2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读八十五

Leopard seals share their suppers

豹海豹会分享它们的晚餐

Bad news if you are a penguin

假如你是一只企鹅，这真是个坏消息

Leopard seals resemble their terrestrial namesakes in two ways.They have polka-dot pelts.And they are powerful,generally solitary carnivores that are quite capable of killing a human being if they so choose—as has indeed happened once,in2003,when a British marine biologist was the victim.

豹海豹与生活在陆地上的同名动物（豹）有着两点相似之处。其一，它们的皮毛上都有着圆点花纹。其二，它们都是强大的独栖性食肉动物，只要它们愿意，是完全有能力杀死一个人的——正如2003年真实发生的那样，当时一位英国海洋生物学家就成了受害者。

Curiously,though,there have also been reports of leopard seals behaving in a friendly manner towards people—apparently trying to present gifts,in the form of prey,to divers.

但奇怪的是，也有报道称豹海豹对人类表现得十分友好——它们很显然把猎物作为礼物赠送给了潜水员。

Until now,there has been no explanation for this philanthropy.But work just published in Polar Biology by James Robbins of Plymouth University, in Britain,suggests that what the seals are actually looking for is a dining partner.

到目前为止，人们还无法对豹海豹的这种善意行为做出解释。不过，英国普利茅斯大学的詹姆斯·罗宾斯发表在《极地生物学》上的研究认为，豹海豹实际上是在寻找一个约饭的伙伴。

Mr Robbins and his team were studying leopard seals in the waters around South Georgia,an island in the Southern Ocean1,500km from the tip of the Antarctic peninsula.

罗宾斯和他的团队正在南乔治亚岛（一座位于南大洋、距离南极半岛边缘约1500公里的岛屿）附近海域对豹海豹展开研究。

Instead of diving,or watching from ships,they used drones to carry out their observations.These drones recorded hitherto unobserved behaviour on the part of the animals.

他们没有选择潜水或乘船的研究方式，而是采用无人机对豹海豹进行观察。这些无人机记录下了迄今为止人们未曾观察到的豹海豹的行为。

First,belying their solitary reputation,the seals came together in groups to attack king penguins(twice the size of the gentoo penguin in the photograph)that were entering the sea from a rookery on the island.

首先，在独居动物名声的掩饰下，豹海豹们成群结队地对正从岛上的出生地前往大海的帝企鹅发起了进攻。

Second,when a seal did catch a penguin in these circumstances it would sometimes offer to share it with a neighbour in a way reminiscent of divers’tales of gift giving.What looked like an aberration might thus be a normal way of behaving.But why?

随后，当一只豹海豹捕捉到一只企鹅时，它有时会主动和周围的豹海豹分享猎物，这不由让人想起了豹海豹向潜水员送礼物的故事。因此，这一看似异常的行为可能只是豹海豹的一种正常的行为方式。但豹海豹为什么要这么做呢？

Mr Robbins’s suggestion is that sharing a penguin with a neighbour makes it easier to eat.A close look at footage the drones recorded shows that seals in such partnerships take it in turns to feed.

罗宾斯认为，与伙伴共享一只企鹅会让豹海豹的进食变得更加容易。仔细对无人机拍摄的视频进行观察就不难发现，在这种伙伴关系中，豹海豹会轮流进食。

One holds the bird tight in its jaws while the other rips off a chunk of flesh and swallows it.Then they swap roles.By contrast,for a lone seal to reduce a penguin to bite-sized chunks means whipping the prey around in its jaws with as much force as it can muster,in order to tear lumps of flesh free from the carcass.

只见一只豹海豹咬住了猎物的嘴巴，另一只豹海豹则撕下一块肉并吞了下去。随后它们会进行角色互换。相比而言，一只落单的豹海豹想要从一只企鹅身上咬下一块肉来就得使出浑身解数在嘴里一顿猛嚼。

This commonly happens,but is thought to be extremely tiring.Better, therefore,to find a buddy and enjoy a meal together.

这种及其费劲的进食场景常常会发生。因此，对于豹海豹来说，找个伙伴约上一顿饭就再好不过了。

(红色标注词为重难点词汇)