[考研英语]英语翻译及阅读资料-经济学人5.pdf

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1、Dancing and sexual selection舞蹈与性选择Lord of the dance舞王The moves that make men attractive to women男人做哪些动作吸引女人？Sep 9th 2010THE need to identify a suitable mate is such a strong biological urge that the animal kingdom hasspawned a bewildering array of courtship rituals.Hippo males fling their faeces;fla

2、tworms havepenis-jousting contests;and humpback whales sing and leap above the ocean surface.Suchcompetitive displays depend on the speed,strength and size of an animal,which is why theyconvey a measure of reproductive fitness.在动物王国,动物们需要找到合适的伴侣，这种强烈的生物本能使它们创造了许多求偶仪式,让人眼花缭乱。雄性河马会甩它们的粪便，扁虫用阴茎比武，座头鲸则唱

3、歌并跃出水面。这种竞赛表演，比的是速度、力量、个头大小，因而可以用来评估其是否适合繁衍后代。Dancing is popular among animals for similar reasons.Scorpions and sandhill cranes,for instance,dance to impress.Humans also use dance as part of courtship,but it has been difficult forscientists to pin down exactly what it is about a dance that appeals

4、to members of the opposite sex.This is because factors such as facial attractiveness,height and even social status tend to confoundany attempt to judge the relative merits of a persons gyrations.舞蹈风靡动物界，也基于同样原因。比如，雄性蝎子和沙丘鹤就用舞蹈吸引异性。人类在求爱时也会跳舞。但舞蹈究竟是如何打动异性的，科学家们却无法确切解答，因为长相、身高甚至社会地位等因素都会干扰人们，使其无法正确评判一

5、个人的舞姿。Nick Neave of Northumbria University in Britain decided to try to answer the question withmotion-capture technology,which is used to make films like“Avatar.Thirty students wererecruited,none of whom was a professional dancer.They were covered in reflective markers,which allowed cameras to capt

6、ure their dancing moves.A constant drum beat was provided andthe students were asked to dance,but not told how.英国诺森比亚大学的尼克尼夫决定用动作捕捉技术找出答案。阿凡达等影片应用的就是这一技术。研究人员找来了 30名学生，没有一位是专业舞者，并在他们身上安放了许多反光标记，以使摄像机能够捕捉到他们的动作。伴着持续的鼓点，学生们应要起舞，在没有指示的情况下，随心舞动。The motion-capture data were used to animate a humanoid ava

7、tar that was featureless andgender-neutral.Heterosexual women were then asked to judge the quality of the dancing.Theresults,published in Biology Letters,were intriguing:the most attractive movements were thosethat had variability and amplitude in the head,neck and trunk.研究人员把捕捉到的运动数据通过电脑制作了一个虚拟人物，它

8、没有相貌特征，也看不出性别。接着，3 0 名异性恋女士被要求评判舞姿。刊 登 在 生物学快报上的研究结果非常有趣。结果显示，那些在头部、颈部、躯干“变化多、幅度大”的动作最有魅力。Dr Neave explains that humans move in three planes.You can nod your head backwards andforwards,side to side or twist your neck to look over a shoulder.The women rated big movementsin these three planes for both

9、 the head and the trunk as the most attractive.However,there was anadditional factor,says Dr Neave.Headbanging（sorry,Motorhead fans）was simply not attractive:although it would show a large amplitude of movement in one plane it would not show thevariability of movement that seems to appeal to women.C

10、horeographers have told Dr Neave thatmovements in these three planes comes from strength and suppleness,so they would help toindicate a genetically fit male.尼夫博士解释道，人的动作分三个平面（译者注：正面，矢状面，横截面，具体参看下面yannanchen版主释义）。你可以前后点头，左右摆头，或回头看.女性们认为在这三个平面，头部和躯干均有大幅动作者最有魅力。不过尼夫博士也提到了另外一点，即上下用力点头并无吸引力（抱歉，摩托头乐队的粉丝们）

