『新东方在线托福听力』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 74 Lec1听力练习：What is the professor's opinion about the effort that bowerbirds put into building bowers? Click on 2 answers.原文题目答案解析，TPO/Official 74 Lec1听力原文范文音频翻译。

托福TPO/Official 74 Lec1听力原文What is the professor's opinion about the effort that bowerbirds put into building bowers? Click on 2 answers.【新东方在线】

旁白：听一段生物课上的讲座内容。

Narrator：Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

教授：生物学家研究复杂的动物行为，以弄清这些行为为何进化、如何发挥作用、如何传递给下一代等等。

Professor：Biologists study complex animal behaviors to find out why these behaviors evolved, how they function, how they're transferred to the next generation, and so forth.

园丁鸟的求偶行为正因这些原因而被研究。

The courting behavior of the bowerbird is studied for all these reasons.

园丁鸟大小和鸽子差不多，主要栖息在澳大利亚的雨林中，那是澳大利亚东北部一块面积不大但生态多样的区域。

A bowerbird is about this size of a pigeon, and found mostly in Australia's rainforest, which is a small but ecologically diverse area in Northeastern Australia.

“Bower” 指的是雄鸟搭建的巢或构造。

Bower refers to the male birds' nest or structure.

如今，大多数鸟类（包括雌园丁鸟）筑巢是为了养育雏鸟，但雄园丁鸟搭建精致的构造是为了吸引配偶。

Now, most birds, including female bowerbirds, build nests to raise chicks, but male bowerbirds build elaborate structures to help them attract mates.

看看这只正在装饰自己构造外部的园丁鸟。

Take a look at this bowerbird decorating the outside of his structure.

如你所见，这些构造建在森林地面上，而非树上，而且显然雌园丁鸟喜欢蓝色的装饰品。

As you see, construction takes place on the forest floor, not in a tree, and apparently the female bowerbirds like blue decorations.

雄鸟用羽毛、花朵、鹅卵石和贝壳来装饰自己的 “凉亭”。

The male decorates the bower with feathers, flowers, pebbles, and shells.

我们发现有些凉亭用亮蓝色的衣夹装饰，这些衣夹很可能是从别人的后院偷来的。

We found bowers decorated with bright blue clothespins, probably snatched from someone's backyard.

众所周知，园丁鸟还会从其他园丁鸟那里偷装饰品。

Bowerbirds are also known to steal ornaments from other bowerbirds.

当凉亭准备好后，雌鸟可能会过来，观看雄鸟为它表演。

When the bower is ready, a female bird may come over to it and watch the male perform for her.

雄鸟会跳舞、唱歌，或者更确切地说，是鸣叫，而且通常非常有活力。

He'll dance, sing, or rather, chirp, often quite energetically.

好的。有 17 种不同的园丁鸟，它们都是根据所搭建的凉亭类型来分类的。

Okay. So, there are 17 different kinds of bowerbirds, all classified by the type of bower they build.

凉亭主要有三种类型。第一种是 “垫状凉亭”。

There are three major types of bower. First is the matte bower.

垫状凉亭是最不复杂且最容易搭建的。

Matte Bowers are the least elaborate and the easiest to build.

它们基本上是由树枝和树叶制成的厚垫子，周围摆放着装饰品。

They're basically thick pads made from sticks and leaves surrounded by ornaments.

对于垫状凉亭来说，没有真正为雌鸟提供的庇护所，所以当雄鸟表演时，它们会把腹部贴近地面，这表明除非受到邀请，否则它们不会尝试交配。

With matte bowers, there's no real shelter for the females, so when the males are doing their performance, they keep their bellies close to the ground, signaling they will not attempt to mate unless invited to do so.

通过这种方式，它们不会吓到雌鸟，也不会让雌鸟感到有压力。

In this way, they don't frighten or overwhelm the female.

接下来是 “五月柱凉亭”。五月柱凉亭围绕着一棵小树，即一棵树苗搭建，但有时它们会有两座树枝塔，塔之间有一座小廊桥。

Next is the Maypole bower. Maypole bowers are built around a small tree, a sapling, but they sometimes have two towers of twigs with a little covered bridge between them.

五月柱凉亭通常有一片苔藓草坪，草坪保持得整齐又新鲜。

Maypole bowers often have a moss lawn, which is kept neat and fresh.

