GRE阅读题目解析：雄性竞争及动物叫声

　　P2

　　1

　　Over the years, biologists have suggested two main pathways by which sexual selection may have shaped the evolution of male birdsong.

　　近年来，生物学家暗示了性别选择可能塑造雄性鸟鸣演化的两种途径。

　　2

　　In the first, male competition and intrasexual selection produce relatively short, simple songs used mainly in territorial behavior.

　　首先，雄性竞争以及性别内选择，导致声明领地时叫声主要表现得相对短促，简单。

　　3

　　In the second, female choice and intersexual selection produce longer, more complicated songs used mainly in mate attraction; like such visual ornamentation as the peacock's tail, elaborate vocal characteristics increase the male's chances of being chosen as a mate, and he thus enjoys more reproductive success than his less ostentatious rivals.

　　其二，雌性以及性别间选择产生了更长，更复杂的鸣叫，主要用于吸引交配;正如类似地，孔雀尾巴上的视觉装饰，精致独特的叫声增加了雄性的交配机会，因此他就比那些不善于装饰自己的竞争者，取得更大繁殖意义上的成功。

　　(一个小窍门，intra- 和 inter- 这两个前缀要怎么记?

　　看到 intra-，自动替换成 within;

　　看到 inter-，自动替换成 among / between 。

　　这样能解决很多涉及这两个词缀的组合词的障碍。)

　　4

　　The two pathways are not mutually exclusive, and we can expect to find examples that reflect their interaction.

　　两种途径并非互斥的，我们应该可以找到它们之间互动的例子。

　　5

　　Teasing them apart has been an important challenge to evolutionary biologists.

　　如何把两种途径(的影响或作用)分开一直是进化生物学家面临的主要挑战。

　　(tease 在此不是取笑 / 逗弄，而作梳理，本意是梳毛、头发等，此处用的是比喻义，暗示两种作用交缠不清，难以分离。)

　　6

　　Early research confirmed the role of intrasexual selection.

　　早期研究确认了性别内选择的作用。

　　7

　　In a variety of experiments in the field, males responded aggressively to recorded songs by exhibiting territorial behavior near the speakers.

　　大量田野实验中，雄鸟都会通过领地行为，对附近的播放预录叫声的扬声器表现出攻击性。

　　8

　　The breakthrough for research into intersexual selection came in the development of a new technique for investigating female response in the laboratory.

　　对试验中性别间选择的突破，得益于研究雌鸟反应的实验室技术的发展。

　　9

　　When female cowbirds raised in isolation in soundproof chambers were exposed to recordings of male song, they responded by exhibiting mating behavior.

　　在隔音小室中隔离饲养的牛鹂雌鸟，一听到雄鸟的录音，就会以一些与交配相关的行为作为回应。

　　(mating 翻译成与交配相关的，是因为鸟的 mating behavior 除了可以指交配，还包括其他一些相关行为，比如筑巢即婚房，或哺育后代，考虑到只是听录音，所以我认为不太能确定女鸟一定脱裤子了，so)

　　10

　　By quantifying the responses, researchers were able to determine what particular features of the song were most important.

　　通过统计做出回应的次数，研究者能够确定叫声的哪些特点，发挥最重要的作用。

　　11

　　In further experiments on song sparrows, researchers found that when exposed to a single song type repeated several times or to a repertoire of different song types, females responded more to the latter.

　　在后续对北美歌雀的实验中，研究者发现， 相较于单曲循环，雌鸟更喜欢回应随机播放风格不同的叫声。

　　12

　　The beauty of the experimental design is that it effectively rules out confounding variables; acoustic isolation assures that the female can respond only to the song structure itself.

　　这项实验设计的精妙在于，它有效地排除了添乱的变量;隔音保证了雌鸟只能自己根据曲调结构做出反应。

　　13

　　If intersexual selection operates as theorized, males with more complicated songs should not only attract females more readily but should also enjoy greater reproductive success.

　　如果性别间选择，像理论预测的那样发挥作用，叫的更复杂的雄鸟不仅更容易吸引异性，而且也应该获得更大的生殖成功。

　　14

　　At first, however, researchers doing fieldwork with song sparrows found no correlation between larger repertoires and early mating, which has been shown to be one indicator of reproductive success; further, common measures of male quality used to predict reproductive success, such as weight, size, age, and territory, also failed to correlate with song complexity.