11、。尽管这个动作在一个平面幅度很大，但缺少变化,无法吸引女性。编舞人员告诉尼夫博士，这三个面的动作能够体现力量和柔韧性，因此有助于找出基因上适合生育的男性。One curiosity was that,statistically,the speed of movement of the right knee also appeared to beimportant in signalling dance quality.Dr Neave,however,believes this may simply result from80%of men being right footed,and so

12、tending to place more weight on their left foot in order todemonstrate leg-waggling prowess with the right one.从统计上看，右膝的运动速度似乎对于舞姿优美与否也很重要，这不禁让人好奇。不过，尼夫博士认为，这是因为80%的男性惯用右脚，他们倾向于把重心放在左脚上，这样就能更好地用右脚展现腿部舞动的技巧。Strictly in the moves仅就动作而言Kristofor McCarty,a scientist who was also involved in the study,be

13、lieves the work is the firstscientific step towards understanding the biology and culture of dance.The scientists think that thecore moves of an attractive dance may be universal,but that many cultures will have variations.For instance,in places where folk dances require the torso to be rigid,one wo

14、uld expect to findmore emphasis put on the movement of the feet or head.科学家克里斯托弗 麦卡迪也参与了这项研究，他认为对于了解舞蹈的生物作用和文化内涵,该研究迈出了科学的第一步。科学家们认为，好看的舞蹈其主要动作是共通的，但因文化差异，也会产生不同。比如说，有些地方的民间舞蹈不允许躯干有太大动作，那么动作就会更多地放在脚部和头部。As for Dr Neave,he says that at 46 his dancing days are over.Nonetheless he remains interestedeno

15、ugh to suspect that physically attractive males are better dancers and also wonders whether it ispossible to detect a persons age from the quality of their dancing.If he can recruit enough gaymen,he would also like to see if they make better dancers.尼夫博士表示，4 6 岁的他已经不再跳舞。不过，他还是饶有兴致地猜测，是否那些外形更佳的男性舞姿也更

16、优美？是否可以通过舞步猜出一个人的年龄？是否男同性恋跳得更棒，当然前提是他得找到足够多的男“同志And then there are the sexual signals from female movement to explore.Dr Neave has started tolook(in the scientific sense)at women in high heels and ask whether high-heeled avatars are moreattractive to men.Some have speculated that the attractiveness

17、of high heels is down to the effectthey create of longer legs or a youthful gait,or that high heels simply make a womans bumwobble.Avatars,having standard legs and no wobbly bits,should therefore be able to solve thatperpetual male mystery:why do women buy shoes that they cannot walk in?女性动作散发的性信号，也

18、有待进一步研究。尼夫博士已开始观察(从科学角度)穿高跟鞋的女性，并提出疑问，穿高跟鞋的电脑模拟人像是否同样对男性更有吸引力。一些人认为，高跟鞋带来的吸引归根结底就是让双腿显得更修长，步态更年轻，或者就是让女性的屁股扭得更厉害。而腿长得都一样，也没有胸部的虚拟人像，也许可以解开这个一直困扰男性的问题：为什么女人要买不跟脚的鞋？Zoos and apes动物园和类人猿Behind the curtain视线之外Zoos are better places for animals than they used to be.But more still needs to be done对动物来说，动物

19、园和以前相比已改善很多，但是仍有很多需要改进Sep 3rd 2010ONCE,they were grim places of bars and concrete.But zoos today are,more often than not,places where endangered species are bred in verdant and naturalistic enclosures.At least,that iswhat the public sees.As night falls and the facilities need to be cleaned,the anima

20、ls are commonlyled into small concrete holding areas.For decades zoos around the world have used such areaswithout question and assumed that their effects on the animals5 behaviour were negligible so longas high-quality enclosures were available during the day.This notion may,however,be wrong,fora n

