时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(九)月


英语课

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber. This’ll just take a minute.


Songbirds sing to entice 1 mates, and the timing 2 of those songs is often regulated by sunlight. But that timing is getting thrown off—by streetlamps. That’s according to research published in the journal Current Biology.


Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology 3 in Germany studied five common forest-breeding songbirds. Males in four species started singing significantly earlier in the morning if they lived near streetlights than did their deep forest-dwelling kin 4. And for one species studied, males were more successful at attracting extra-pair mates. Those are females other than the male’s primary nest-mate with whom they sire offspring.


Sounds great, right? Well, the researchers say, not so fast. They note that the males may be weaker, because they get less sleep due to the lights. And so females who used to take early singing as a sign of virility 5 may be attracted to weaker males who simply can’t sleep because the lights are on. The early singing may also put the males at greater risk of predation.


The researchers say we don’t understand the long-term effects. But they add a hopeful note—companies are developing new streetlamps with reduced light pollution, which could also help songbirds get their z’s.


Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber.



1 entice
v.诱骗,引诱,怂恿
  • Nothing will entice the children from television.没有任何东西能把孩子们从电视机前诱开。
  • I don't see why the English should want to entice us away from our native land.我不明白,为什英国人要引诱我们离开自己的国土。
2 timing
n.时间安排,时间选择
  • The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
  • The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。
3 ornithology
n.鸟类学
  • He found his vocation in ornithology.他发现自己适于专攻鸟类学。
  • His main interests are botany and ornithology.他主要对植物学和鸟类学感兴趣。
4 kin
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的
  • He comes of good kin.他出身好。
  • She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。
5 virility
n.雄劲,丈夫气
  • He wanted his sons to become strong,virile,and athletic like himself.他希望他的儿子们能长得像他一样强壮、阳刚而又健美。
  • He is a tall,virile man with rugged good looks.他是个身材高大、体魄健壮、相貌粗犷英俊的男子。
学英语单词
acculturational
Ahok
air servicer
air tube connector
allylisulfocarbamide
Alyssum lenense
annealing kiln
anti-detonant
arggh
bainitic
bank eligible bonds
birdsat
body persecution
butter knife
chin implant
cotton ball cloud
crankcase mayonnaise
crime of affray
crow pram
current collecting equipment with liquid metal
dilettanteish
Distoma hepaticum
DJC
drawing-in machine
elingued
epidihydrocholesterin
even zonal harmonics
exclusive-NOR gate
Fenmetrazin
fetichises
flowind
galula
gavots
glyco-nucleoprotein
group technology code
head-emptier
heat sensimeter
hyperbolic variational inequation
hypersensitive angiitis
impact matrix
Inner Manchuria
inscription on a tablet
interactive placement
Irurita
keesee
Kraynovka
lateral distal mandibular
layettes
layzer
ligmentum popliteum arcuatum
limits of audition
loflucarban
M.Ap.L.
metzincins
minimum-size
Nam Ha
nominal pressure rating
one-block
package management system
people's
photo typography
platinum resistance thermometry
Platt.
plot a distance
plumb perpendicular
predations
premature eruption of tooth
prison gangs
psychosociology
puts together
rectalox glaberi
respiratory environment
restored nonevent
Roulans
Samaritan Pentateuch
shaping amplifier
shipments sent
sill splicing
simple analytic function
somniferum
sound source room
spider-web antenna
spot radiation source
sunshine pill
Swainsona salsula
Syncalathium disciforme
tapman
tea-dancer
telepathising
tensor geometry
thromboresistant
to bake
toll communication network
tracer compound
travelblogs
ultrapure material
underinflated
use exertions
vaginal discharges
Veterans Affairs
vittore carpaccio
Vygozero, Ozero