Listening to Birdsong

　　A male zebra finch chirps away to himself. Suddenly he notices a female bird, nearby: He realizes he has an audience and immediately changes his song. Can the female tell the difference in his performance? According to a new study, the female zebra finch knows. And she prefers the special trills he creates when he sings to her. A male zebra finch changes his song when singing to a female in ways that people can barely detect. But the female finch can tell the difference.

　　Scientists had noticed slight variations in the songs of male zebra finches based on whether they were singing alone or whether there was a female ( and potential mate) nearby. With an audience, the males sped up the pace of their songs and controlled the notes they used.

　　For this Study, researchers Sarah C. Woolley and Allison Doupe at the University of California, San Francisco decided to focus attention on the listening females, which have not been well studied in the past.

　　In the study, Woolley and Doupe set up a long cage with a sound speaker at each end. One broadcast the sound of a male zebra finch singing to himself, like someone singing in the shower. The other speaker broadcast a male performing for a female audience, as if he was giving a concert.

　　Female birds were placed between the two speakers. Some of the birds had mates, others didn't. The females shifted around a bit, and then most of them hopped over to sit beside just one speaker. All the birds that made a clear choice liked songs meant for a female audience, even if they'd never met the male.

　　Mated females also had a chance to listen to two different performance songs, one from an unknown male, and one from their mate. They spent more time listening, to the concert version of their mates' songs. This suggests that after a while, females learn to recognize--and prefer—the songs of their mates.

　　Scientists then studied the brains of the females. They found certain areas of the brain perked up when the birds listened to the concert songs. These brain areas may be involved in recognizing and evaluating the songs, and storing the memories of them.

　　This research deals with what's called directed communication, when the communicator, or sender, focuses the message for a specific audience. One example is the way moms speak to their babies. Mothers around the world use the same sort of high-pitched sing-song chatter, and the babies respond best to those sounds. Songbirds are one of the only other species known to learn their communication, in this case their songs.

　　詞匯：

　　finch n. 雀科鳴鳥 perk v. 使振作，使活躍

　　chirp v. (鳥)鳴 morn n. 媽媽(等于英國英語mum)

　　trill n. (鳥的)囀音;顫音 chatter v.

　　注釋：

　　1. zebra finch: 斑胸草雀

　　2. chirp away: 吱喳而鳴。away有continuously和steadily的意思。

　　3. perk up : 活躍起來，振作精神

　　4. high-pitched: 活躍起來，振作精神

　　練習(xí)：

　　1. What does the first paragraph say about zebra finches?

　　A)Male zebra finches like to sing to female zebra finches.

　　B)Male zebra finches sing louder than female zebra finches.

　　C)Male zebra finches change their songs in female zebra finches' presence.

　　D)Male zebra finches like to listen to female zebra finches sing.

　　2. What did the researchers fred in their study of female zebra finches?

　　A)Female finches liked songs male finches sang for them.

　　B)Female finches only liked songs male finches sang for their mates.

　　C)Female finches liked to listen to songs from both speakers.

　　D)Female finches chose the best male singers as their mates.

　　3. What is meant by "concert songs" in the seventh paragraph?

　　A)Songs sung by zebra finches at a concert.

　　B)Songs sung by male finches for female finches.

　　C)Songs sung by female fmches for male finches.

　　D)Songs sung by male fmches to many female finches.

　　4. What is NOT true of directed communication?

　　A)The sender of a message has a specific audience.

　　B)Male zebra finches sing to female finches.

　　C)Mothers talk to their babies,

　　D)Male zebra finches sing to themselves.

　　5. Which of the following can best reflect the theme of the passage?.

　　A)Chirping away.

　　B)Birdsongs as communication.

　　C)Zebra finches and their life.

　　D)Enjoying birdsongs.

