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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.

词汇：

evolutionary 进化的 ecological 生态的

detrimental 有害的 offspring (单复数同形）儿女，子孙，后代. experimental 实验的， 根据实验的 empirically以经验为根据地

clutch 一次产的或孵的卵 reproductive 生殖的

注释：

1.zebra finch:斑胸草雀，一种澳大利亚小鸟，它有黑白色条纹，而且是受欢迎的笼养鸟。

2.family conflict is as important an evolutionary driving force as ecological factors:家庭冲突是与 生态因素同样重要的进化推动力。

3. a conflict of interests：(双亲之间的）利益冲突

4.in evolutionary terms：从进化的角度讲。in.…terms, in terms of…：从……方面来讲；就……而言。例如：It has been a terrible year in terms of business.就生意而论，这是很糟糕的一年。

5.pass the buck (to)：推卸责任，把为难的事推给另！|人0 例如：Bus companies are just passing the buck by saying their drivers are responsible for delays.公交公司说司机应该对误点的事负责，这只是在推卸责任。

6. to find out：这是一个承上的短语,从逻辑上讲，它的宾语应该是:how families solve this conflict, and how the conflict itself affects the offspring。

练习：

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.

答案与题解：

1.C第一段提到“单亲家庭中的雄性后代更有吸引力,更容易得到配偶”，而这里的比较是在 鸟类单亲家庭和双亲家庭之间进行的，所以，双亲家庭的后代相比较而言吸引力较差。

2.A第三段的第一和第二个句子谈到，在动物界，任何一个父亲或母亲的最佳策略是让他人 (而不是自己）来照顾后代,这样，父母之间很自然就出现了相互推卸责任的现象。第五段 讲到，这样做的后果就是后代付出代价，也就是受到的照顾少了。

3.B第四段是关于斑胸草雀单亲家庭和双亲家庭如何照顾后代的实验;第五段是依据实验所 观察到的结果。所以，它们的关系是实验与结果。

4.D文章最后一段第一句的内容与A、B、C三个选项相对应；文章第六段第一句指出，“冲突 的代价没有体现为身材和体重的明显减少”，所以，D是答案。

5.C文章最后一段第三句谈到,“通常人们认为雌性动物的繁殖策略受捕食和食物提供的影 响”；第二段谈到,“捕食和食物提供是生态因素”，所以,C是答案。

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