2020年考研英语二阅读 Text 1 原文翻译及答案解析

Rats and other animals need to be highly attuned to social signals from others so they can identify friends to cooperate with and enemies to avoid. To find out if this extends to non-living beings, Laleh Quinn at the University of California, San Diego, and her colleagues tested whether rats can detect social signals from robotic rats.

老鼠和其他动物需要高度适应来自他人的社交信号，以便识别可以合作的朋友和需要避开的敌人。为了探究这是否适用于非生物，加州大学圣地亚哥分校的Laleh Quinn及其同事测试了老鼠是否能检测来自机器鼠的社交信号。

They housed eight adult rats with two types of robotic rat — one social and one asocial—for four days.The robot rats were quite minimalist, resembling a chunkier version of a computer mouse with wheels-to move around and colorful markings.

他们将八只成年老鼠与两种类型的机器鼠——一种社交型和一种非社交型——一起饲养了四天。这些机器鼠相当简约，类似于更厚实的计算机鼠标，带有轮子可以移动，并有彩色标记。

During the experiment, the social robot rat followed the living rats around, played with the same toys, and opened cage doors to let trapped rats escape. Meanwhile, the asocial robot simply moved forwards and backwards and side to side.

在实验过程中，社交机器鼠跟随活老鼠四处走动，玩相同的玩具，并打开笼门让被困的老鼠逃脱。与此同时，非社交机器只是前后左右移动。

Next, the researchers trapped the robots in cages and gave the rats the opportunity to release them by pressing a lever.Across 18 trials each, the living rats were 52 per cent more likely on average to set the social robot free than the asocial one. This suggests that the rats perceived the social robot as a genuine social being, says Quinn. The rats may have bonded more with the social robot because it displayed behaviors like communal exploring and playing. This could lead to the rats better remembering having freed it earlier, and wanting the robot to return the favour when they get trapped, she says .

接下来，研究人员将机器困在笼子里，并让老鼠有机会通过按压杠杆来释放它们。在每次18次试验中，活老鼠平均有52%的可能性更可能释放社交机器鼠而不是非社交机器鼠。Quinn说，这表明老鼠将社交机器视为真正的社交存在。老鼠可能因为社交机器展示了像共同探索和玩耍这样的行为而与其建立了更紧密的联系。这可能导致老鼠更好地记住之前释放过它，并希望当它们被困时机器能回报恩惠。

"Rats have been shown to engage in multiple forms of reciprocal help and cooperation, including what is referred to as direct reciprocity where a rat will help another rat that has previously helped them," says Quinn.

Quinn说：“老鼠已被证明会参与多种形式的互惠帮助和合作，包括所谓的直接互惠，即一只老鼠会帮助之前帮助过它的另一只老鼠。”

The readiness of the rats to befriend the social robot was surprising given its minimal design.The robot was the same size as a regular rat but resembled a simple plastic box on wheels. " We'd assumed we'd have to give it a moving head and tail, facial features, and put a scent on it to make it smell like a real rat, but that wasn't necessary, " says Janet Wiles at the University of Queensland in Australia, who helped with the research.

考虑到其极简的设计，老鼠愿意与社交机器交友令人惊讶。机器的大小与普通老鼠相同，但看起来像一个带轮子的简单塑料盒。参与研究的澳大利亚昆士兰大学的Janet Wiles说：“我们原以为需要给它一个可移动的头和尾巴、面部特征，并在上面放一种气味使其闻起来像真老鼠，但那没有必要。”

The finding shows how sensitive rats are to social cues, even when they come from basic robots. says Wiles. Similarly, children tend to treat robots as if they are fellow beings, even when they display only simple social signals. "We humans seem to be fascinated by robots, and it turns out other animals are too," says Wiles.

Wiles说，这一发现显示了老鼠对社交线索的敏感程度，即使这些线索来自基础的机器人。同样，儿童倾向于将机器人视为同伴，即使它们只展示简单的社交信号。Wiles说：“我们人类似乎对机器人着迷，结果发现其他动物也是如此。”