【英语时差8,16】乌贼-伪装大师（下）

They also put cuttlefish¹ in tanks with a range of different checkerboard patterns to see how well they could differentiate² between different colors or brightness. When in front of a high-contrast background, like alternating dark and light squares, the cuttlefish skillfully mimicked³ the checkered⁴ pattern. They also tried checkerboards of different colors that were very similar in brightness. That is, colors that would look the same shade of grey in a black and white photo. In front of these low-contrast checkerboards, the cuttlefish just turned a single solid color. So it seems that cuttlefish camouflage⁵ themselves by matching light intensities⁶ of objects rather than their colors. But how they match colors so accurately⁷ is still a mystery.

 

1 cuttlefish   

n.乌贼，墨鱼

参考例句：

• I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters.我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
• The cuttlefish spurts out dark ink when it is in danger.乌鲗遇到危险的时候会喷出黑色液体。

2 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

3 mimicked   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• He mimicked her upper-class accent. 他模仿她那上流社会的腔调。 来自辞典例句
• The boy mimicked his father's voice and set everyone off laughing. 男孩模仿他父亲的嗓音，使大家都大笑起来。 来自辞典例句

4 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

5 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

6 intensities   

n.强烈( intensity的名词复数 )；（感情的）强烈程度；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• At very high intensities, nuclear radiations cause itching and tingling of the skin. 当核辐射强度很高时，它能使皮肤感到发痒和刺痛。 来自辞典例句
• They ask again and again in a variety of ways and intensities. 他们会以不同的方式和强度来不停地问，直到他得到自己想要的答案为止。 来自互联网

7 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。