21、ew study shows that,at least among the great apes,holding areas have a dramatic effect onbehaviour.曾经的动物园只是混凝土和木栏杆组成的阴森之地。但是如今的动物园已成为濒稀物种繁衍的一块碧绿又自然的围场。至少，在公众眼里，动物园是这个样子的。当夜晚降临时，各种设备需要清洗，动物们大多都被关进小的简易混凝土等候区。几十年来，世界上的动物园都理所应当地使用这样的区域，并且认为只要白天有高质量的围场，那这些区域对动物行为的影响是可以忽略不计的。然而，这观点是错误的。一项新的研究显示，至少对类人猿来说，等

22、候区对其行为有重大影响。While working with chimpanzees and gorillas,Stephen Ross,a primatologist at Lincoln Park Zooin Chicago,noticed that the animals changed their behaviour when they were moved in and out ofthe holding areas.Curious as to whether these changes were happening regularly,and keen toidentify spe

23、cifically how behaviour was changing,Mr Ross and a team of his colleagues decidedto carry out an experiment.芝加哥林肯公园动物园的灵长类动物学家Stephen Ross在与黑猩猩及大猩猩打交道时，注意到它们在进出等待区时会改变行为。为了弄清这些行为的改变是否有规律，并且热切希望能具体鉴定猩猩们的行为是如何改变的，Ross先生和他的同事们决定进行一项实验。The researchers trained observers to monitor seven chimpanzees and s

24、even gorillas in both theholding areas and the enclosures.These observers did so for 15 months.Every day,the apes spenttwo hours in their holding areas,which had a floor area of 11 square metres,and the rest of thetime in their enclosures,which were ten times this size.Both the holding areas and the

25、 enclosureswere indoors.研究人员训练观测人员监控七头黑猩猩和七头大猩猩在等待区和在围场的行为。这些观测人员坚持了 15个月。每一天，类人猿都在十一平方米的等候区待两个小时，剩余的时间就待在比等候区大十倍的围场。等候区和围场都是室内的。While doing their work,the observers sat quietly near the animals and noted down their behaviour.When the apes were on public view,the number of visitors present was also

26、noted.In total,theobservers collected 208 hours of observations in the enclosures and 73 hours in the holding areas.观察的时候，观测人员安静地坐在动物旁边，并观察它们的行为。当猩猩们被人参观时，参观者的人数也会被记录下来。最后观测人员总共得到了 208个小时的围场观测数据利73小时的等候区观测数据。Mr Ross and his colleagues report in the American Journal of Primatology that among theirchi

27、mpanzees,aggressive behaviour increased when the animals were placed inside holding areas.Chimps spent about 0.1%of their time being aggressive when they were in the enclosures.Thatrose to 0.5%when the animals were in the holding areas.The researchers also found that chimpsscratched and groomed them

28、selves much more.Scratching increased fourfold.Chimps spent 0.4%of their time in the enclosures having a scratch.That went up to 1.6%in the holding areas.Self-grooming,a gentler activity than scratching,increased from 12.3%to 17.4%,In contrast,time spent foraging for food dropped from 18.1%of the to

29、tal in the enclosures to 10.5%of it inholding areas.R ose先生和他的同事们向 美国灵长类学报报告称，在黑猩猩中，当黑猩猩们被移入等候区时，富有攻击性的行为增加。在围场中，猩猩们有0.1%的时间显得富有攻击性。而在等候区中，猩猩们有0.5%的时间显得富有攻击性。研究人员还发现，猩猩们在等候区也比在围场花更多时间挠自己，梳理自己毛发。挠自己的时间增加了四倍。猩猩们在围场中有0.4%的时间挠自己，而在等候区，这一时间上升到了 1.6%。梳理自己毛发是比挠自己稍微温和些的行为，也从所在围场时间的12.3%上升到了所在等候区时间的17.4%。相反，

30、猩猩们在围场觅食所花的时间占在围场总时间的18.1%,但是在等候区的时间却只占10.5%。Gorillas showed a drop in foraging as well.It fell from 30.6%of their time when in the enclosuresto 5.4%in the holding areas.But they also showed numerous changes of behaviour that weredifferent from those seen in chimpanzees.Most notably,they became more

