TED演讲:动物有语言吗(2)

 　　Their alarms calls indicate the predator's size, shape, speed, and,  它们的警报展现了捕猎者的大小、体型、速度

　　even for human predators¹, what the person is wearing and if he's carrying a gun. 甚至包括人类狩猎者的穿着，以及是否带着枪。

　　Great apes, like chimps² and gorillas⁴, are great communicators, too. 类人猿，比如黑猩猩和大猩猩，也很善于交流。

　　Some have even learned a modified sign language. 甚至有一些学会了改进后的手语。

　　A chimpanzee named Washoe demonstrated discreteness⁵ 一只名叫华秀的黑猩猩，通过将不同手势转换成原始的词组，

　　by combining multiple signs into original phrases, like, "Please open. Hurry." 比如“快打开门”，展现了其分离性。

　　Coco, a female gorilla³ who understands more than 1000 signs, Coco，一只能明白1000多种手势

　　and around 2000 words of spoken English referred to a beloved kitten that had died. 和大约2000个英语口语词汇的雌猩猩，提到了一只刚死去的可爱小花猫。

　　In doing so, she displayed displacement⁶, 她的这种表现显示出了时空性，

　　though it's worth noting that the apes in both of these examples were using a human communication system, 但值得注意的是，类人猿在这两个案例中用的是人类的交流体系，

　　not one that appeared naturally in the wild. 并不是任何天然形成的特性。

　　There are many other examples of sophisticated animal communication, 动物们还有很多复杂交流的案例，

　　such as in dolphins, which use whistles to identify age, location, names, and gender⁷. 比如海豚通过吹口哨来辨别年龄、位置、姓名和性别。

　　They can also understand some grammar in a gestural language researchers use to communicate with them. 它们也懂一些研究人员用来与之交流的语法。

　　However, grammar is not seen in the dolphin's natural communication. 然而，在海豚的自然交流中是不存在语法的。

　　While these communication systems may have some of the qualities of language we've identified, none display all four. 虽然这些交流体系会体现出一些我们所知的语言特性，但并不包含全部四个。

　　Even Washoe and Coco's impressive abilities are still outpaced by the language skills of most three-year-old humans. 即便华秀和Coco拥有一流的语言能力，也不如大多数3岁孩子的语言技巧。

　　And animals' topics of conversation are usually limited. 动物们对话的内容通常都很有限。

　　Bees talk about food, prairie dogs talk about predators, and crabs⁸ talk about themselves. 蜜蜂谈论食物，土拨鼠讨论捕食者，螃蟹讨论它们自己。

　　Human language stands alone due to the powerful combination of grammar and productivity, 人类的语言就显得独树一帜了，这源于对语法和创造性的强大组合能力

　　on top of discreteness and displacement. 和领先的分离性和时空性。

　　The human brain can take a finite number of elements and create an infinite number of messages. 人类的大脑能够利用有限的元素创造无限量的信息。

　　We can craft and understand complex sentences, as well as words that have never been spoken before. 我们能够加工和理解复杂的句式，以及我们从没说过的词语。

　　We can use language to communicate about an endless range of subjects,  我们能运用语言交流无限量的主题，

　　talk about imaginary things, and even lie. 讨论想象的事物，甚至说谎。

　　Research continues to reveal more and more about animal communication. 研究还在不断揭露更多的关于动物交流的信息。

　　It may turn out that human language and animal communication aren't entirely⁹ different but exist on a continuum. 或许能证明人类的语言和动物的交流并非完全不同，而是存在于同一个交集区。

　　After all, we are all animals. 毕竟，我们都是动物。

1 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

3 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

4 gorillas   

n.大猩猩( gorilla的名词复数 )；暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• the similitude between humans and gorillas 人类和大猩猩的相像
• Each family of gorillas is led by a great silverbacked patriarch. 每个大星星家族都由一个魁梧的、长着银色被毛的族长带领着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 discreteness   

组件

参考例句：

• Based on flow-control's discreteness, configure, affair and concurrency transacting, one application is organized perfectly. " 这样一个基于流程控制的组件、配置、事务、并发处理，组织出一个完整的应用。
• Discreteness of eigenvalue spectra for a class of eigenvalue problems is proved through integral equation representation. 将一类本征值问题化成等价的积分形式，利用积分形式证明了这类本征值问题的本征值谱的离散性。

6 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

8 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。