第九篇Single-parent kids do best.docVIP

第九篇Single-parent Kids Do Best单亲幼儿最出色Single mums are better at raising their kids than two parents - at least in the bird world. 单身母亲在抚养孩子方面比双亲要好——至少在鸟的世界是这样韵。Mother zebra finchesl have to work harder and raise fewer chicks on their own,but they also produce more attractive sons who are more likely to get a mate.母斑胸草雀必须要努力工作且只能抚养较少的小鸟，但是它们抚养的雄性后代更有吸引力，更容易得到配偶。The finding shows that family conflict is as important an evolutionary driving force asecological factors2 such as hunting and food supply. 这个发现显示家庭冲突是与捕食和食物提供等生态因素同样重要的进化推动力。With two parents around, theres always a conflict of interests3 ,which can have a detrimental effect on the quality of the offspring. 身边有双亲就总会有利益冲突，这会对后代的质量产生有害的影响。In evolutionary terms4,the best strategy for any parent in the animal world is to find someone else to care for their offspring, 从进化的角度讲，在动物界，任何一个父亲或母亲的最佳策略都是让他人来照顾后代，so they can concentrate on breeding again. 这样，它们就可以集中精力再繁殖后代。So its normal for parents to try to pass the buck5 to each other. 所以父母之间很自然就出现了相互推卸责任的现象。 But Ian Hartley from the University of Lancaster and his team wondered how families solve this conflict, 但是兰卡斯特大学的阿兰·哈特利及他的工作组想知道家庭是如何解决这个冲突的，and how the conflict itself affects the offspring. 以及冲突本身是如何影响后代的。To find out6 ,they measured how much effort zebra finch parents put into raising their babies. 为了找到答案他们衡量斑胸草雀抚养它们的子女花了多少力气。They compared single females with pairs,by monitoring the amount of food each parent collected,and removing or adding chicks so that each pair of birds was raising four chicks, 他们监控每个母亲或父亲采集的食物量，以及移动或增加小鸟，因此每对草雀养4只小鸟，and each singlemum had two - supposedly the same amount of work.每只单身母雀养两只——假定这是相同的工作量。But single mums,they found,put in about 25 per cent more effort than females rearing with their mate. 通过这些方法他们对单身母雀和成对草雀做了比较。但是他们发现单身母雀比与配偶共同抚养后代的母雀多付出25%。 To avoid being exploited,mothers with a partner hold back from working too hard if the father is being lazy, 如果公雀太懒的话，为了避免受到剥削，有配偶的母雀并不十分努力工作and its the chicks that pay the price. 这样做的