【英语时差8,16】北美燕八哥2

 Before a group of young cowbirds had time to socialize much, West had them stay the winter with a group of canaries. In the spring they were turned loose in an aviary¹ with a mixed group of birds. What happened was weird²: the cowbirds sang like canaries, and tried to court canaries. They ignored the other cowbirds! And the canaries ignored their advances. After the mating season–which these birds were really unsuccessful in, by the way–the cowbirds spent the next winter with a group of their own kind. The following spring they were again turned loose with a mixed group of birds, and this time they behaved like cowbirds. They sang cowbird songs, made cowbird moves, and did those things that would increase the cowbird population. What this means³ is that the cowbirds have to learn how to behave like cowbirds–it doesn’t just come naturally.

1 aviary   

n.大鸟笼，鸟舍

参考例句：

• There are many different kinds of birds in the aviary.大鸟笼里有很多不同种类的鸟。
• There was also an aviary full of rare birds.那里面还有装满稀有鸟类的鸟舍。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。