英文科普類文章

　　隨著科學技術的飛速發展，科普也日益受到社會各界的廣泛關注。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　植物也講"裙帶關係"

　　We humans are known to help out members of our own families. When it comes to business we call it nepotism. Now plants have demonstrated the same predilection, in a study published in the American Journal of Botany.

　　我們人類都知道一家人要互幫互助、和衷共濟，在生意場上這就叫做裙帶關係。現在，植物們也被證明有同樣的傾向，這項研究發表在《美國植物學期刊》上。

　　Previous research showed that plants—in that study they used a plant called the Great Lakes sea rocket—can recognize the root systems of siblings from the same momma plant and will give them a more fair share of nutrients in the soil.

　　之前的一項研究已經證明，植物能夠識別出與自身存在親緣關係的植物根系，並會慷慨地與其分享土壤中的營養物質。科學家們在此項研究中參照的植物名為海芥。

　　This new study is the first to look above ground. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada potted North American impatiens. When the plants shared a pot with seeds from the same parent plant, they shared access to light by growing taller with more branches and fewer leaves. But when those same impatiens were planted with other impatiens—but not their siblings—they put more energy into growing more and larger leaves that could crowd out the non-relatives.

　　而這項新研究把視線轉移到了地上，來自加拿大麥克馬斯特大學的研?a href='//' target='_blank'>咳嗽痺謔笛槭抑?a href='//' target='_blank'>盆栽了一種名叫北美鳳仙花的植物作為研究物件。當這種植物和來自同一個母本種子形成的植株栽種在一個花盆時，它們會長得更高，枝幹也會更多，不過葉子卻很少，這樣就能和自己的親戚共享陽光了;而當這種植物和與自己沒有親緣關係的鳳仙花共用一個花盆時，它們就會使勁長出更大的葉子，好與這個非親非故的鄰居競爭。

　　Researchers say the roots alert plants to the relationship of nearby plants, because when impatiens were planted near siblings but in separate pots, they didn't recognize their kin. Just goes to show that even in the plant world, family comes first.

　　研究者們稱，是它們的根系識別出了周圍的植物是否和自己存在親緣關係，因為把兩株存在“親戚關係”的鳳仙花分別栽種在不同的花盆裡再並排放置，它們並沒有認出彼此。這一切正好說明，即使在植物的世界中，家庭也是第一位的。

　　2

　　網戀難以成功的祕密

　　A team of psychologists reviewed online dating sites and their conclusions are not promising.

　　一個心理學研究小組揭示了婚戀網站和它的前景不容樂觀。

　　Online dating might give you something, but it’s probably not a soulmate.

　　網上相親也許是一個途徑，但可能並不能達到彼此心靈的契合。

　　Most sites rely on what’s called an “exclusive process”—they use an algorithm to find romantic matches based variables, from interests to fetishes. But now a team of psychologists from five universities has performed a systematic review. And they say that most claims for the power of the “exclusive process” don’t pan out. Their report is in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

　　很多網站依靠"專門方法”--使用運演算法則通過對不同人愛好和喜歡事物的分類來進行一次浪漫的網上配對。但目前，來自五個不同大學的心理學家一同做了一個系統性的回顧。他們認為這種“專門方法”根本不起作用。相關報告發表在公眾愛好雜誌***The Public Interest***心理科學版面上。

　　The existing “matching algorithms” miss key variables for long-term love. They necessarily make matches before the parties meet. But studies show that the strongest predictors of solid relationships are a couple’s live interaction style and ability to handle stress.Data about characteristics like personality and attitudes cannot accurately predict how that real life interaction will function.

　　現有的“運演算法則配對“對於雙方長期的愛慕發展缺少了一個關鍵的不確定因素。在雙方見面前這樣配對是有必要的。但研究表明要保持穩固的雙方關係，需要他們彼此之間溝通和能夠處理問題的態度。資料則不能準確地測出人們在實際生活中的性格和處事方式。

　　The scientists also note that online profile photos are poor proxies for the chemistry sparked by meeting in the flesh. Which leads to a lot of disappointing coffee dates. And many potentially successful matches never happen.

　　科學家也指出網上的資料照片是實際見面之前一個糟糕的代替品。它會讓人們覺得約會很令人失望。這讓原本有發展的兩個人也失去了結緣的機會。

　　Of course the researchers admit online dating helps singles meet more people more quickly. And so might still lead to that magic match. But that’s statistics, not psychology.

　　當然，研究人員承認網上相親能夠幫助更多的單身男女尋找到更多的伴侶候選人，也可能會讓他們走向那神奇的配對成功體驗。但這僅是資料統計，並非是尋找到伴侶的成功數。

　　3

　　膽小的蜻蜓幼蟲

　　Safe dragonfly larvae that could sense the presence of their predators had a higher mortality rate than unstressed larvae. Christopher Intagliata reports

　　Christopher Intagliata報道稱，蜻蜓幼蟲可以感知捕食者的存在，雖然這使它們更加安全，但卻使它們的死亡率高於一般未感受到壓力的幼蟲。

　　A hungry fish can kill prey with a quick bite. That is, of course, if its prey hasn't already died of fright. Take tasty dragonflies. The mere presence of predators—even caged ones—is enough to scare dragonflies to death, according to a study in the journal Ecology. [Shannon J. McCauley, Locke Rowe, and Marie-Josée Fortin, "The deadly effects of ‘nonlethal’ predators"]

　　一條飢餓的魚能夠一口咬死其獵物。當然，前提是經過一番殊死搏鬥之後獵物依然健在。以有趣的蜻蜓為例，根據《生物學》雜誌的一篇研究報告，捕食者的出現能夠將蜻蜓嚇死，哪怕這些捕食者被關在籠子裡面。 [Shannon J. McCauley, Locke Rowe, Marie-Josée Fortin, 《非致命捕食者的“致命”效果》]

　　Researchers collected wild dragonfly larvae, and placed them in tanks with fish or insect predators. The larvae could see and smell their hunters—but were kept safe by underwater cages. After two months, the researchers took a head count—and found that dragonfly larvae sharing quarters with their killers were two to four times as likely to die off, compared to counterparts living in predator-free waters. And they had slimmer chances of surviving metamorphosis, too.

　　研究者將野生蜻蜓幼蟲放進裝有魚類或昆蟲類捕食者的容器中，具體的安放位置是在水下的籠子裡，這裡有絕對的安全保障，但同時幼蟲們也能夠看見並嗅到它們的天敵。兩個月之後，研究者發現，與捕食者同住的蜻蜓幼蟲死亡率是正常蜻蜓幼蟲的2-4倍。而且它們蛻變的存活率也更低。

　　The authors suggest a couple reasons why. First, prey tend to make fewer forays for snacks when predators are lurking around, so they may not be as nutritionally fit. And previous studies have shown that the presence of predators ups stress levels in prey, weakening their immune systems and making them more vulnerable to disease—and death.

　　文章的作者提出了幾點原因。首先，當有捕食者在場時，處於劣勢的被捕食者會減少覓食行為，所以它們的營養狀況不佳。加上之前的研究表明，捕食者的出現使被捕食者的壓力水平升高，降低了它們的免疫系統機能，使它們更易生病乃至於死亡。

　　As if being eaten wasn't enough to worry about, looks can kill too. —Christopher Intagliata

　　正所謂：死不足懼，怕死堪憂。看來生物界的規律是相通的。