レッスンを予約する
Step 1
Read the Article
Read the article to understand the main idea.
記事を読んで、おおよその内容をつかみましょう。
Want seagulls to stay away from your food? Shout at them, researchers say
Sweet talk won’t get you far if you want to scare off a seagull trying to snatch your food. Try shouting.
Researchers set out to find if a man’s voice was enough to deter bandit gulls from their penchant for purloining food and found it was effective if delivered with more urgency. They placed fries in a box in towns across the southwest coast of England and tested how 61 European herring gulls reacted to recordings of a robin’s song, a male voice saying, “No, stay away, that’s my food,” and a voice shouting those words.
Previous research had shown that gulls could be dissuaded from snatching snacks by shouting — the louder, the faster they fled. But the new study, published Nov. 12 in Biology Letters, measured the difference between speaking and shouting if both were played at the same volume.
The birds tended to walk away from the speaking voice, but flew away from the shouting, suggesting they differentiated between the acoustic properties of the vocalizations.
(AP)
Step 2
Check the Vocabulary and Phrases
Check the following vocabulary and phrases.
以下の単語やフレーズの発音、意味、使い方を確認しましょう。
deter
思いとどまらせる
to make someone decide not to do something
High fines can deter people from speeding.
高い罰金は人々をスピード違反から思いとどまらせます。
penchant
（強い）傾向、好み
a special liking for something
My friend has a penchant for traveling alone.
友人は一人旅を好みます。
purloin
盗む
to steal something, especially something small or not very valuable
He purloined a cookie when no one was watching.
誰も見ていないとき、彼はクッキーを盗みました。
dissuade
思いとどまらせる
to persuade someone not to do something
The bad weather dissuaded us from going to the beach.
悪天候が私たちをビーチへ行くのを思いとどまらせました。
differentiate
区別する
to recognize or show that two things are not the same
Some people cannot differentiate between certain sounds.
特定の音を区別できない人もいます。
Step 3
Comprehension Questions
Answer the following questions based on the article.
理解度問題に挑戦しましょう。
What was the purpose of the research in the article?
How did the gulls respond to the speaking voice compared with the shouting voice?
Step 4
Discussion
Share your opinions on the following questions.
以下の質問について、自分の考えを述べてみましょう。
Have you ever had food taken or almost taken by a bird or another animal? What happened?
Besides shouting, what do you think is the best way to protect your food from seagulls?
Do birds or other animals in your area cause any problems?
If local governments have trouble with animals, do you think they should consider killing them? Why or why not?
Can you think of other ways people and wild animals can live together peacefully?