时间:2019-03-06 作者:英语课 分类:英语时差8,16


英语课

Depending on the species, bird eggs can be any color ranging from chicken’s plain white to a robin’s blue, streaked 1, spotted 2, bright, pale, and anything in between. Today, on a Moment of Science, we take a look at some of the reasons this might be the case. But first, how do eggs get their color? As the egg moves down the female’s oviduct, the tube that connects the ovary to the outside, it squeezes against glands 3 that produce colored pigments 4 that combine to form every color in the egg shell spectrum 5. If the egg is stationary 6 at the time that it comes in contact with these glands, it’ll be spotted. If the egg is in motion, it will be streaked. So why go through all the trouble of producing colored eggs? For many species of birds that nest out in the open, the eggs’ colors help to conceal 7 them by enabling them to blend into the background. Another way that colored eggs come in handy, is that in some species, like murres, individual birds learn to recognize their own particular markings and reject eggs that don’t match. In contrast, birds that nest in cavities, or that start incubating as soon as the egg is laid and consequently don’t need to hide their eggs, tend to lay unmarked white ones. Given all this, how do scientists explain the fact that robin’s eggs are an eye-catching, unmarked blue? Perhaps this enables robins 8 to spot when a parasitic 9 bird tries to add its own eggs to the nest. For some species, this may pose a greater threat than that of nest robbers.



adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹
  • The children streaked off as fast as they could. 孩子们拔脚飞跑 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • His face was pale and streaked with dirt. 他脸色苍白,脸上有一道道的污痕。 来自辞典例句
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
n.腺( gland的名词复数 )
  • a snake's poison glands 蛇的毒腺
  • the sebaceous glands in the skin 皮脂腺
n.(粉状)颜料( pigment的名词复数 );天然色素
  • The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls. 古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。 来自辞典例句
  • The original white lead pigments have oxidized and turned black. 最初的白色铅质颜料氧化后变成了黑色。 来自辞典例句
n.谱,光谱,频谱;范围,幅度,系列
  • This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
  • We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成,我们已了解不少。
adj.固定的,静止不动的
  • A stationary object is easy to be aimed at.一个静止不动的物体是容易瞄准的。
  • Wait until the bus is stationary before you get off.你要等公共汽车停稳了再下车。
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽
  • He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方,他只好隐瞒身份。
  • He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。
n.知更鸟,鸫( robin的名词复数 );(签名者不分先后,以避免受责的)圆形签名抗议书(或请愿书)
  • The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后,Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句
adj.寄生的
  • Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢?
  • By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说,这是种寄生虫的生活方式。
学英语单词
Ac op
address translation cache
alpax alloys
anode voltage stabilized camera tube
boat-builders
Bohicon
building projects
charm'd
cold plastic deformation
coldsleep
collateral estoppels
curtsy
cyg
Dashami
decider
definers
DGqprotein
diffuse sclerosing osteomyelitis
drop in
Earth Station-Sudan
false-echo device
fiduciaryreserve
filling twist
flexible roller-mulcher-tiller
francher
gear shaping tool
gley soil
grassboxes
heptachords
Holmes-Stewart phenomenon
isopyridoxal
issuer encipherment key
jack bean
Jacobite
Kormoran
krooman
lead selector
light level
load support
longhandled
lopirazepam
ma nishtana
Mafia Don
marketing expense budget
maximum daily yield
Mercedes Norte
novo-ogarevo
Novonikitino
odour of sanctity
old sonata form
open-angle glaucoma
optoacoustic detection
outgalloped
outside reflux ratio
palm tree
paper-base laminate
pcior-Finkler spirillum
pepe union
posthospital
pseudo-bulb
put on the agony
quasi-linear system
ramoneur
rapoport
recuperator tube
remain the same
reschly
retro-lingual gland
salonnard
scaglione
schlossmacherite
Scridain, Loch
semantic classes
semen trigonellae
send answer
setverify
shaft-raising gear
shelf energy
ship body membrane
shopping.com
spicules
Spitalfield
steel wire rotary brush
still image adjustment switch
tapeworm
themus (themus) purpuratus
Thidicur
Thousand Spring Creek
three-lobe oil pump
threepio
transfigurating
tussapax
udallers
umbrella pines
urge to merge
voluntary sanction
Volx
Voyvodina
water-intake
web quality index (wqi)
What good is it?
winning hazard