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第一段
1 .Listen to part of a lecture in an animal behavior class.
听一段动物学课堂的讲解
第二段
1 .As you know, researchers have long been interested in discovering exactly how intelligent animals are.
你们知道的，科研者们一直都很想了解动物到底有多聪明。
2 .Today we are going to talk about a particular cognitive ability some animals seem to have - the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror.
今天我们要讲一些动物所具备的认知能力，即在镜子中认出自己的能力。
第三段
1 .Oh, I've heard about that. Chimpanzees have it.
哦，我听说过。黑猩猩就能。
第四段
1 .Right. Chimpanzees and other primates, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, and of course, humans.
对。黑猩猩和其他一些灵长类动物，黑猩猩，大猩猩，红猩猩，当然还有人类。
2 .But it's also been found in elephants and bottlenose dolphins, a bit of a surprise.
但是还发现大象和宽吻海豚也具备这种能力，这有点儿意外。
3 .It's very rare. Most animals don't have it, and it's called mirror self-recognition, or MSR.
这是非常罕见的。大多数动物都不行。这种能力叫做镜中自我识别，或叫MSR。
第五段
1 .Well, how does it work? I mean, how do researchers know if elephants or chimps recognize themselves?
怎么回事儿呢？我是问，科研人员怎么知道大象或猩猩认出自己了？
第六段
1 .Researchers give them a mirror mark test.
科研人员做一个镜子标记测试。
2 .In the mirror mark test, researchers put a mark on the animal where the animal is unable to see it or smell it or feel it, like on the side of their head, without looking in the mirror.
测试中，科研人员在动物不用镜子看不到也闻不到的地方放一个标记，比如在头的侧面
3 .Now, typically, when animals first see themselves in the mirror, they think they are seeing another animal.
通常，动物们第一次看到镜中的自己时，它们会认为自己在看另外一只动物。
第七段
1 .Often they will look for this animal behind the mirror.
它们往往会在镜子后面找那只动物。
2 .They may even exhibit aggressive behavior.
他们甚至会表现的很有攻击性。
第八段
1 .But some animals, after this period of exploration, exhibit behaviors that show they know they are looking at themselves.
但是有些动物在探索一阵之后，表现出它们知道自己看到的是自己。
2 .For instance, elephants will touch the mark on their heads with their trunks.
例如，大象会用鼻子触摸头上的记号。
第九段
1 .Now, it's been assumed that primates and some other mammals stood alone at the top of the hierarchy of cognitive evolution.
大家一直认为灵长类动物和一些其他的哺乳类动物在认知的进化中是最高级的。
2 .But recently, birds have been found to possess some of the same cognitive abilities!
但是最近我们发现鸟类也同样有这种认知能力。
3 .In particular, researchers have discovered these abilities in corvids, birds of the corvidae family.
特别是，科学家在鸦科的鸟类中发现这种能力。
第十段
1 .Corvids include ravens, jays, crows and magpies among others.
鸦科包括渡鸦，松鸦，乌鸦和喜鹊等等。
2 .And what kinds of cognitive abilities are we talking about?
我们指的是什么样的认知能力呢？
3 .Well, Corvids and some mammals have the ability to plan for the future, to store food for instance, in places where they can find it later.
鸦科和一些哺乳类动物有计划能力，比如把食物储藏在以后能找到的地方。
4 .It's been suggested in fact that jays, corvids known for stealing each other's food, may hide their food precisely because they are projecting their own tendency to steal onto other jays.
事实上有人指出松鸦，一种以偷窃食物而闻名的鸦科鸟类，可能会把食物藏起来，因为它们认为别的松鸦也和自己一样有偷窃的倾向（把自己偷窃的倾向投射到别的松鸦上去）。
第十一段
1 .So let's talk about a study recently conducted with magpies.
好下面我们来看一个用喜鹊做的实验。
2 .As I said, magpies are corvids.
