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Cigarettes are bad for your health. But that's only if you smoke 'em. If you use them to line your nest, they might actually do you some good. Because birds that decorate their digs with discarded cigarette butts are less bothered by parasites. That's according to a study in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
香煙有害健康，但只在吸煙時有危害。實際上，如果用香煙來裝飾巢穴，可能會對你有好處。因為鳥類會用被丟棄的煙蒂來裝飾鳥巢，而且它們受寄生蟲的困擾較少。這個觀點來自于英國皇家學會的《生物學快報》上的一項研究。
When building a nest, birds tend to make do with the materials at hand—or at beak. Twigs and leaves are popular choices. But what about city birds? Some reach for cigarettes, or at least the fluffy white fibers found in their filters.
筑巢時，鳥類喜歡就地取材。樹枝和樹葉則是受歡迎的選擇。但是城市里的鳥類怎么辦呢？有些鳥兒抓到香煙，發現過濾嘴上有白色的絨毛纖維。
Scientists got to wondering whether this habit might provide the birds benefits other than comfy bedding. So they grabbed the nests of finches and sparrows that were living on the campus of the National University of Mexico. That's in the heart of Mexico City. And they found that the nests that were festooned with the most filter fiber had the lowest numbers of mites.
科學家們想弄清楚鳥類用煙蒂裝飾巢穴除了收獲舒適外，是否還有其它的福利。于是他們在墨西哥國立大學的校園里收集了一些云雀和麻雀的巢。墨西哥國立大學位于墨西哥市中心。他們發現掛有最多過濾嘴纖維的鳥巢里螨蟲的數量最少。
Could be that the little blood suckers are turned off by nicotine. Or maybe they've heard about the dangers of secondhand smoke. But for the birds, a butt a day might just keep mites away.
可能是尼古丁抑制了這些小吸血鬼的繁衍。又或者螨蟲聽說過吸二手煙的危害。但是對于鳥兒們來說，一天一個煙蒂，螨蟲就會遠離我。
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