　　然而，最初从事北美歌雀田野工作的研究者发现，更复杂的叫声跟早交配没有关系，而早交配一直被认为是生殖成功的一个标志;后来，用来预测生殖成功机会的，常用的测量雄鸟男子气概的指标，如体重，体型大小，年龄，活动地盘大小，同样与叫声复杂程度无关。

　　15

　　The confirmation researchers had been seeking was finally achieved in studies involving two varieties of warblers.

　　研究者最终在关于两种莺的研究中找到了确认的证据。

　　16

　　Unlike the song sparrow, which repeats one of its several song types in bouts before switching to another, the warbler continuously composes much longer and more variable songs without repetition.

　　莺不像北美歌雀在同一段时间内只重复唱一个调，而是不断唱出更长更多变的曲调，从不重复。

　　17

　　For the first time, researchers found a significant correlation between repertoire size and early mating, and they discovered further that repertoire size had a more significant effect than any other measure of male quality on the number of young produced.

　　研究者首次找到曲调复杂程度和早交配的重要关联，进而他们发现，曲调复杂度相较于其他雄性特征，跟生育后代数量的关系都更大。

　　18

　　The evidence suggests that warblers use their extremely elaborate songs primarily to attract females, clearly confirming the effect of intersexual selection on the evolution of birdsong. (462 words)

　　证据表明，莺主要用极复杂的叫声吸引女鸟，显然确认了性别间选择对鸟鸣进化的影响。

　　3. The passage is primarily concerned with

　　(A) showing that intrasexual selection has a greater effect on birdsong than does intersexual selection

　　(B) contrasting the role of song complexity in several species of birds

　　(C) describing research confirming the suspected relationship between intersexual selection and the complexity of birdsong

　　(D) demonstrating the superiority of laboratory work over field studies in evolutionary biology

　　(E) illustrating the effectiveness of a particular approach to experimental design in evolutionary biology

　　选 C

　　从翻译看很直观，不同意见来单挑。

　　4.The author mentions the peacock's tail in the first paragraph most probably in order to

　　(A) cite an exception to the theory of the relationship between intrasexual selection and male competition

　　(B) illustrate the importance of both of the pathways that shaped the evolution of birdsong

　　(C) draw a distinction between competing theories of intersexual selection

　　(D) give an example of a feature that may have evolved through intersexual selection by female choice

　　(E) refute a commonly held assumption about the role of song in mate attraction

　　选 D

　　细节题，回到句 3：

　　In the second, female choice and intersexual selection produce longer, more complicated songs used mainly in mate attraction; like such visual ornamentation as the peacock's tail, elaborate vocal characteristics increase the male's chances of being chosen as a mate, and he thus enjoys more reproductive success than his less ostentatious rivals.

　　可见 like such 后面的内容，是为了证明前面的内容。

　　5. The passage indicates that researchers raised female cowbirds in acoustic isolation in order to

　　(A) eliminate confounding variables

　　(B) approximate field conditions

　　(C) measure reproductive success

　　(D) quantify repertoire complexity

　　(E) prevent early mating

　　选 A

　　又一道细节题，见句 12：

　　The beauty of the experimental design is that it effectively rules outconfounding variables; acoustic isolation assures that the female can respond only to the song structure itself.

　　rule out 【MWC】exclude，eliminate

　　即便不熟悉 rule out，从后半句的 only 也能推测出它大概的意思。

　　6. According to the passage, the song sparrow is unlike the warbler in that the song sparrow

　　(A) uses songs mainly in territorial behavior

　　(B) continuously composes long and complex songs

　　(C) has a much larger song repertoire

　　(D) repeats one song type before switching to another

　　(E) responds aggressively to recorded songs

　　选 D

　　第三道细节题，见句 16：

　　Unlike the song sparrow, which repeats one of its several song types in bouts before switching to another, the warbler continuously composes much longer and more variable songs without repetition.

　　细节题不但要做到定位快速准确，更重要的是仔细审题看清问法，否则明明可以做对却丢分，很可惜。如果不是这道题我看漏了题设问法，可能就五篇全对了。

　　(song sparrow singing in Delaware USA)

　　(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_sparrow)

　　(Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater), female:

　　this photograph has been acknowledged as Karney's work at

　　http://www.nps.gov/grca/naturescience/cynsk-v08.htm and http://www.cpp.usmc.mil/base/environmental/inrmp/AppendixF.pdf)

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