美国国家公共电台 NPR--Researchers in Brazil credit the power of sound for scientific discoveries

Researchers in Brazil credit the power of sound for scientific discoveries

Transcript¹

The Amazon rainforest is the most biodiverse ecosystem² on the planet. Scientists there say the best way to experience it may be with your ears.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The Amazon is the largest and most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet. One of the best ways to really experience it may be to just listen to it. Researchers in Brazil credit the power of sound for leading them to scientific discoveries, including the world's loudest birds. With support from the U.N. Foundation, NPR's Kirk Siegler sent us this audio postcard from Camp 41 in Brazil.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE³: Ornothologist Mario Cohn-Haft's favorite time of day is just before dawn here on the equator. He can hear the jungle waking up.

(SOUNDBITE OF RAIN DRIPPING)

SIEGLER: Rain drips onto tree leaves the size of tennis rackets.

MARIO COHN-HAFT: You know, in a dark, tall, complexly layered rainforest, it's very hard to see creatures. And the real window into what's going on is sound.

SIEGLER: A chorus of tree frogs sings.

(SOUNDBITE OF FROGS CHIRPING)

SIEGLER: Other frogs hide in the leaf litter on the soaked ground.

COHN-HAFT: Yeah, it's singing right now. From the forest floor, it sounds like a cricket.

(SOUNDBITE OF FROG CHIRPING)

SIEGLER: Cohn-Haft works for Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research. He's been coming to Camp 41 since the 1980s. And almost all of the field studies he does here, trekking⁴ through this jungle surveying birds, are by ear.

COHN-HAFT: In the first half-hour of the day, we could hear 50 different species of birds and not see a single one.

SIEGLER: It's now 5:30, and the faint light of dawn is just beginning to peek⁵ through the towering canopy⁶.

We have our headlamps on because it's still pretty dark, in case we step on a snake.

Channeling Indiana Jones - I mean, there was a viper⁷ sighting near the toilets last night. But no snakes we can see now anyway, just more exotic sounds, critters, parrots. It makes you feel like you're far away from everything.

COHN-HAFT: You just get so much information from hearing.

SIEGLER: Just by listening, Mario Cohn-Haft and his team recently discovered two never-before-known species of potoo birds. They also found what they believed to be the world's loudest bird, the white bellbird.

(SOUNDBITE OF SCREAMING PIHA CALLS)

SIEGLER: About a mile from camp, we stumble on its runner-up. This one's appropriately named a screaming piha.

COHN-HAFT: Stick with it for just a second, and I'm going to do something that you might find annoying (shouting) but. I'm just going to shout. And that usually gets them going. And the more we were talking, the more they were vocalizing. They are stimulated⁸ by loud noises.

(SOUNDBITE OF SCREAMING PIHA CALLS)

SIEGLER: Amazonian ornithologists get so used to the sounds, they can even tell what time of day it is just by listening.

COHN-HAFT: And believe it or not, there are actually a few species of Amazonian birds that I think of as old friends. They're species that I encounter regularly that I've never seen but that I recognize by their sound.

SIEGLER: There are more species of birds here than any other place on Earth.

COHN-HAFT: And that's the really fun thing about being in a species-rich tropical rainforest is that, obviously, discovering a new species is a real rush.

SIEGLER: For a reporter, just getting to be on a three-day overnight sleeping on hammocks in the heart of the Amazon is a rush, especially when it comes to hearing the howler monkeys.

(SOUNDBITE OF HOWLER MONKEY HOWLING)

SIEGLER: Their eerie⁹, exotic howling, you could easily mistake them for the wind.

(SOUNDBITE OF HOWLER MONKEYS HOWLING)

SIEGLER: Then the monkeys go silent, and the rest of the forest is awake.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)

SIEGLER: Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Camp 41 in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 trekking   

v.艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行( trek的现在分词 )；（尤指在山中）远足，徒步旅行，游山玩水

参考例句：

• She can't come pony trekking after all because she's in a delicate condition. 她结果还是不能坐小马车旅行，因为她已怀孕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We spent the summer trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas. 我们整个夏天都在喜马拉雅山的山麓艰难跋涉。 来自互联网

5 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

6 canopy   

n.天篷，遮篷

参考例句：

• The trees formed a leafy canopy above their heads.树木在他们头顶上空形成了一个枝叶茂盛的遮篷。
• They lay down under a canopy of stars.他们躺在繁星点点的天幕下。

7 viper   

n.毒蛇；危险的人

参考例句：

• Envy lucks at the bottom of the human heart a viper in its hole.嫉妒潜伏在人心底，如同毒蛇潜伏在穴中。
• Be careful of that viper;he is dangerous.小心那个阴险的人，他很危险。

8 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

9 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。