返回首页

KeesMoeliker_2013-_死鸭改变人生_
This is the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, where I work as a curator . 这是鹿特丹的自然历史博物馆, 我在这里行馆长之职。
Natural History:n.自然史; curator:n.馆长;监护人;管理者;
It's my job to make sure the collection stays okay, and that it grows, and basically it means I collect dead animals. 我的工作就是确保这些收藏品完好, 展品越来越丰富, 这意味着我收集一些死去的动物。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
Back in 1995, we got a new wing next to the museum. 回溯到1995年, 博物馆旁边建了一座辅楼。
It was made of glass, and this building really helped me to do my job good. 它是由玻璃制作的, 这个建筑非常好的帮助我改善工作。
The building was a true bird-killer. 因为这个建筑是个不折不扣的鸟类杀手。
You may know that birds don't understand the concept of glass. They don't see it, so they fly into the windows and get killed. 你们知道有玻璃,而那些鸟类却不知道 它们根本看不出来, 于是撞上玻璃而身亡。
The only thing I had to do was go out, pick them up, and have them stuffed for the collection. 我唯一需要做的就是走出去, 将它们捡起来,然后填些东西制成标本。
stuffed:adj.饱;装满的;v.填满;装满;给…装馅;(stuff的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) （笑声）
And in those days, 在那些日子里,
I developed an ear to identify birds just by the sound of the bangs they made against the glass. 我渐渐有了闻声识鸟的能力 只需要通过分辨鸟撞上玻璃时,不同的“呯”。
identify:v.识别:鉴定:确认:发现: bangs:n.刘海; v.猛撞;
And it was on June 5, 1995, that I heard a loud bang against the glass that changed my life and ended that of a duck. 那是在1995年的6月5日, 我听到物体撞上玻璃时巨大的“呯”声 它改变了我的生命,也终结了一个鸭子的生命。
And this is what I saw when I looked out of the window. 这就是我当时所看到的窗子
This is the dead duck. It flew against the window. 这就是那只死去的鸭子,它撞上了玻璃
It's laying dead on its belly . 肚皮朝下死去了。
belly:n.腹部;胃;食欲;v.涨满;鼓起;
But next to the dead duck is a live duck, and please pay attention. 但是贴着死去的鸭子是一只活着的鸭子, 请各位仔细看
Both are of the male sex. 这两只都是雄性
And then this happened. 接下来发生的
The live duck mounted the dead duck, and started to copulate . 活着的鸭子爬上了死去的鸭子身上, 然后开始交配。
mounted:adj.骑马的; v.准备; (mount的过去分词和过去式) copulate:vi.交配;交媾;adj.连接的;联合的;结合的;
Well, I'm a biologist . I'm an ornithologist . 好吧,我是一个生物学家,我是一个鸟类学家。
biologist:n.生物学家; ornithologist:n.鸟类学者;
I said, "Something's wrong here." 我说,“这里一定是发生了错误。”
One is dead, one is alive. That must be necrophilia . 一只死的,一只活的……这必然是恋尸癖啊！
necrophilia:n.恋尸癖,[医]恋尸狂;
I look. Both are of the male sex. 我再看,都是雄性……
Homosexual necrophilia. 同性恋尸癖啊！
Homosexual:n.同性恋者;adj.同性恋的;
So I -- (Laughter) 所以我……（笑声）
I took my camera, I took my notebook, took a chair, and started to observe this behavior. 我拿出相机,拿出笔记本, 搬来一张椅子,然会开始观察这一行为。
observe:v.观察;看到;庆祝;监视;
After 75 minutes — (Laughter) — 过了75分钟之后——（笑声）——
I had seen enough, and I got hungry, and I wanted to go home. 我觉得看够了,而且感到很饥饿。 于是我想回家。
So I went out, collected the duck, and before I put it in the freezer , 所以我走出去,收回这只鸭子, 在我放进冷藏柜之前,
freezer:n.冰箱;冷冻库;制冷工;
I checked if the victim was indeed of the male sex. 我再一次检查这个牺牲者是否确实是雄性。
victim:n.受害人;牺牲品;牺牲者;
And here's a rare picture of a duck's penis , so it was indeed of the male sex. 这儿是一个罕见鸭子阳具的图片, 所以它确确实实是雄性。
penis:n.阴茎;
It's a rare picture because there are 10,000 species of birds and only 300 possess a penis. 这张照片之所以罕见,是因为鸟类有10000多种 但只有300种左右拥有阳具。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; possess:vt.控制;持有;迷住;具备;
