壹蘋派生活美語　動物銘印現象：成長的關鍵過程

　　In fact, imprinting has been used by humans for centuries in the domestication of animals. For example, rice farmers in China have long been training ducklings to follow a stick. This method has been used to lead them to rice paddies to control the snail population. However, before the 1930s, no scientific studies had been done to explain this phenomenon. In order to understand the science behind the imprinting process, Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist, carried out a famous experiment on young geese.

　　事實上，幾個世紀以來人類一直都有在馴養動物時利用銘印現象。例如，中國的稻農長期以來一直在訓練小鴨跟隨棍子。這種方法被用來將牠們引導至稻田來控制蝸牛的數量。然而，在 1930 年代之前，沒有任何科學研究來解釋這種現象。為了了解銘印現象過程背後的科學原理，奧地利動物學家康拉德．洛倫茲在幼鵝身上進行了一項著名的實驗。

生活必備字詞：

population　n. 動物總數

scientific　a. 科學的

experiment　n. 實驗

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本文節錄自《常春藤生活英語》雜誌，完整內容請見一月號。