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第一段
1 .Hi.
嗨。
2 .Today we're going to be looking at animals in urban environments
我们今天讲的是城市中的动物，
3 .and I’m going to be telling you about some research on how they're affected by these environments.
我将告诉你们一些关于它们是如何受到这些环境影响的研究。
第二段
1 .Now, in evolutionary terms, urban environments represent huge upheavals,
如今，用进化的术语来说的话，城市的环境代表着很大的变动，
2 .the sorts of massive changes that usually happen over millions of years.
就是那种经过数百万年才会造成的巨大改变。
3 .And we used to think that only a few species could adapt to this new environment.
我们曾经觉得只有很少生物能够适应这种新环境。
4 .One species which is well known as being highly adaptable is the crow,
有一种物种，因其强大的适应能力而被熟知，就是乌鸦，
5 .and there've been various studies about how they manage to learn new skills.
同时也有很多关于它们如何学习新技能的研究。
6 .Another successful species is the pigeon,
另一个非常成功的物种是鸽子，
7 .because they're able to perch on ledges on the walls of city buildings,
因为它们能够在城市建筑物的墙架上栖息，
8 .just like they once perched on cliffs by the sea.
就像他们曾经栖息在海边的悬崖上一样。
第三段
1 .But in fact, we're now finding that these early immigrants were just the start of a more general movement of animals into cities,
但是实际上，我们如今发现这些早期的"移民"只是向城市移居的一大群动物的一小部分而已，
2 .and of adaptation by these animals to city life.
也是这些动物对城市生活适应的开始。
3 .And one thing that researchers are finding especially interesting is the speed with which they're doing this -
研究者发现一件特别有趣的事情，那就是它们迁移和适应的速度，
4 .we're not talking about gradual evolution here
我们这里说的不是逐渐的进化过程
5 .- these animals are changing fast.
——这些动物正在快速变化着。
第四段
1 .Let me tell you about some of the studies that have been carried out in this area.
让我来告诉你一些在这个领域开展的研究。
2 .So, in the University of Minnesota,
所以，在明尼苏达大学，
3 .a biologist called Emilie Sneli-Rood and her colleagues looked at specimens of urbanised small mammals
一名叫做Emilie Snail-Rood的生物学家和她的同事们研究了城市化的小型哺乳动物的样本，
4 .such as mice and gophers that had been collected in Minnesota,
比如说老鼠和囊地鼠，这些样本都是从明尼苏达收集的，
5 .and that are now kept in museums there.
现在保存在那里的博物馆里面。
6 .And she looked at specimens that had been collected over the last hundred years,
她对过去几百年来收集的样本物种进行研究，
7 .which is a very short time in evolutionary terms.
从进化意义上讲，那段时间很短。
8 .And she found that during that time,
她发现，在那段时间，
9 .these small mammals had experienced a jump in brain size when compared to rural mammals.
和农村地区的动物相比，这些小型哺乳动物的脑部大小迅速增加。
10 .Now, we can't be sure this means they're more intelligent,
我们不能确定这就意味着它们变得更加聪明，
11 .but since the sizes of other parts of the body didn't change,
但是因为身体的其他部分大小并没有改变，
12 .it does suggest that something cognitive was going on.
这确实能够暗示着发生了一些认知方面的变化。
13 .And Snell-Rood thinks that this change might reflect the cognitive demands of adjusting to city life-
Snell-Rood认为这些变化可能反映了适应城市生活的认知变化
14 .having to look in different places to find food, for example,
比如说，需要"考察"不同的地方来寻找食物，
15 .and coping with a whole new set of dangers.
以及应对一些新的危险。
第五段
1 .Then over in Germany at the Max Planck Institute,
然后在德国的马克斯--普朗克研究所，
2 .there's another biologist called Catarina Miranda
有一位名为Catarina Miranda 的生物学家，
3 .who's done some experiments with blackbirds living in urban and rural areas.
她做了关于生活在城市和农村地区的黑鹂的实验。
4 .And she's been looking not at their anatomy but at their behaviour.
她所关注的不是它们的结构，而是它们的行为。
5 .So as you might expect,
可能如你所料，
6 .she's found that the urban blackbirds tend to be quite bold -
她发现城市的黑鹂会更加大胆——
7 .they're prepared to face up to a lot of threats that would frighten away their country counterparts.
它们不惧很多挑战，而这些挑战可能会吓坏它们的乡村同伴。
8 .But there's one type of situation that does seem to frighten the urban blackbirds,
但是也有一种情况能够吓到城市的黑鹂，
9 .and that's anything new - anything they haven't experienced before.
那就是全新的情况--这种情况它们从来没有遇到过。
10 .And if you think about it,
如果你想一下的话，
11 .that's quite sensible for a bird living in the city.
对于一只在城市生活的鸟来说，那是完全合乎情理的。