[The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves:Anatidae)] [野生绿头鸭（鸟类:鸭科）的首例同性恋尸癖行为研究]
mallard:n.野鸭;野鸭肉; Anas:n.言论集(ana的复数形式);轶事(ana的复数形式);河鸭属;
I knew I'd seen something special, but it took me six years to decide to publish it. 我知道我看到了一些很特别的现象 但却让我用了六年的时间来决定将它发表。
publish:v.出版;发表;公布;
(Laughter) （笑声）
I mean, it's a nice topic for a birthday party or at the coffee machine , but to share this among your peers is something different. 我的意思是,这可能是在生日宴会上很出彩的话题 或者在咖啡机旁的闲聊, 但是将它作为学术分享到同行之间,就发生了质的变化
coffee machine:n.投币咖啡机; peers:n.平辈,同事(peer的复数);v.凝视;比得上(peer的三单形式);
I didn't have the framework. 我当时还没有一个框架,
So after six years, my friends and colleagues urged me to publish, so I published "The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard." 所以在六年之后,我的朋友和同事催促我将它发表, 所以我发表题为“首例绿头鸭 的同性恋尸癖行为“
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数);
And here's the situation again. 于是又是相同的情景,
A is my office, A是我的办公室,
B is the place where the duck hit the glass, and C is from where I watched it. B是那只鸭子撞上玻璃的地方, C是我观察行为的地方,
And here are the ducks again. 现在又是那对鸭子。
As you probably know, in science, when you write a kind of special paper, only six or seven people read it. 你可能会想,在科学界, 你写出了一篇特别的文章, 只有6个或7个人去读它,
(Laughter) （笑声）
But then something good happened. 但这也是一件好事,
I got a phone call from a person called Marc Abrahams, and he told me, "You've won a prize with your duck paper: the Ig Nobel Prize ." 我接到来自一位叫做马克·亚伯拉罕斯的来电, 他告诉我,”你的鸭子论文已经获奖了: 诺贝尔搞笑奖。”
Marc:n.机读目录;(水果,种子等经压榨后的)榨渣; Nobel Prize:n.诺贝尔奖;
And the Ig Nobel Prize — 而这个诺贝尔搞笑奖——
(Laughter) (Applause) — the Ig Nobel Prize honors research that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think, with the ultimate goal to make more people interested in science. （笑声）（掌声）—— 诺贝尔搞笑奖的荣誉研究 先让人们开怀大笑,之后开始思考 它的宗旨是让更多的人 对科学产生兴趣。
ultimate:adj.最终的;极限的;根本的;n.终极;根本;基本原则;
That's a good thing, so I accepted the prize. 这是一件好事,所以我接收了这个奖项。
(Laughter) （笑声）
I went -- let me remind you that Marc Abrahams didn't call me from Stockholm . 我来到——让我重提下这位马克·亚伯拉罕斯 他并不是从斯德哥尔摩打电话给我,
remind:v.提醒;使想起; Stockholm:n.斯德哥尔摩(瑞典首都);
He called me from Cambridge , Massachusetts. 而是来自马塞诸萨州的剑桥。
Cambridge:n.剑桥(英国城市);坎布里奇(美国马萨诸塞州城市);
So I traveled to Boston , to Cambridge, and I went to this wonderful Ig Nobel Prize ceremony held at Harvard University, and this ceremony is a very nice experience. 于是我来到波士顿,前往剑桥, 我参加这场诺贝尔搞笑典礼的盛会 地点是在哈佛大学,而这场典礼 真是一次美妙的经历。
Boston:n.波士顿(美国城市); ceremony:n.典礼,仪式;礼节,礼仪;客套,虚礼; Harvard:n.哈佛大学;哈佛大学学生;
Real Nobel laureates hand you the prize. 由真正的诺贝尔获奖者授予你这份奖项。
laureates:adj.戴桂冠的;荣誉的;n.桂冠诗人;得奖者;vt.使戴桂冠;
That's the first thing. 这只是个开端。
And there are nine other winners who get prizes. 那里还有九个其他的获奖者,
Here's one of my fellow winners. That's Charles Paxton who won the 2000 biology prize for his paper, " Courtship behavior of ostriches towards humans under farming conditions in Britain." 这是其中之一,查尔斯·帕克斯顿 他的论文获得2000年的生物奖, “鸵鸟的向人类作出的求偶行为 在英国的农场条件下。”
biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; Courtship:n.求爱;求婚;求爱期; ostriches:n.鸵鸟;回避现实的人(ostrich的复数);
(Laughter) （笑声）
And I think there are one or two more 我认为这里有一两个更多的
Ig Nobel Prize winners in this room. 诺贝尔搞笑奖获得者在这个大厅里。
