时差N小时 关于一夫一妻制(上)

One common explanation of social monogamy is that it's a result of females choosing mates based on the male's ability to provide for his off spring and protect them from being killed by hostile males or by predators¹.

关于社会一夫一妻制的常见解释是，这是雌性需要雄性养育后代的能力，并保护幼崽不被其他有敌意的雄性或食肉动物杀害。

As you can imagine, females who have help from males produce more litters, and have more offspring that survive to pass on that paternal² behavior.

正如你所想象，在雄性动物的帮助下，雌性可以繁衍出更多的幼崽，并且会有更多的后代存活下来，这种父系行为模式就可以世代流传下去。

Actually, a study suggests that maybe things happened the other way around, that monogamy evolved first and that paternal instincts evolved later and helped stabilize³ monogamy.

事实上，一项研究表明，事实可能恰好相反，首先是一夫一妻制不断进化，之后父性本能才开始进化，并最终巩固了一夫一妻制。

1 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 paternal   

adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的

参考例句：

• I was brought up by my paternal aunt.我是姑姑扶养大的。
• My father wrote me a letter full of his paternal love for me.我父亲给我写了一封充满父爱的信。

3 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。