31、 affectionate rather thanmore aggressive when in the holding areas.Behaviours such as grooming other individuals,playing with them and embracing them rose from 4.1%of their time to 8.2%.The animals alsomoved around much more,spending 11.6%of their time on the move in the holding areas,butonly 7.2%in

32、 the enclosures.Neither species,though,seemed to mind being watched.The numberof visitors outside an enclosure had no effect on the behaviour of the animals within it.大猩猩们的觅食时间也下降了，从占围场时间的30.6%下降到了占等候区时间的5.4%。不过它们也显示出了和黑猩猩们诸多不同的行为改变。最明显的是当它们在等候区时，变得更加有爱，而不是富有攻击性。为他人梳理毛发，和他人玩耍，拥抱他人的时间从占围场时间的 4.1%上升到了

33、占等候区时间的8.2%。动物们在四周走动的时间也有变化。它们在等候区花 11.6%的时间来回走动，而在围场只花7.2%的时间。两个物种似乎都不介意被人观察。游人的人数对围场内动物的行为没有影响。Mr Ross argues that interpreting the chimpanzee data is straightforward.Scratching andself-grooming are well known to be related to anxiety.That they increase in frequency in holdingareas suggests the ch

34、impanzees feel bad in these places.The increase in aggression and decreasein foraging also support this hypothesis.R oss先生认为黑猩猩的数据很直接。挠自己和为自己梳理毛发是广为人知的焦虑表现。而这些行为在黑猩猩们进入等候区时明显增多表明它们不喜欢那地方。攻击性行为的增加以及觅食行为的减少也支持这一假设。The gorilla data,by contrast,are anything but straightforward.That holding areas saw gor

35、illasforaging less suggests the animals do not like them.Yet friendly behaviour and moving around(which is also regarded as a positive activity in gorillas)happened more often in holding areas,which suggests they were happy there.相反，大猩猩的数据却一点也不直接。大猩猩在等候区减少觅食时间表明它们不喜欢那地方,但是友好的行为和四处走动(这也被认为是大猩猩的一种积极活动

36、)却在等候区发生得更多，这也表明大星星们在那儿很开心。While the gorilla data will require further analysis before any clear conclusion can be drawn,thediscovery that great apes behaviour changes when they go into holding areas is important.Hundreds of reports about the behaviour of animals in modern zoos support the idea of b

37、uildingcomplex enclosures.If animals come under stress when put in holding areas,though,the benefitsof these enclosures may be reduced.虽然大猩猩的数据在得出明确结论前还需要进一步分析，但是类人猿们在进出等候区时改变行为这一发现是非常重要的。数百份现代动物园中动物行为的报告都支持建造复杂围场的想法。如果动物们进入等待区时会感到压力，那么那些围场的优势就会受损。Although Lincoln Park Zoo puts its chimpanzees and g

38、orillas in such areas for only two hours aday,a survey that Mr Ross conducted of the management practices for chimpanzees in other zoosaccredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariumssuggests that is unusual.Some 85%of theinstitutions that responded reported that their chimps spend more than 12 h

39、ours a day in holdingareas.And this is only what happens in accredited zoos.In America alone there are also more than1,800 chimpanzees in unaccredited zoos,sanctuaries,laboratories and private homes.Comparedwith some other places,two hours a day in the cooler may be paradise.尽管林肯公园动物园只让他的黑猩猩和大猩猩一天在等

40、待区待两个小时，但 是 Ross先生主持的一份关于受动物园和水族馆协会认可的其他动物园的猩猩管理模式的调查显示,两个小时的等候区停留并不常见。有 85%的机构报告说他们的猩猩一天要在等候区待12个小时。而这只是被认可的动物园的数据。仅在美国，就有超过1800头猩猩在未被认可的动物园，避难所，实验室和私宅中。和其他地方比，一天两小时的监禁也许已经是天堂的生活了。An automated lifeguard自动救生器EMILY to the rescueEMILY援救设备Yet another human job is replaced by a robot又-项人类工作被机器人取代Aug 23r