Dan, where are you? Dan Ariely? 丹,你在哪里？丹·阿雷利？
Applause for Dan. 请掌声欢迎丹。
Applause:n.欢呼,喝采;鼓掌欢迎;
(Applause) （掌声）
Dan won his prize in medicine for demonstrating that high-priced fake medicine works better than low-priced fake medicine. 丹获得了医学奖 他演示了昂贵的假药 药效要比廉价的假药要好。
demonstrating:n.演示;v.证明;示威;显示;(demonstrate的现在分词) high-priced:adj.高价的;昂贵的; fake:n.假货;骗子;假动作;v.捏造;假装…的样子;adj.伪造的; low-priced:adj.低价的,廉价的,定价低的,索价不高的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So here's my one minute of fame, my acceptance speech, and here's the duck. 这就是我获奖的那一刻 我在发表获奖感言 这是那只鸭子。
acceptance:n.验收;接受;认可;承认;
This is its first time on the U.S. West Coast . 这是它第一次来到美国西海岸
West Coast:n.美国西海岸(尤指加利福尼亚州);
I'm going to pass it around. 我希望大家可以传阅。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Yeah? 如何？
You can pass it around. 你可以将它传给其他观众,
Please note it's a museum specimen , but there's no chance you'll get the avian flu. 请注意它是一个博物馆的标本, 所以你不会感染禽流感……
specimen:n.标本;样品;样本;(尤指动植物的)单一实例; avian:adj.鸟的;鸟类的;n.鸟;
After winning this prize, my life changed. 在这次获奖之后,我的生活发生了改变。
In the first place , people started to send me all kinds of duck-related things, and I got a real nice collection. 起初,有人开始给我寄一些东西 都是些关于鸭子的物品, 然后我获得了非常好的收藏。
In the first place:首先;起初;
(Laughter) （笑声）
More importantly, people started to send me their observations of remarkable animal behavior, and believe me, if there's an animal misbehaving on this planet, 更为重要的是, 人们开始寄给我他们自己的观测 关于动物与众不同的行为, 请相信我,如果在这个星球上那只动物发生了不正常行为,
observations:n.观察,观察值;观察结果;(observation的复数形式); remarkable:adj.卓越的;非凡的;值得注意的; misbehaving:v.行为不端;(misbehave的现在分词)
I know about it. 我肯定会被告知。
(Laughter) （笑声）
This is a moose . 这是一只麋鹿。
moose:n.[脊椎]驼鹿;麋;[复数moose];
It's a moose trying to copulate with a bronze statue of a bison . 这只麋鹿试图去交配…… 和一只野牛的铜像。
bronze:n.青铜; adj.青铜色的; vt.镀青铜于; vi.变成青铜色,被晒黑; statue:n.雕像;塑像;铸像;v.用雕像装饰; bison:n.北美野牛;欧洲野牛;
This is in Montana , 2008. 发生在2008年的蒙大纳州。
Montana:n.蒙大纳(美国州名);
This is a frog that tries to copulate with a goldfish. 这是一只青蛙试图和一只金鱼交配,
This is the Netherlands, 2011. 发生在2011年的荷兰。
These are cane toads in Australia. 它们是澳大利亚的“甘蔗蟾蜍”。
cane:n.手杖;藤条;细长的茎;v.以杖击;以藤编制; toads:n.[脊椎]蟾蜍(toad的复数形式);
This is roadkill . 下面的这只是被撞死的,
roadkill:n.在公路上被车撞死的动物;
Please note that this is necrophilia. 请注意这又是一起恋尸癖,
It's remarkable: the position. 而且尤为不寻常的是——体位……
The missionary position is very rare in the animal kingdom. 这种传教士姿势在动物界是非常罕见的。
missionary position:n.正常体位;
These are pigeons in Rotterdam. 这些是鹿特丹的鸽子
pigeons:n.鸽子(pigeon的复数);杂波;
Barn swallows in Hong Kong, 2004. 家燕,2004年的香港
Barn:n.谷仓;畜棚;车库;靶(核反应截面单位);v.把…贮存入仓; swallows:n.燕子;咽喉(swallow的复数);v.吞下;吞没;忍受(swallow的三单形式);
This is a turkey in Wisconsin on the premises of the Ethan Allen juvenile correctional institution . 这是一只威斯康辛州的火鸡 在伊森艾伦未成年犯管教机构的房屋上
Wisconsin:n.威斯康星州(美国州名); premises:n.营业场所;(企业的)房屋建筑及附属场地;(premise的复数) juvenile:adj.青少年的;幼稚的;n.青少年;少年读物; correctional:adj.矫正的;修正的; institution:n.制度;建立;(社会或宗教等)公共机构;习俗;
It took all day, and the prisoners had a great time. 交配历时一整天, 囚犯们度过了一段美好的时光
So what does this mean? 那么这些现象意味着什么？
I mean, the question I ask myself, why does this happen in nature? 我是说,我问自己, 为什么这些现象自然而然的发生了？
