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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.
香烟有害健康，但只在吸烟时有危害。实际上，如果用香烟来装饰巢穴，可能会对你有好处。因为鸟类会用被丢弃的烟蒂来装饰鸟巢，而且它们受寄生虫的困扰较少。这个观点来自于英国皇家学会的《生物学快报》上的一项研究。
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.
筑巢时，鸟类喜欢就地取材。树枝和树叶则是受欢迎的选择。但是城市里的鸟类怎么办呢？有些鸟儿抓到香烟，发现过滤嘴上有白色的绒毛纤维。
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.
科学家们想弄清楚鸟类用烟蒂装饰巢穴除了收获舒适外，是否还有其它的福利。于是他们在墨西哥国立大学的校园里收集了一些云雀和麻雀的巢。墨西哥国立大学位于墨西哥市中心。他们发现挂有最多过滤嘴纤维的鸟巢里螨虫的数量最少。
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这些小吸血鬼的繁衍。又或者螨虫听说过吸二手烟的危害。但是对于鸟儿们来说，一天一个烟蒂，螨虫就会远离我。
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