如我所说，喜鹊属于鸦科。
3 .And because corvids have these other cognitive skills, researchers wanted to see if they were also capable of mirror self-recognition.
因为鸦科有些其他的认知能力，科学家们想知道它们是否也能在镜子中认出自己。
4 .So they gave them the mirror mark test, placing yellow sticker on the birds' black throat feathers.
于是他们用喜鹊做了一个镜子标记实验，将一个黄色的贴纸放到鸟颈的黑色羽毛上。
5 .At first, the magpies all engage in the same social behaviors that other animals do-looking behind the mirror, etc.
一开始，这些喜鹊和其他动物的行为是一样的，查看镜子后面等等。
6 .But eventually, some of the birds, while looking in the mirror, kept scratching at the mark until they got rid of it.
是最终，有些喜鹊一边照镜子，一边挠标记，直到把它挠掉。
7 .And they didn't scratch at it when there was no mirror around. So they passed the test.
而当没有镜子的时候，它们并没有挠标记。于是它们通过了测试。
第十二段
1 .Wow! Do any other birds have this ability?
哇！其他鸟类有这种能力么？
第十三段
1 .Well, not that we know of.
嗯，目前我们还不知道其他鸟类有此能力。
2 .There was a study using pigeons, where researchers attempted to reduce MSR to a matter of conditioning, that is, they claimed that the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror could be learned.
有一个研究用了鸽子，科学家试图把MSR当成一种学习能力，就是说他们称在镜中认出自己是能习得的。
3 .So these researchers basically trained some pigeons to pass the mirror mark test.
于是这些科学家训练了一些鸽子，让他们通过镜子标记实验。
第十四段
1 .But two things are noteworthy here.
但是有两件事情是值得注意的
2 .One, no one's ever replicated the study, but more importantly, it misses the point.
一，从未有人复制过这项研究，更重要的是，它错失了要点
3 .The issue isn't whether some behavior can be learned.
这个问题要点不是某种行为能否被学会
4 .It's whether a species has developed this ability spontaneously.
而是一个物种能否自然的发展他的能力
第十五段
1 .So what does the test tell us about corvids or chimpanzees?
那这个实验告诉我们关于鸦科或大猩猩的什么信息呢？
第十六段
1 .Good question. For one thing, it is important because it sets animals with a sense of self apart from those without a sense of self.
问的好。第一，这很重要因为我们区别了有自我意识的动物和没有自我意识的动物。
2 .But more importantly, many researchers believe that MSR is indicative of other advanced cognitive abilities.
但更重要的是，很多科研人员认为MSR反映了其他一些高级的认知能力。
3 .Self-awareness, even in its earliest stages, might entail an awareness of others, the ability to see their perspective, to look at the world from another's point of view.
自我意识，即便是在最基本的阶段，可能意味着对于其他成员的意识，看到他人观点的能力，从他人角度看世界。
4 .This is crucial, because it implies a high level of cognitive development.
这非常重要，因为它暗示着高级的认知发育。
5 .It's perhaps the first stage toward the development of empathy.
这也许是发展出移情的第一步。
第十七段
1 .But birds' brains are so small compared to primates.
但是鸟类的大脑和灵长类动物比多小啊。
第十八段
1 .True. Though corvids do have unusually large brains for birds.
是的。虽然鸦科在鸟类中有超常大的大脑，
2 .But size isn't the whole story.
但是这并不全是大小的问题。
3 .It's thought that primates are so intelligent because of a certain part of their brains, which birds simply don't have.
我们认为灵长类动物之所以如此聪明是因为它们的大脑中有鸟类没有的区域。
4 .But there is an area in birds' brains that researchers believe governs similar cognitive functions.
但是科研人员认为在鸟类的大脑中有个区域掌控着相似的认知功能。
第一十九段
1 .So primates and birds' brains have evolved along different tracks, but ended up with similar abilities.
所以灵长类和鸟类的大脑虽然进化的轨迹不同，但却具有相似的能力。