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本文選自《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》1月23日刊文章,。這篇文章是一個(gè)非常有趣的研究，研究城市老鼠是否比農(nóng)村老鼠更聰明,、更善于解決新問題,。研究人員分別從農(nóng)村和城市捕捉相同種類的老鼠，飼養(yǎng)它們一年的時(shí)間讓它們適應(yīng)新環(huán)境,，然后完成各種任務(wù),。實(shí)驗(yàn)表明，城市老鼠更擅長解決新問題,，他們的成功率是77%,，而農(nóng)村老鼠僅為52%。在下結(jié)論之前,，還需要大量研究,，不過通過對老鼠的研究，可以推斷人類是否也有這種現(xiàn)象,，城市人是否真的比鄉(xiāng)巴佬聰明,。 
選文精講 Where a rodent lives may determine how clever it isCountry bumpkins and city slickers- country bumpkin: 土包子、鄉(xiāng)巴佬
- city slicker: （時(shí)髦世故的）城市人,，城市滑頭
AESOP’S FABLE about the town mouse and the country mouse concentrates on the dangers of city living and rather sneers at its advantages. Yet advantages there are, for mice and men alike, as long as those involved are able to grasp them. That, though, requires an ability to respond successfully to novel problems. So a pair of researchers in Germany have looked to see whether urban mice are better at doing this than rural ones. Their conclusion, just published in Animal Behaviour, is that they are.《伊索寓言》中關(guān)于城市老鼠和鄉(xiāng)村老鼠的故事關(guān)注的是城市生活的危險(xiǎn)，而對城市生活的好處卻嗤之以鼻,。然而,，無論對老鼠還是對人，只要生活在城市,，就能明白它的好處,，盡管，它需要成功應(yīng)對新問題的能力,。因此,，德國的兩位研究人員研究了城市老鼠是否比農(nóng)村老鼠更擅長應(yīng)對新問題，他們在《動物行為》雜志上發(fā)表的結(jié)論是：確實(shí)如此,。Valeria Mazza of the University of Potsdam and Anja Guenther of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, in Pl?n, captured 17 striped field mice from farmland and 14 others from various places in central Berlin. They kept these animals in a laboratory for a year, to acclimatise them, and then challenged them with various tasks which, if performed successfully, would yield a reward of food. Tasks included opening the window panes of a house made of Lego bricks; opening the lid of a Petri dish; and yanking out a wad of paper jammed inside a clear plastic tube. As a control, all the mice were also given a naturalistic task that involved digging through a heap of bedding to find a reward.波茨坦大學(xué)的瓦萊里婭·馬扎和普隆市馬克斯·普朗克進(jìn)化生物學(xué)研究所的安雅·岡瑟在農(nóng)田里捕獲了17只斑紋田鼠,，在柏林市中心的不同地方捕獲了14只斑紋田鼠,。他們將這些動物在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里飼養(yǎng)了一年，讓它們適應(yīng)環(huán)境,，然后讓它們完成各種任務(wù)，如果成功完成,，它們將獲得食物獎勵(lì),。任務(wù)包括打開樂高積木房子的窗玻璃,；打開皮氏培養(yǎng)皿的蓋子；抽出塞在透明塑料管里的一團(tuán)紙,。作為對照,，所有的老鼠都被分配了一項(xiàng)自然任務(wù)，包括挖通一堆草墊以找到獎賞,。
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