High 1 · Reading series
Lesson 53 · Birds Counted by Strangers
Audio track 53
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Our biology club joined a project in which people recorded birds they saw in local parks. On a spring morning, we stood quietly by the pond for thirty minutes and counted what we could identify. We uploaded our observations with the date and place.
The project's map showed many reports from the large central park and very few from a smaller park near my home. I first thought fewer birds lived there. Our teacher asked a different question: “How many people watched each park?” The map showed reports, not a complete count of every bird.
We visited the smaller park several times at the same hour and kept careful notes, including days when we saw little. Our observations would not settle the question, but they added information from a place that had been watched less often.
It felt exciting to work with strangers I had never met. It also taught me to ask what a map of observations might be missing.
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Chinese translation
生物社加入一项项目：参与者记录在当地公园看到的鸟。一个春天的早晨，我们在池塘边安静站了三十分钟，数自己能认出的鸟，并连同日期和地点上传观察记录。
项目地图显示，市中心的大公园有许多报告，我家附近的小公园却寥寥无几。我起初以为小公园的鸟较少。老师换了个问题：‘每个公园分别有多少人在观察？’地图显示的是报告，不是所有鸟的完整数量。
我们在相同时间多次走访小公园，仔细记笔记，也记录几乎没见到鸟的日子。我们的观察无法最终回答这个问题，却给一个较少人查看的地方补充了信息。
与从未见面的陌生人共同参与项目，让我感到兴奋；它也教会我追问：一张观察地图可能漏掉了什么？
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- record
- 记录；参与者写下所见鸟类。
- identify
- 辨认；只统计认得出的鸟。
- upload
- 上传；提交日期与地点。
- observation
- 观察记录；地图呈现的信息来源。
- central
- 中心的；大公园位于市中心。
- report
- 报告；数量还受观察者多少影响。
- complete count
- 完整计数；地图并未数尽所有鸟。
- settle a question
- 解决问题；少量观察尚不能下结论。
- add information
- 补充信息；小公园需要更多记录。
- be missing
- 缺失；地图可能漏掉某些地方。
Background notes (Chinese)
公民观察项目收集的是参与者上报的记录，其分布受观察人数影响。报告少可能是因为少有人去，不足以直接证明当地鸟少。