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A canary's song sounds sweet and innocent, to us anyway.
无论如何，我们总是感觉金丝雀的叫声甜美清澈。
But for male birds, music is actually part of a testosterone-fueled mating ritual.
但是对于雄鸟而言，歌声实际上只是由雄性激素引发交配仪式的一部分内容。
So what's the pathway from hormone to harmonics?
那么从荷尔蒙到和声是如何转变的呢？
It was thought that male canaries became motivated to sing when testosterone hit the specific brain region normally responsible for mating behavior.
据说雄性金丝雀在激素刺激大脑负责交配行为的特殊区域时，才会变得喜欢用歌唱表达爱意。
It's called the medial preoptic nucleus, or POM.
这一区域被称为内侧视前核，或简称POM。
To find out, scientists first gelded some unfortunate individuals.
为了探寻答案，科学家们首先将一些不幸的小鸟阉割。
Some of these canaries received doses of testosterone to the POM only.
其中一些只在POM区域被注射一定量的激素。
Others got broad testosterone exposure throughout the brain.
另一些鸟儿则在整个大脑区域被注射了适量激素。
After treatment, both groups of canaries began singing.
注射完成后，两组金丝雀都开始一展歌喉。
Although they sang roughly the same amount, the birds receiving broad hormone doses made music that was louder and of higher quality.
尽管唱的次数大致上差不多，但大脑整体接受激素的金丝雀唱歌明显在声音和质量上更为不错。
They also sang more while potential mates were present.
而在潜在异性出现在眼前，它们会唱的更多。
The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
该项研究已经在《美国国家科学院院刊》 上发表。
So testosterone in the POM does inspire mating behavior.
因此POM区域的激素确实会影响交配活动。
But the hormone must act more globally to create a proper performance.
但是整个范围内的激素才能创造更好的表现。
Quality courtship requires a complete bird brain.
看来想要抱得美鸟归还得需要整个大脑的参与。
