2023年经济学人 山雀在筑巢时会“追赶潮流”

One day in March 2021 Dr.Wild, Dr.Aplin and their collaborators deployed¹ five RFID-enabled dispensers loaded with wool rather than food.

2021年3月的一天，威尔德博士、阿普林博士和协作人员部署了五台配有射频识别技术的取食器，但取食器中装载的是羊毛，而不是食物。

Each contained strands³ of two colors - either orange and pink or blue and purple - but all were rigged to dispense² only one of these.

每个取食器都有两种颜色的羊毛——橙色和粉色，或蓝色和紫色——但所有取食器都经过了配置，只提供其中一种颜色的羊毛。

This remained so until at least one local nest was seen to include wool from a dispenser.

直到研究人员观察到至少有一个鸟巢是用取食器里的羊毛筑成的。

At that moment, the other colour was made available, too.

在那之后，另一种颜色的羊毛也会开放使用。

As a control, Dr.Wild and Dr.Aplin set up, in a separate area, four further wool-dispensers, each of which provided two colors from the get-go.

作为对照，威尔德博士和阿普林博士在一个独立区域设置了四个“取羊毛器”，并且两种颜色的羊毛取用不受限制。

Of 68 tits' nests built that season in the experimental areas, 26 included wool from a dispenser.

在那个季节，试验区的山雀筑造的68个巢中，有26个使用了取食器里的羊毛。

Of these, 18 were constructed after both colors had become available from all dispensers.

这其中有18个是在所有取食器都提供两种颜色的羊毛之后建造的。

Even so, ten of that 18 included only the colour of wool first chosen by a nestbuilder.

即便如此，在这18个鸟巢中，有10个只用了最早筑巢的山雀选择的颜色。

By contrast, all eight wool-bearing nests in the control zone contained a mixture of colors - a statistically⁴ significant difference.

相比之下，控制区用羊毛筑造的所有八个巢穴都用了多种颜色的羊毛——从统计学上来说，这两者具有显著差异。

Tits, then, do seem to be "on trend" when it comes to nest-building materials.

因此，在筑巢材料上来说，山雀似乎确实在“追赶潮流”。

Why that should happen remains⁵ obscure.

发生这种情况的原因不明。

Dr.Wild and Dr.Aplin suspect the trendsetters are older birds, and that evolution favors younger ones copying their elders since those elders have evidently survived what fortune has to throw at a tit.

威尔德博士和阿普林博士怀疑，引领潮流的是较为年长的鸟类，由于生物学的进化，幼小的鸟类倾向于模仿它们的长辈，因为这些长辈显然命运捉弄下的幸存者。

Williams's original work, though, suggests such initial choices are arbitrary.

然而，威廉姆斯最初的研究表明，鸟类一开始的选择是随机的。

A bit like those of the leaders of human fashions.

就像人类的时尚领袖一样。

1 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

2 dispense   

vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施

参考例句：

• Let us dispense the food.咱们来分发这食物。
• The charity has been given a large sum of money to dispense as it sees fit.这个慈善机构获得一大笔钱，可自行适当分配。

3 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。