现在来说最复杂的凉亭 ——“通道凉亭”，就像你们在幻灯片里看到的那样。

Now, the most elaborate bower is the avenue bower, like the one you saw in the slide.

首先，这种鸟用树枝搭建一个像帐篷一样的通道，然后在周围摆放装饰品。

First, the bird constructs an avenue, which is like a tent, out of twigs. Then it places ornaments all around it.

雌鸟实际上可以进入这个凉亭观看雄鸟的表演。

The female can actually go into this bower to watch the male's performance.

我们认为，一般来说，凉亭，尤其是通道凉亭，能为雌鸟提供保护，或许是防止不必要的交配，或者让它在求偶舞蹈过程中不会感到威胁。

We believe that bowers generally, and especially avenue bowers, provide protection for the female, protection against unwanted mating, perhaps, or so she won't feel threatened during the courting dance.

哦，对了，雄鸟甚至可能会给凉亭的内壁涂色。

Oh, oh, and the male may even paint the inside walls of his bower.

它用唾液来涂色，唾液中混合了嚼碎的蓝莓和木炭。

He paints with saliva, saliva mixed with chewed up blueberries, along with charcoal.

那么，让我们来思考一下促使雄园丁鸟建造这些构造的因素。

So, let's consider the factors that drive male bowerbirds to create these structures.

生物学家杰拉尔德・博尔哈研究园丁鸟已有 20 多年了。

One biologist, Gerald Borja, has been studying bowerbirds for more than 20 years.

博尔哈发现，嗯，首先回想一下，许多鸟类物种是根据羽毛的吸引力来选择配偶的。孔雀就是一个典型的例子。

Borgia found, well, first recall, that many bird species select their mates based on the attractiveness of their feathers or plumage. The peacock is a prime example.

有一位生物学家假设，搭建最复杂凉亭的园丁鸟，其羽毛颜色是最不鲜艳的。

Well, one biologist hypothesized that the bowerbirds that built the most elaborate bowers had the least colorful plumage.

但博尔哈推翻了这个假设。他发现暗淡的羽毛和精致的凉亭之间没有显著的关联。

But Borja has disproved that hypothesis. He found no significant relationship between dull feathers and fancy bowers.

博尔哈发现，根据所处位置的不同，凉亭也存在差异。

Borja has found differences in the bowers based on where they're located.

最精致的凉亭往往出现在山谷中，而不是山顶上。

The fanciest ones tend to be in valleys as opposed to hilltops.

他认为这与可获得的光线有关。

He thinks this has something to do with the available light.

山顶经常被云覆盖，所以雌鸟不能很好地看到凉亭。

Hilltops are often cloud covered, so females can't see the bowers very well.

In the valleys, though, there's more sunshine.

在另一项研究中，他们发现 75% 的雌鸟年复一年地回到同一个配偶身边，不会去拜访其他凉亭。

In another study, they found that 75% of females return to the same mate year after year and visit no other bower.

所以，你肯定会想，为什么雄鸟每年都要这么费劲呢，对吧？

So, you have to wonder why the males would go to such trouble every year, you know?

尤其是没有任何保证，特别是对于年轻的雄鸟来说，没有保证会有雌鸟选择它们。

Especially since there's no guarantee, especially for young males, that any female will choose them.

但谁知道呢？也许有一天你们当中会有人能解释清楚这一点。

But who knows? Maybe one of you will shed some light on this one day.

博尔哈还非常感兴趣的一点是，园丁鸟的行为是从长辈那里学来的，还是这些行为在出生时就编码在它们的基因中。

Borja's also very interested in finding out whether bowerbird behaviors are learned from their elders, or whether these behaviors are encoded in their genes at birth.

比如涂色。它们是通过观察其他雄鸟学会涂色的，还是天生就知道怎么涂色呢？

Well, like painting. Do they learn to paint by watching another male bird, or do they just know how to do it?

为了弄清楚这一点，博尔哈正在圈养一些园丁鸟，有些让它们跟着年长的鸟学习，有些则不让。

To figure this out, Borgia is raising some bowerbirds in captivity, some with older birds to learn from, and some without.

Besides building a bower, what does a male bowerbird do to attract a mate? Click on 2 answers

What does the professor imply about female bowerbirds?

How does the professor organize her discussion of the different types of bowers?

According to the professor, what hypothesis did Borgia prove to be wrong?

What is the professor's opinion about the effort that bowerbirds put into building bowers? Click on 2 answers.

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