　　答案與題解：

　　1. C 文章第一段的第二句告訴我們，雄性斑胸草雀只要注意到有雌性斑胸草雀聽他唱歌便會改變聲調(diào)。其他選項均不是該段所表達(dá)的意思。

　　2. A 選項B、C、D 都不是答案，因為文章的第五段說，有配偶的雌性胸草雀更喜歡她們配偶的歌聲，而沒有配偶的喜歡的聽雄性斑胸草雀為雌性斑胸草雀的歌。

　　3. B 第四段提到…a male performing for a female audience, as if he was giving a concert. 所以，第七段中的concert songs 即指雄性斑胸草雀為雌性斑胸草雀的歌。

　　4. D 文章的最后一段解釋了什么是directed communication,即，when the communicator, or sender, focuses the message for a specific audience. 該段又舉了母親對嬰兒說話的例子，說明這與雄性斑胸草雀為雌性斑胸草雀的歌同屬directed communication。

　　5. B 文章所涉及的研究旨在發(fā)現(xiàn)雄性斑胸草雀歌聲是否會在不同的情況下發(fā)生變化，其結(jié)果是，它們在為雌性斑胸草雀唱歌時，會改變聲調(diào)和速度。這就是說，它們的歌聲實際上是一種交流方式。所以應(yīng)選擇B。

　　譯文：

傾聽鳥鳴

　　一只雄性斑胸草雀對著自己吱喳而鳴。突然間，他注意到不遠(yuǎn)處有一只雌性斑胸草雀。他意識到自己有了一位聽眾并立即改變了自己的聲調(diào)。那只雌性斑胸草雀能發(fā)現(xiàn)他的不同嗎?根據(jù)一項新的研究結(jié)果顯示，答案是可以的。并且那只雌性斑胸草雀更喜歡當(dāng)雄性斑胸草雀為她歌唱時所制造的特殊顫音。人類很難發(fā)覺雄性斑胸草雀對著雌性斑胸草雀鳴叫時所做出的改變，但是雌性胸斑草雀可以發(fā)現(xiàn)其中的不同。

　　科學(xué)家們根據(jù)雄性斑胸草雀是否在獨自歌唱或者根據(jù)其周圍是否有一只雌性斑胸草雀(潛在配偶)在場，發(fā)現(xiàn)了他們歌聲中的略微不同。當(dāng)有聽眾在場的時候，雄性斑胸草雀就會加快他們嗚叫的速度并且控制其所用的鳴音。

　　為了此項研究，加州大學(xué)舊金山分校的兩位研究員：薩拉?C?伍利和艾莉森?杜普決定關(guān)注傾聽者——雌性斑胸草雀，而雌性斑胸草雀在過去并沒有被仔細(xì)研究過。

　　．在研究中，伍利和杜普建了一個很長的籠子，籠子兩邊分別裝有一個揚聲器。其中一邊播放的是雄性斑胸草雀對著自己演唱時所發(fā)出的鳴叫聲，好似一個人在洗澡時所唱的歌。另一邊播放的則是雄性斑胸草雀向另一只雌性觀眾表演時的所發(fā)出的雞叫聲，仿佛他是在舉行一場音樂會。

　　雌鳥被放置在兩個揚聲器之間。這些雌鳥中有的已經(jīng)有了配偶，有的還沒有。她們徘徊了一會，便大多飛向并暫棲在了其中的一個揚聲器旁邊。所有的鳥都選擇了為了雌鳥而發(fā)出的表演性鳴叫聲，即使她們從未見過那只發(fā)音的雄性胸斑草雀。

　　有了配偶的雌性胸斑草雀還可以聽到兩個不同的表演性鳴叫聲，其中一個來自未知的雄鳥，另一個則來自她們的配偶。她們花了更多的時間傾聽自己配偶的歌聲。而這表明雌鳥在經(jīng)過一段時間后可以識別出并且更加喜愛自己配偶的歌聲。

　　科學(xué)家們繼而研究了雌鳥的腦部。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)雌鳥聽到表演性鳴叫聲的時候，這些鳥的腦部的特定區(qū)域會變得活躍起來。而這些區(qū)域可能同識別、評價和儲存歌聲有關(guān)。

　　這項研究所關(guān)注的就是所謂的“指向性交流”，即當(dāng)傳播者或信息發(fā)送者所發(fā)送的信息就是為了特定的觀眾。其中一個例子就是母親向嬰兒說話的方式。全世界的母親都采用同樣一種方式：高聲調(diào)的歌詠式的喋喋不休。嬰兒對這種聲音的反應(yīng)最好。而鳴鳥是其他已知物種中唯一可以獲知這種指向性交流的物種，而在這種情況下，則是他們的歌聲。

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