TED演讲:谈乌鸦的智慧(5)

 So they're learning from each other. And research bears this out. 乌鸦通过互相学习，都掌握了这种技巧。

Parents seem to be teaching their young. They learn from their peers, they learn from their enemies. 乌鸦父母还教会自己的孩子这样的技巧呢。它们向同伴学习，也向它们的敌人学习。

If I have a little extra time, I'll tell you about a case of crow infidelity that illustrates¹ that nicely. 如果我还有更多演讲时间，我会告诉你们一个有关乌鸦背信的案例，来更好地证明我的观点。

The point being, they've developed cultural adaptation. 最关键的是它们学会了适应不同的生态文化。

And as we heard yesterday, that's the Pandora's box that's getting human beings in trouble, and we're starting to see it with them.  就如昨天我们听到的那样，是潘多拉之盒将人类引入混乱，现在是开始着手解决它的时候了。

They're able to very quickly and very flexibly adapt to new challenges and new resources in their environment, 他们能快速且融洽地适应新的挑战及环境中的新资源，

which is really useful if you live in a city. 对于城市生活来说，这可真有用。

So we know that there's lots of crows. We found out they're really smart and they can teach each other. 好了，现在我们都知道城市里有大量的乌鸦，它们很聪明，还懂得相互间分享生存的秘诀。

When all this became clear, I realized the only obvious thing to do is build a vending² machine. So that's what we did. 当我知道这一切以后，我决定要专门为它们做一台自动售货机。并且还做成功了。

This is a vending machine for crows. And it uses Skinnerian training to shape their behavior over four stages. 这就是乌鸦专用自动售货机：我们用斯金纳（操作性条件反射）理论，分四阶段训练法来训练乌鸦。

It's pretty simple. Basically, what happens is that we put this out in a field or someplace where there's lots of crows. 其实也很简单。首先，我们把这样的机器放到田野或者乌鸦经常出没的地方。

And we put coins and peanuts all around the base of the machine. 在机器的底部放上一大堆的硬币和花生。

And crows eventually come by, eat the peanuts, and get used to the machine being there. 乌鸦来了，吃掉机器上的花生，并且也习惯了机器的存在。

Eventually, they eat all the peanuts. Then they see peanuts here on the feeder tray, and hop³ up and help themselves. 吃光了地面的花生以后，它们发现在售货机的出货口那里也有很多花生，于是就跳到上面，也同样尽享美味。

Then they leave, the machine spits up more coins and peanuts, and life is dandy if you're a crow 每一天，那机器上都会放满了硬币和花生。嘿，要是当那样的一只乌鸦也不错哟，

you can come back anytime and get yourself a peanut. 每天都不愁吃的。

So when they get really used to that, we move on to the crows coming back. 当它们都习惯这样的生活，我们继续下一步。

Now they're used to the sound of the machine; they keep coming back and digging out peanuts from the pile of coins that's there.  我们等到乌鸦都习惯于机器的声音，就把花生盖在硬币底下，它们飞过来，掀开硬币，就能吃得到花生。

And when they get really happy about this, we stymie⁴ them. 它们也挺开心的。这时，我们决定给它们制造一些困难。

1 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

2 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

3 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

4 stymie   

v.妨碍，阻挠

参考例句：

• Companies have been stymied by the length of time it takes to reach an agreement.由于耗时过长，各公司一直未能达成协议。
• Relief efforts have been stymied in recent weeks by armed gunmen.最近几周的救援工作一直受到武装分子的阻挠。