41、d 2010BIG crowds,strong surf and powerful rip currents are only a few of the obstacles that lifeguardsmust overcome to keep swimmers safe.Strong winds can pull many bathers out to seasimultaneously,overwhelming the guards if there are only a few of them.And,since averageswimming speed is about 3kph(

42、2mph)even a single rescue mission can take more than half anhour.大量的人群、拍岸的巨浪、汹涌的激流，只不过是救生员为了保障游泳者安全而必须克服的诸多障碍中的寥寥几个。强风可能同时将许多游泳者扯入海中，如果只有几名救生员，他们将难以应付。而且，由于平均游泳速度约为3 千米每小时(2 英里每小时)，所以单单一项拯救任务就要耗费半个多小时。A profession ripe,then,for automation.And that automation is now at hand.Hydronalix,amarine-robotic

43、s firm based,rather suiprisingly,in landlocked Arizona,has come up withEMILYthe Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard.This device,which is being tested atZuma beach in Malibu,California,is a remote-controlled,1.4-metre-long,11kg buoy with a foamcore covered by red canvas and surrounded by ropes.A

44、human lifeguard can keep but a singleperson afloat.EMILY,by contrast,is buoyant enough to save five at a time.The ropes letswimmers cling to the device or climb on top of it until a lifeguard arrives on the scene.这个行业自动化的时机已经成熟，而且现在自动化即将到来。总部位于地处内陆的亚利桑那州（相当令人惊讶）的海洋机器人技术公司Hydronalix已经设计出EMILY（应急综合救生索

45、）。该设备目前正在加利福尼亚州马里布的祖玛海滩接受测试。这是-,种1.4米长、11千克重的遥控救生器材；核心部分由泡沫制成，覆以红色帆布，周围绕有绳索。一位人类救生员只能使一个人浮在海上；而 EMILY的浮力足以同时拯救五人。这种设备上的绳索使游泳者能够抓紧它或爬上其顶部，直到救生员抵达现场为止。EMILY can be deployed from the shoreline,or tossed from a boat or aircraft.It is powered by anelectric impeller of the kind used on jet skis,can travel

46、 12 times as fast as a lifeguard,can makelight turns in choppy waters and can run for up to 130km on a single battery charge.EMILY可以从海岸线上部署，也可以从船上或飞行器上投放。该设备通过喷气式水艇采用的那种电动推进器提供动力，速度是救生员的12倍，能够在波涛汹涌的水域进行急转弯，电池充电一次即可运行长达130千米。Hydronalix is already working on more advanced incarnations of EMILY.Next ye

47、ars model willhave a Doppler sonar to help it avoid high-speed collisions with unsuspecting swimmers.It willalso be able to seek out those in trouble,rather than relying on human spotters to guide it,for itwill have sensors that listen for underwater movement characteristic of swimmers in distress.A

48、ndit will be able to identify dangerous rip currents-powerful channels of water that are the cause of80%of beach rescues.Hydronalix已经继续研发更先进的EMILY型号。明年的型号将配备多普勒声纳，以帮助避免与未察觉该设备的游泳者发生高速碰撞。该型号还能找出遇难游泳者，而不用依赖人类观察员的指引，因为它将配备侦听遇难游泳者水下动作特征的传感器。此外，它能识别危险的离岸流导致80%的海滩营救的汹涌水流。The new version will also have a m

49、icrophone and a loudspeaker.The mike will let EMILYshuman operator distinguish children splashing around from swimmers struggling for their lives.The loudspeaker will enable the operator to warn swimmers of danger zones,calm them down andinstruct them how best to use EMILY.The only disadvantages,apa

50、rt from the price tag of$3,500,are that swimmers who have been knocked unconscious cannot grab hold of the devices ropes;and that,to be honest,it does not look quite as good as a“Baywatch“babe(or hunk)in a bathingsuit.该新型号还将配备麦克风和扬声器。通过麦克风，EMILY的人类操作员能够将周围玩水的儿童和挣扎求生的游泳者区分开来。通过扬声器，操作员能够向游泳者警告危险区域、使他们