EZCNN 易英网

Birds Sing With Regional Accents 鸟叫也有方言

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

A unique study finds that birds, like humans, exhibit “language” differences  一项特别的研究发现，鸟类就和人类一样，也展现出「语言」上的差异

As soon as Illinois-born neurobiologist Richard Mooney opens his mouth, North Carolina residents know he’s not from around there. But humans aren’t the only creatures whose regional drawls and twangs give them away. The same thing goes for the songbirds Mooney studies in his Duke University laboratory.

伊利诺伊州出生的神经生物学家理查德德德．慕尼一开口，北卡罗莱纳州（译注：「杜克大学」位于北卡罗莱纳州）的居民就会马上知道，他并非本地人。不过，人类并非唯一会因为地区性方言而泄漏出生背景的生物，因为慕尼在「杜克大学」实验室针对鸣鸟所进行的研究发现，鸟类也有类似的方言现象。

“If you drive around the U.S., you’ll hear the same species of songbirds,” said Mooney. “But if you listen closely, the songs sung by a swamp sparrow from ….. New York sound different from a swamp sparrow in Pennsylvania. ….. It could be likened to a dialect, or an accent.”

「如果你驾车周游美国，会在各地都听到同样种类鸣鸟的声音，」慕尼表示，「不过，若是仔细聆听，将不难发现来自纽约的沼泽带鹀的鸣声，听起来和宾州沼泽带鹀的叫声不同…这个现象可比作方言或口音。」

It turns out that these dialects stem from the way baby birds learn to sing – a process that is much like the way human babies learn to talk.

个中原因在于，这些方言源自于雏鸟学习鸣叫的方式──这个过程和人类婴儿学习讲话的方式相当近似。

Preserving cultural dialects  保存文化上的方言

“Unfortunately because of TV and radio, there has been a real homogenization of regional dialects [in the U.S.],” Mooney said. Songbirds feel no such pressure from the media.

「很不幸地，由于受到电视和电台等影响，美国各地区域性方言实际上已经出现了同质化的现象，」慕尼如此表示。不过，鸣鸟倒是不会受到来自媒体的压力所影响。

Still, there’s no doubt that humans tend to sound a lot like the people they grew up with. In the same way, songbird dialects are passed on from generation to generation within a certain region.

不过，人类的言语毋庸置疑地倾向于近似周遭人们的说话方式。同样地，鸣鸟的方言也是在某个地区内代代相传。

The speech process  学习说话的过程

As newborns, humans imprint on their parents’ speech patterns. As children grow older, they listen to themselves speak – this is known as auditory feedback – and try to match the way they vocalize to the memory imprinted from infancy. Songbirds do something similar.

人类还是新生儿时，会把父母的说话模式烙印在脑海里。随着儿童渐渐长大，他们开聆听自己说话的声音──这被称为听觉回馈，然后他们试图依样画葫芦地学着襁褓时期所烙印的声音记忆来说话，而鸣鸟也有类似行为。

“The juveniles from an auditory memory of the song they hear when they are young, and their song develops progressively to mimic the song they heard from their parents,” Mooney said. Swamp sparrows can memorize a song after hearing it just a few dozen times, then store it in their memory for up to a year without hearing it or using it.

「孩子们对他们儿时听到的歌声形成了听觉上的记忆，而他们日后渐进发展出的歌声，也会模仿从父母处听来的歌声，」慕尼表示。沼泽带鹀只要听过一种鸟的鸣啼声数十次，就能牢记起来，并可储存在记忆中最高长达一年都不会忘记，即使这期间都没有再听过或发出这种鸟鸣声也不例外。

−by Zoe Elizabeth Buck

单词发音

More Information

neurobiologist [͵njʊrəbaɪˋɑlədʒɪst] n.  [医]神经生物学家 a specialist in the study of the nervous system

drawl [drɔl] n. 拖长腔调慢吞吞说的话 a slow way of speaking in which the vowel sounds are lengthened and words are not separated clearly

twang [twæŋ] n.（某些方言的）鼻音；带鼻音的方言 a quality of the human voice, produced by air passing out through the nose as you speak

give someone away 泄漏秘密; 泄露露马脚 to reveal something secret about someone to someone else

songbird [ˋsɔŋ͵bɝd] n. 鸣禽；鸣鸟

sparrow [ˋspæro] n. 麻雀

liken [ˋlaɪkən] v. 把……比作[（+to）]

auditory [ˋɔdə͵torɪ] adj. 听觉的 relating to the sense of hearing

vocalize [ˋvok!͵aɪz] v. 发声

juvenile [ˋdʒuvən!] n. 青少年；孩子

单词发音

Vocabulary Focus

dialect [ˋdaɪəlɛkt] n. 方言，土话 a form of a language that people speak in a particular part of a country, containing some different words and grammar

stem from 起源于; 由...造成 to develop as the result of something

homogenization [həmɑdʒənə'zeɪʃən] n. 同质化 the process of blending things that are different and making them similar to one another

imprint [ˋɪmprɪnt] v. 铭刻；牢记[（+on/upon/in）]  to fix an event or experience so firmly in the memory that it cannot be forgotten although you do not try to remember it