Well, what I concluded from reviewing all these cases is that it is important that this happens only when death is instant and in a dramatic way and in the right position for copulation . 好吧,我得出的结论是 通过回顾这些个例 这些现象发生的关键是 只有当死亡是瞬间发生 伴随戏剧化的方式 又正好适合交配的体位
concluded:v.断定:得出结论:终止:达成:缔结(协定)(conclude的过去分词和过去式) reviewing:v.复查;重新考虑;反思;评论;(review的现在分词) instant:n.瞬间; adj.立即的; conj.同"assoonas"; dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的; copulation:n.交配;交尾;连结;
At least, I thought it was till I got these slides. 直到我看到接下来的这组幻灯片。
And here you see a dead duck . 这里你可以看到一只死掉的鸭子
a dead duck:完蛋的人;
It's been there for three days, and it's laying on its back. 它死在那里已经三天了 然而姿势是仰天朝上。
So there goes my theory of necrophilia. 所以我之前关于恋尸癖的理论并不完全正确。
Another example of the impact of glass buildings on the life of birds. 另一个例子是 玻璃建筑对鸟类生命的影响。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响;
This is Mad Max, a blackbird who lives in Rotterdam. 这是现实版“精卫”,一只生活在鹿特丹的乌鸦。
blackbird:n.画眉;燕八哥;山鸟类;(欧洲的)乌鸫;
The only thing this bird did was fly against this window from 2004 to 2008, day in and day out . 这只鸟每天做的事情,就是与这堵玻璃的斗争 从2004年一直到2008年,日以继夜的重复。
day in and day out:天天;夜以继日;
Here he goes, and here's a short video. 它要冲向玻璃了,请看视频。
(Music) (Clunk) （音乐）（呯）
(Clunk) （呯）
(Clunk) （呯）
(Clunk) （呯）
So what this bird does is fight his own image. 这只鸟所做的 是与他在玻璃中的镜像斗争。
He sees an intruder in his territory , and it's coming all the time and he's there, so there is no end to it. 他以为在自己领地出现了入侵者, 而且只要他在,“敌人”也在…… 所以他想终结这种情况。
intruder:n.侵入者;干扰者;妨碍者; territory:n.领土,领域;范围;地域;版图;
And I thought, in the beginning -- I studied this bird for a couple of years -- that, well, shouldn't the brain of this bird be damaged? 我在最初的时候——我已经研究这只鸟很多年了—— 我想这只鸟的大脑会不会被撞坏？
It's not. I show you here some slides, some frames from the video, and at the last moment before he hits the glass, he puts his feet in front, and then he bangs against the glass. 确实不会,我给你们展示这些幻灯片, 是从视频的节选, 在它即将碰到玻璃的临近时刻, 他把他的脚放在前面, 然后才重击到玻璃上。
frames:n.[计][电子][通信]帧,[电影]画面;[建][计]框架;眼镜架(frame的复数);
So I'll conclude to invite you all to Dead Duck Day. 最后,我邀请大家能来参加死鸭子节。
That's on June 5 every year. 每年的6月5日。
At five minutes to six in the afternoon, we come together at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the duck comes out of the museum, and we try to discuss new ways to prevent birds from colliding with windows. 在下午的5点55分, 我们聚在鹿特丹的自然历史博物馆, 把鸭子从博物馆中取出, 我们试着探讨用新的方式 来保护鸟类防止撞上玻璃。
colliding:adj.对撞的;v.碰撞(collide的现在分词);冲突;n.碰撞;冲撞;
And as you know, or as you may not know, this is one of the major causes of death for birds in the world. 或许你们知道,也或许不清楚, 这是全世界的鸟类 最显著的致死因子之一。
In the U.S. alone, a billion birds die in collision with glass buildings. 单是在美国,十亿鸟类 死于玻璃建筑的碰撞。
collision:n.抵触;碰撞(或相撞)事故;
And when it's over, we go to a Chinese restaurant and we have a six-course duck dinner. 当聚会结束之后,我们前往中国餐馆 享受一次六道菜的晚餐。
So I hope to see you next year in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for Dead Duck Day. 我希望能见到大家 在明年的荷兰鹿特丹, 庆祝死鸭子节。
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）
Oh, sorry. 哦,对不起。
May I have my duck back, please? 请问我可以取回我的鸭子吗？
(Laughter) (Applause) （笑声）（掌声）
Thank you. 谢谢。