时差N小时:关于"北美燕八哥"的研究(下)

Before a group of young cowbirds had time to socialize much, West had them stay the winter with a group of canaries. In the spring they were turned loose in an aviary¹ with a mixed group of birds. What happened was weird²: the cowbirds sang like canaries, and tried to court canaries. They ignored the other cowbirds! And the canaries ignored their advances. After the mating season–which these birds were really unsuccessful in, by the way–the cowbirds spent the next winter with a group of their own kind. The following spring they were again turned loose with a mixed group of birds, and this time they behaved like cowbirds. They sang cowbird songs, made cowbird moves, and did those things that would increase the cowbird population. What this means³ is that the cowbirds have to learn how to behave like cowbirds–it doesn’t just come naturally.

【参考译文】

在一群年轻的燕八哥有时间去进行社会交往前。西部地区冬天的气候使它们必须和金丝雀一同熬过冬天。在春天，它们在混合鸟群中十分自由。有件事很奇怪：燕八哥的叫声像金丝雀一样，而且尽力去讨好金丝雀。它们不搭理其他燕八哥。金丝雀也忽视了燕八哥的发育。配偶季节过后，燕八哥们十分不成功，它们必须和同类一起熬过冬天。下一个春天，在有各种鸟的鸟群众，它们又自由了，这次它们的行为像燕八哥。它们的鸟叫，动作都和同类一样，这样做会增加燕八哥的欢迎度。这也就意味着燕八哥必须学会如何像真正的燕八哥那样行动——这并不是与生俱来的。

1 aviary   

n.大鸟笼，鸟舍

参考例句：

• There are many different kinds of birds in the aviary.大鸟笼里有很多不同种类的鸟。
• There was also an aviary full of rare birds.那里面还有装满稀有鸟类的鸟舍。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。