新奇事件簿 韩国大象开口讲韩语

An elephant in Korea has become a language student. Koshik, a 22-year-old male elephant, is already fluent in speaking "elephantese," but he is now trying to learn the Korean language Hangul. A report about Koshik was printed in the online journal "Current Biology". The author of the report is Dr Angela Stoeger-Horwath, who works at the University of Vienna in Austria. Researchers said Koshik has been listening to human speech for many years and has slowly learned to copy it. He can now say the Korean for hello, sit down, no, lie down, good, not yet, and yes. Dr Stoeger-Horwath asked 16 Koreans to listen to 47 recordings¹ of Koshik. They could all understand what he was saying.

一头韩国大象开始学习语言。22岁的公象Koshik能够说一口流利的“大象语”，他目前正在学习说韩语。Koshik的报道刊登在了《当代生物学》杂志的网页上。报告作者为安吉拉·施特格尔·奥尔瓦特博士，目前在奥地利维也纳大学工作。研究人员认为Koshik受人类语言熏陶多年，并逐渐开始进行模仿。如今，他能够发出“你好”“坐下”“不是”“躺下”“好”“还没”以及“是的”。施特格尔·奥尔瓦特博士让16名韩国人听了Koshik的47条录音。他们都能够明白Koshik所说含义。

The researchers gave a few reasons why they think Koshik can talk. One possibility is that he has a very close relationship with his trainer, Kim Jong-gab. Mr Kim often sleeps near Koshik to keep him company. The trainer talks to him every day, so Koshik copied what he heard. Another is that the elephant is lonely and wants to communicate with people and have friends. The research team said the way Koshik makes sounds is very unusual，he uses his trunk to reproduce human speech. They said he is much better at making vowel² sounds than consonant³ sounds. Trainer Kim Jong-gab said he has one more phrase that he wants to teach Koshik，"Saranghae," or "I love you."

研究人员对Koshik的语言天赋给出了以下几点原因。其中一种可能是Koshik与驯兽师Kim Jong-gab的感情非常好。Kim先生经常与Koshik睡在一起。驯兽师每天与他讲话，Koshik进行模仿。另一种可能是Koshik非常孤独，他希望与人类进行沟通，交朋友。研究小组认为，Koshik的发声方式非常特别，他利用象鼻来制造声音。他们认为Koshik的元音要好于他的辅音。驯兽师Kim Jong-gab认为，他还想教Koshik一句话，“我爱你”。

1 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• 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

2 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

3 consonant   

n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的

参考例句：

• The quality of this suit isn't quite consonant with its price.这套衣服的质量和价钱不相称。
• These are common consonant clusters at the beginning of words.这些单词的开头有相同辅音组合。