2010年新托福(TOEFL)考试阅读部分机经背景知识
上篇背景知识我们主要是总结整理了考生的回忆内容，把文章的大致结构和内容架构出来了，因此在中篇和下篇中，朗阁海外考试研究中心的专家将重点放到一些相似的英语背景材料分析上，仔细来看看是通过怎样的实验来了解鸟类学习唱歌这个过程的。
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Songbirds include those birds from the order Passeriformes, commonly called passerines. There are approximately 5,400 different species of passerines. The suborder Oscine includes those birds that we tend to think of as your typical songbird, those birds that have complex songs as adults. In the majority of Oscines, the male is the one with the complex singing ability, and there is much diversity among males of different species in the length and complexity of their songs.
Song needs to be developed, just like any other characteristic of songbird behavior. Singing the correct song for that species is not an instinctual process. The need to sing is instinctual, however what song to sing has been found to be learned. When and where young songbirds learn their songs has long been studied. Just as songbirds differ in their songs, they also differ in their song learning process, though some basic principles seem to be the same. Many species learn their song only during the first few months, though a few can learn songs their entire lives. Also differing between species is from who the songs are learned, and how much of the songs are accurately imitated.
Some species may exactly copy the songs they are exposed to. On the other hand, many will not exactly imitate the song or songs that they have been exposed to. Instead they will take bits and pieces of it and invent their own song, though usually similar in construction to that which the species normally sings. |
