47 Listening to Birdsong

Listening to Birdsong
倾听鸟鸣
    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 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.
    雄性斑马雀朝着自己啾啾啾叫。突然他注意到附近有雌鸟。他意识到他有了一个观众于是立刻改变了他的歌。雌鸟可以分辨他表演的差异吗？根据新的研究，雌性斑马雀知道。她更喜欢他给她唱歌时创造的特殊颤音。当雄性斑马雀演唱给雌鸟时，会以一种人类几乎无法分辨的方法改变他的唱歌的方式，可是雌雀可以分辨其中的差异。
    Scientists had noticed slight variations in the song of male zebra finches based on whether they were singing alonge or whether there was female (and potential mate) nearby. With an audience, the males sped up the pace of their songs and controlled the notes they used.
    科学家已经发现，雄性斑马雀歌曲中的细微的变化取决于他们是独自唱歌还是附近有雌性（和潜在的伴侣）。有了观众，雄性会加快他们的歌曲节奏和控制他们的音符。
    For this study, reserachers 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.
   在这项研究中，旧金山加利福尼亚大学的研究人员莎拉·伍利和埃里森doupe，决定集中注意听那些在过去没被很好研究的雌性。
   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.
   在这项研究中，伍利和doupe建起一个长笼子，笼子两边都装了音箱。一边广播的声音是一个雄性斑马雀自己唱给自己，就像人在淋浴时唱歌。另一边播放雄性表演给女性观众，就像他在开音乐会。
     Female birds were placed between the two speakers. Some of the bird 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.
    雌鸟被放在两只音箱中间。一些鸟有配偶，其余的则没有。雌性鸟都被转移在一小块地方，随后，大多数鸟都跳着待在其中一只扬声器附近。所有的鸟都有一个明确的选择，喜欢的歌曲是唱给女性观众的那种，即使他们从未见过的男性。
    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.
   有配偶的雌性也机会倾听不同表演的歌曲，一个是由一个未知的雄性唱出，而另一个从他们的配偶来表演。他们花了更多的时间听演唱会版本的配偶的歌曲。这表明，一段时间后，雌性通过学习认识而喜欢的配偶的歌曲。
   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.
   科学家们研究了雌性的大脑中。他们发现当鸟听音乐会类型的歌曲时，大脑的某些区域活跃起来。这些脑区可能参与识别和评估歌曲，并存储他们的记忆。
   This research deals with what's called directed commnication, 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.
   这项研究涉及所谓的直接沟通，当沟通者，或发送消息者，集中信息为一个特定的观众。一个例子是母亲向婴儿说话的方式。母亲在世界上用的是同一种高亢单调的颤振，而婴儿对这种声音的反应最好。鸣禽是知道和已知沟通者的学习交流另外一个物种，在这种情况下，他们的歌曲。