时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:初学者听力文摘精选


英语课

The complex vocalizations of songbirds are learned, not inherited. Some even have regional accents.



Wrens 1, thrushes and other songbirds don't hatch with their impressive musical talents. They learn to sing their extensive repertoires 3 by listening to others of their kind.

Donald Kroodsma is the author of a new book, 'The Singing Life of Birds.' Kroodsma says many birds seem to come naturally equipped with basic sounds and even some very simple songs. The eastern wood-pewee is an example.



'We've done some experiments showing that those songs are pretty much encoded in the DNA 4. But as a result, it's a pretty limited repertoire 2 of, oh, in the eastern wood peewee, of up to three different songs. But all the songbirds, when we think of songbirds, we think of wrens and warblers, robins 5, thrushes, sparrows, all the birds that make so much racket, these are the songbirds that have very special groups of neurons in the brain, and most of them imitate precise details of songs just like you and I learned our native language.'

Kroodsma says birds even share our tendency toward regional dialects.



'When birds learn songs at a particular location and stay around at that location, regional dialects tend to develop. They have the same kind of dialects that develop in human speech.'

Kroodsma says he recently took a long bike trip, from the Atlantic Coast through Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois. He says the accents and dialects of both people and birds changed along the way.



Script for Tuesday, May 10, 2005



1 wrens
n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 )
  • Other songbirds, such as wrens, have hundreds of songs. 有的鸣鸟,例如鹪鹩,会唱几百只歌。 来自辞典例句
2 repertoire
n.(准备好演出的)节目,保留剧目;(计算机的)指令表,指令系统, <美>(某个人的)全部技能;清单,指令表
  • There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。
  • He has added considerably to his piano repertoire.他的钢琴演奏曲目大大增加了。
3 repertoires
全部节目( repertoire的名词复数 ); 演奏曲目
  • There were huge repertoires of pipa music in Chinese history, particularly during the Tang Dynasty. 这种情况在我国古代诗词中有大量的记载。
4 DNA
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
5 robins
n.知更鸟,鸫( robin的名词复数 );(签名者不分先后,以避免受责的)圆形签名抗议书(或请愿书)
  • The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后,Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
abc automatic coding system
angionoma
arithmetic portion
Ashburton, Ist Baron
balance economics
bboard
brotman
bullet proof glass
Bush, George Herbert Walker
cherrylet
clock gene
compenser
conventional management
copper nahthenate
corneal gutata
cosine emitter
countable infinity
digital subset
dihydroxystilbamidine
doig
double projection instrument
dummied
dussourd
eighty-six-year-old
emperours
equivalence analysis
Essaouira
Euphrasia hirtella
fertile
filler feeding system
floral bud
gagyll
Goldwyn
grasp sb by the wrist
heptatomic
high challenge
hoenggyon-do (hwaenggyon-do)
inconsolability
inductor type synchronous motor
inertia force
integrated communications access method
jolt stroke
kidney cell
lapham
leukoderma colli
lungpower
mabinogi
Microcyclus
microhalos
minimum safe flight altitude
MK-647
n.a.c.
nuisance taxs
Nutracort
operate voltage
overdosings
pacific sturgeons
panifications
paper-chase
Parsism
Philistean
pipe type rivet
Plica hepatopancreatica
Pneuropenil
point-to-point radio communicat-ion
polydispersibility
praying machine
punitive intervention
punitive tariff
quantity breakdown
radio hookup
rail plate
redioactive parent
resource class
rhizanth
rhodium tetrafluoride
rich flame
rimae cutis
roulettes
saamlaw
sacroiliac disease
saleite (saleeite)
save attachment
sciophyllous
secondary stomodaeum
slab block
slab trailing edge
solid friction
space case
study habits
sunvisions
superrefining process
sweet-potato whiteflies
Tavistock
toledoes
Van Wart
vibrator roller
virtual coil
whatchamacallum
yellowness factor
yielded
zanzibar i.