 )；（尤指在公共场所）贩卖；发表（意见，言论）；声明

参考例句：

• Why Are You Banging on the Vending Machine? 你为什么敲打这台自动售货机？ 来自朗文快捷英语教程 2
• Coca-Cola had to adapt almost 300,000 vending machines to accept the new coins. 可口可乐公司必须使将近三十万台自动贩卖机接受新货币。 来自超越目标英语 第5册

6 Arctic   

adj.北极的；n.北极

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• The sort of animal lived in the Arctic Circle.这种动物生活在北极圈里。

7 boom   

n.隆隆声；vt.发隆隆声

参考例句：

• The country is having a great boom in industry.这个国家的工业正蓬勃发展。
• Boom!Boom!Boom!A series of explosions shook the valley.轰！轰！轰！一连串爆破声震撼山谷。