英语听力精选进阶版 7222（在线收听）

Background: 招潮蟹在英语里被称为 fiddle crab. 这是因为它们拥有一只特别大的螯，就像小提琴一样。现在科学家们采用了一个机械螃蟹来说明雌蟹喜欢那些能够以最大舞蹈动作来显佩自己的雄蟹。

To the fiddler crabs, the Australian mudflats in the north of the country are a heaving dance floor, where a male must rely on his moves to attract a mate.

Male crabs attract passing females by waving their large yellow claws. If a female fancies a male, she will disappear down his burrow in the sand, and if she likes the hole as much as she likes the wave, she'll stay and mate.

But how do females choose between all of these waving suitors? Now a team from the Australian National University in Canberra have worked out what female crabs are looking for in a mate.

Sat beneath the unforgiving Australian sun, the researchers set up three fully adjustable robotic arms, that they are calling the Robocrab. Robocrab allows the researchers to vary the speed of the waves and the size of the claws.

The team showed that females prefer males with larger claws, and more vigorous waves, especially if the male is flankedby two less athletic wavers.

It seems, for the fiddler crabs at least, it pays to beef up, but hang outwithweedy friends.

Glossary 词汇表

mudflats 泥滩 

heaving 繁忙的，熙熙攘攘的 

moves 舞蹈动作 

a mate 性伙伴 

a claw 爪子 

to fancy someone  喜欢某人 

a burrow 洞穴，地道 

a suitor 追求者 

unforgiving 持续炎热的，不能原谅的 

vigorous 生龙活虎，精力旺盛的 

to be flanked by something 一边一个 

to beef up 强壮 

to hang out with 与他人一起消磨时间 

weedy 软弱的

Questions:

1. Are there are a lot of crabs in the Australian mudflats? 

Yes, the mudflats are described as a "heaving dance floor".

2. How do male fiddler crabs attract female crabs? 

By waving their large claws.

3. What were the researchers testing in this study? 

How the speed of a male crab's wave and the size of its claw changes its appeal to a female crab.

4. Why does it pay for fiddler crabs to "hang out with weedy friends"? 

Because they are more appealing if they have weaker crabs next to them.