时间:2019-01-08 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(九)月


英语课

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.


The first time you visit your boyfriend’s place, he no doubt tidies up, to give you the illusion that he doesn’t live like an animal. Well, animals, too, can use optical illusions to woo a mate. Take the bowerbird.


Male bowerbirds build elaborate shelters to try to attract a female. They decorate these bachelor pads with shells, bones and pebbles 1, and even lay a pathway of sticks along which the female can walk to get the best view. But that path provides more than just a welcome mat. It allows the male bird to set the stage so that the décor will accentuate——even exaggerate——his size, a typical sign of good genes 2.


See, male bowerbirds line their courtyards with objects arranged from smallest to largest. Viewed from the walkway, this layout makes the court seem smaller and the bird sitting at its center look larger. When scientists went in and reversed the gradient, the male bowerbirds restored it within days, results published in the journal Current Biology.


Of course, the females may be on to the trick. And rather than being fooled about size, a female may be selecting a male based on how clever he is to make himself look so swell 3. Or so swelled 4.


Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.

 



[复数]鹅卵石; 沙砾; 卵石,小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )
  • The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
  • Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石,以确保排水良好。
n.基因( gene的名词复数 )
  • You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因,所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强
  • The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
  • His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。
增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情)
  • The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染,他的手肿了起来。
  • After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后,河水猛涨。
学英语单词
a millionaire's mite
A wink is as good as a nod .
anterior perforated plate
argentario
Babase I.
ballot initiative
blindstitches
break-even revenue
Brinklow
brushless
bufotherapy
cairncrosses
capillary active
chilled hold
clear to land
Cmnd
coenestopathic
confer with sb. on sth.
do-it-yourself marketing
Dos Picos
economic inducement
eeep
electric signal control
electro-bombardment zone melting
end floor beam
ethico-
excessive production of
exchanges stabilization fund
extrapolated leading edge
extrusion roll
Fasciae musculares
feed of one size
fixture wire
flutterest
form of investment
Forster's operation
gabhs
Gentiana tibetica
Gerard Hoffnung
gravani
Hallerndorf
hamsphire
hayashis
heredity(inheritance)
home grown timber
Huon I.
immunoreaction
informal sector
inventory of fission-product radioactivity
jumbo fiber
Kaptyrevo
Klan
L form
La Trinidad de Orichuna
legatts
lens covering a small angle of field
Malintang, Gunung
manure spreader with swinging beater
marauded
mathematic machine theory
membrane electric current
mendham
metal active gas shielded arc welding
metapelites
monster
mutation load
natural daylight
nonobservable
nontreated
official trial
old stock
omoecope
optical surface curvature
parliament rolls
Phenadiazole
phototelegraphic apparatus
plain bearing pillow bolck
polystichum fraxinellum
potentiometer pressure transducer
raca
recreation building
relatively-closed set
rescue mission
run into a stone wall
scolecithricella tenuiserrata
self-servings
speedy driving
sriy
stem apron
subor
symmetric trihedral angle
Togoville
two hundred and twenty
unsaleable article
Utete
vortex model
wave loop
Weingarten formulas
world leader
xuchangqing
Zagreus
zeylanite