(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Emily Schwing.
Urban development is encroaching on forests in the Pacific Northwest. And it's also ruining Valentine's Day for some songbirds. Because urban growth is making it a challenge for some birds like the Pacific Wren to stay faithful to their partners, at least in Seattle—a housing boom is taking over the wren's habitat: the thick forest understory.
"So, I really think it's just the fact that we really kind of pull the rug out from underneath these birds. Take their forest away."
John Marzluff, professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington. While birds like crows and sparrow adapt well to human habitats, Marzluff says that development is forcing the wren and other songbird species to find new digs. And when that wren moves, it also abandons its mate. The work is in the journal PLoS ONE.
Marzluff's decade-long study looks at six species in landscapes undergoing various levels of development.
"If you don't go out for many years and follow individually marked birds, you'll never really understand how nesting success over an animal's lifetime or their strategies of moving and divorcing or finding new partners and places plays out over their lifetime."
The study shows that even after birds reestablish themselves elsewhere, they have a harder time laying eggs and rearing chicks than they used to. More careful planning to let small urban forests remain could help even the smallest bird species thrive in cities.
"These are not huge areas in the suburban matrix...they're areas of 30 to 150 acres, and they are relatively easy to set aside for birds like this." Otherwise, all those newly built houses means birds have broken homes.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I'm Emily Schwing.
参考译文
这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是埃米莉·施温。
城市发展正在侵蚀太平洋西北部的森林。同时，它也在破坏着一些鸣禽的情人节。因为城市发展使太平洋鹪鹩等鸟类难以忠实于自己的伴侣，至少在西雅图是这样的，房地产市场的繁荣正在侵占鹪鹩的栖息地：茂密的森林叶下层。
“因此，我真的认为我们在侵占这些鸟儿的栖息地，我们在夺走它们的森林。”
约翰·马兹卢夫是美国华盛顿大学野生动物学教授。马兹卢夫表示，虽然乌鸦和麻雀等鸟类很好地适应了人类的栖息地，但是城市发展正在迫使鹪鹩和其他鸣禽去寻找新住所。鹪鹩离开时，会抛弃它的伴侣。这项研究结果发表在《公共科学图书馆》期刊上。
马兹卢夫在长达十年的研究中观察了6种鸟类，这些鸟类所在的城市正在经历不同程度的开发。
“如果不经过多年的研究，不对标记的鸟类进行追踪，我们也许永远也不会了解，筑巢如何影响鸟类的一生，其迁移和遗弃伴侣的策略或寻找新伴侣和新栖息地对它们的一生有何影响。”
研究表明，即使鸟类在其他地方搭建了新巢，它们在产卵和喂养雏鸟方面也比过去更加艰难。制定更周密的规划，保留小片城市森林，可以帮助最小的鸟类在城市繁衍生息。
“城郊的这些地区面积都不大，大约有30英亩到150英亩。为鸟类划定这种区域相对来说比较容易。”否则，所有新建房屋都是在破坏鸟类的家园。
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是埃米莉·施温。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. take away 拿走；夺走；
例句：Many animals die because we take away their shelter and food.
许多动物死去了，因为我们夺走了它们的庇护所和食物。
2. adapt to 适应；
例句：The world will be different, and we will have to be prepared to adapt to the change.
世界会变得不同，我们必须做好准备以适应其变化。
3. play out （使）（戏剧性的事件）逐渐发生；（使）展开；
例句：The struggle for wealth was played out with much bitter personal hatred.
这场争夺财富的斗争是带着个人之间强烈的仇恨进行的。
4. set aside 留作…之用；留出…用于；
例句：I try to set aside a few minutes each day to do some exercises.
我每天尽量腾出一些时间锻炼一下身体。
