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Single-parent Kids Do Best

Single mums are better at raising their kids than two parents 一 at least in the bird world. Mother zebra finches1 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.

The finding shows that family conflict is as important an evolutionary driving force as ecological factors2 such as hunting and food supply. With two parents around, there's always a conflict of interests3，which can have a detrimental effect on the quality of the offspring.

In evolutionary terms4，the best strategy for any parent in the animal world is to find someone else to care for their offspring，so they can concentrate on breeding again. So it's normal for parents to try to pass the buck5 to each other. But Ian Hartley from the University of Lancaster and his team wondered how families solve this conflict, and how the conflict itself affects the offspring.

To find oiit6，they measured hoW much effort zebra finch parents put into raising their babies. 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，and each single mum had two — supposedly the same amount of work.

But single mums, they found, put in about 25 per cent more effort than females rearing with their mate. To avoid being exploited, mothers with a partner hold back from working too hard if the father is being lazy, and it's the chicks that pay the price. “The offspring suffer some of the cost of this conflict, ” says Hartley.

The cost does not show in any obvious decrease in size or weight, but in how attractive they are to the opposite sex. When the chicks were mature, the researchers tested the ” fitness" of the male offspring by offering females their choice of partner. Those males reared by single mums were chosen more often than those from two-parent families.

Sexual conflict has long been thought to affect the quality of care,given to offspring, says zoologist Rebecca Kilner at Cambridge University, who works on conflict of parents in birds. ” But the experimental evidence is not great. The breakthrough here is showing it empirically. ”

More surprising, says Kilner, is Hartley's statement that conflict may be a strong influence on the evolution of behaviour, clutch size and even appearance. “People have not really made that link," says Hartley. A female's reproductive strategy is usually thought to be affected by hunting and food supply. Kilner says conflict of parents should now be taken into account as well.

詞匯：

evolutionary 進化的 ecological 生態的

detrimental 有害的 offspring (單復數同形）兒女，子孫，后代. experimental 實驗的， 根據實驗的 empirically以經驗為根據地

clutch 一次產的或孵的卵 reproductive 生殖的

注釋：

1.zebra finch:斑胸草雀，一種澳大利亞小鳥，它有黑白色條紋，而且是受歡迎的籠養鳥。

2.family conflict is as important an evolutionary driving force as ecological factors:家庭沖突是與 生態因素同樣重要的進化推動力。

3. a conflict of interests：(雙親之間的）利益沖突

4.in evolutionary terms：從進化的角度講。in.…terms, in terms of…：從……方面來講；就……而言。例如：It has been a terrible year in terms of business.就生意而論，這是很糟糕的一年。

5.pass the buck (to)：推卸責任，把為難的事推給另！|人0 例如：Bus companies are just passing the buck by saying their drivers are responsible for delays.公交公司說司機應該對誤點的事負責，這只是在推卸責任。

6. to find out：這是一個承上的短語,從邏輯上講，它的賓語應該是:how families solve this conflict, and how the conflict itself affects the offspring。

練習：

1.With which of the following statements would the author probably agree?

A Single mums produce stronger sons.

B Single mums do not produce daughters.

C Two-parent families produce less attractive children.

D Two-parent families produce more beautiful offspring.

2.According to the passage, in what way does family conflict affect the quality of the offspring?

A The young males get less care.

B The young females will decrease in weight.

C The offspring will become lazy fathers or mothers in the future.

D The offspring will not get mature easily.

3.What is the relationship between paragraph 4 and paragraph 5?

A Cause and effect.

B Experiment and result.

C Problem and solution.

D Topic and comment.

4.According to Hartley, which of the following is NOT influenced by sexual conflict?

A The evolution of the offspring's behaviour.

B The look of the offspring's faces. "

C The number of eggs produced by one offspring at a time.

D The offspring's body size. 、

5. According to the passage, people believe that a female's reproductive strategy is influenced by

A an evolutionary driving force.

B a conflict of interests.

C ecological factors.

D the quality of the offspring.

答案與題解：

1.C第一段提到“單親家庭中的雄性后代更有吸引力,更容易得到配偶”，而這里的比較是在 鳥類單親家庭和雙親家庭之間進行的，所以，雙親家庭的后代相比較而言吸引力較差。

2.A第三段的第一和第二個句子談到，在動物界，任何一個父親或母親的最佳策略是讓他人 (而不是自己）來照顧后代,這樣，父母之間很自然就出現了相互推卸責任的現象。第五段 講到，這樣做的后果就是后代付出代價，也就是受到的照顧少了。

3.B第四段是關于斑胸草雀單親家庭和雙親家庭如何照顧后代的實驗;第五段是依據實驗所 觀察到的結果。所以，它們的關系是實驗與結果。

4.D文章最后一段第一句的內容與A、B、C三個選項相對應；文章第六段第一句指出，“沖突 的代價沒有體現為身材和體重的明顯減少”，所以，D是答案。

5.C文章最后一段第三句談到,“通常人們認為雌性動物的繁殖策略受捕食和食物提供的影 響”；第二段談到,“捕食和食物提供是生態因素”，所以,C是答案。

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（責任編輯：vstara）

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