Rubyonrails Rails 100% 新手问题 send() 方法

有人能帮我理解下面列出的"send()"方法的用途吗？当我阅读下面的代码时，它的用途毫无意义.

这是一款使用Ruby 1.8.7和Rails 1.2.3的Rails应用程序.请不要对我唠叨升级，这是客户的环境，所以我没有那种闲暇时间.

不过，不用说，我所指的声明是这样的；

def do_schedule
  @performance = Performance.new(params[:performance])
  @performer = Performer.find(params[:performer_id])
  selected_track = params[:selected_track]
  if FileTest.exists?(File.expand_path(@performer.photo))
    @performance.photo = File.open(File.expand_path(@performer.photo))
  end

  @performance.audio = File.open(File.expand_path(@performer.send(selected_track)))

  if @performance.save
    flash[:notice] = 'Performer scheduled.'
    redirect_to :controller => :performer, :action => :index
  else
    render :action => 'schedule'
  end
end

表演者模型

class Performer < ActiveRecord::Base
  file_column :audio_one
  file_column :audio_two
  file_column :audio_three
  file_column :photo

  belongs_to :festival
  validates_presence_of :name, :first_name, :last_name, :address, :city, :state, :zip, :daytime_phone, :availability, :stages
  validates_format_of :email, :with => /\A([^@\s]+)@((?:[-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,})\Z/i
  validates_confirmation_of :email

  validates_presence_of :audio_one, :audio_two, :audio_three, :photo, :if => :submitted

  after_create :salt_access_key
  serialize :availability
  serialize :stages

  attr_accessor :other_type_of_music
  before_save :set_other_type

  def set_other_type
    if type_of_music == 'Other'
      self.type_of_music = "Other - #{other_type_of_music}" unless other_type_of_music.blank?
    end
  end

  def salt_access_key
    update_attribute(:access_key, Digest::SHA1.hexdigest("--#{self.id}--#{self.name}--#{self.festival.year}"))
  end

  def preferred_stages
    stages = []
    festival = Festival.find(self.festival_id.to_i)
    self.stages.collect { | key, value |
      id = key.gsub(/[\D]/, '').to_i
      if id > 0
        stages << festival.performance_stages.find(id).name
      end
    }
    return stages
  end
end

其中包含的控制器是性能控制器.我一直在搜索谷歌，试图弄清楚那个"表演者"的目的是什么.send(selected_track)确实在做，但感觉就像是在漩涡中划船.

有人能帮我弄清楚这件事吗？

谢谢