时间:2019-01-26 作者:英语课 分类:英语听力文摘 English Digest


英语课

  Ya?l: [In a "baby talk" cooing voice] Ready for a moment of science?

D: Sure, Ya?l, but why are you talking to me like I'm a baby?

Y: [Regular voice] Just making a point Don. Why did you think I was talking as if you were a baby?

D: Hmmm. Because of the high, cooing tone you used?

Y: You're not the only one who recognizes those features as "baby talk." Two studies, one in humans and one in rhesus monkeys, suggest that the tones mothers use to address babies are more universal than previously 1 thought.

A group of researchers recorded English-speaking mothers saying the same sentences to babies and to adults. The recordings 2 were then played to indigenous 3 villagers in remote Ecuador.

Even though the villagers did not understand English, they could correctly identify whether the speaker was addressing a child or an adult seventy-three-percent of the time.

A different team of scientists studied the role of certain high-pitched, melodic 4 sounds called "girneys" and grunts 5 in wild rhesus monkeys. Even though these calls were rarely produced before the birth season, once the first infants were born, the calls were used in abundance.

When infants wandered away from their mothers, other females kept a close eye on them and called with grunts and girneys as they watched them. In response, the infants looked back at the callers. The observations suggest that these particular calls are directed at, and attractive to infants rather than to other mothers. In that way, the grunts and girneys are similar to human "baby talk."

D: So "baby talk" may be closer to animal communication than to language?

Y: There is still much to learn, but it is something to consider next time you're cooing at a baby.



adv.以前,先前(地)
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片
  • a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
  • old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的
  • Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
  • Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。
adj.有旋律的,调子美妙的
  • His voice had a rich melodic quality.他的音色浑厚而优美。
  • He spoke with a soft husky voice in a melodic accent.他微微沙哑的声音带着一种悠扬的口音。
(猪等)作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 ); (指人)发出类似的哼声; 咕哝着说; 石鲈
  • With grunts of anguish Ogilvie eased his bulk to a sitting position. 奥格尔维苦恼地哼着,伸个懒腰坐了起来。
  • Linda fired twice A trio of Grunts assembling one mortar fell. 琳达击发两次。三个正在组装迫击炮的咕噜人倒下了。
学英语单词
account year
advance signal processing system
aerospace vehicle
airworthiness
alternating dry and wet test with sea water
alternatting current(ac) machine
antenna highness
anthracene nucleus
area of hysteresis loop
asphalt asbestos tile
asymptotic time
bairaiti cotton
beampower tube
benzenecarbaldehyde
bitches
campaign fund
cannabins
Canterburian
caprinized vaccine
charcoals
chlorolla
classical structured program
composite dike
cost plus percentage method
culture pan
Curculio arakawai
curved space-time
dead band
disk column absorber
echinodermatas
einstein's universe
electron suppressor slit
enteric
experimental steam-cooled fast reactor
foehn island
four pronged rectal speculum
gastral layer
giant polariton
gilding metals
grape
gravity raoller conveyer
gupta's subset selection method
had to do with
high-frequency process
high-precision regulator
ho-train
inlet flange diameter
insert into
intersubtype
Izmail
kalfax film
Kongoussi
lacustrine facies
left leaf
low-speed printer
mandazis
Mentone
micronicss
ngunis
nomina nuda
non erasable storage
non-selective fading
nonhomogeneous boundary condition
norton shores
office overhead
optically thin plasma
ovidweb
pantylid
performance of amplitude limiter
poculent
polyvinyl insulated cable
power semiconductor diode
precisioncolorimetry
prepartal
pseudomembranelle
quality factor,Q factor
ramjet engine
ranger district
rated impulse voltage
reinflates
repair funds
reunite
rocket launchers
rogin
rushford
samenampulle
Sesamum L.
shirted
simple element
six-course
slowly increasing distribution function
special character set
strike from
subcrustose
Swiss black poplar
ultrastructurally
unembellished
veneer of wall
vertical extinction coefficient
Vessel Going Against Stream
wayan