【英语时差8,16】微笑的声音

Don: Hi everyone. On this show we usually talk about other people's experiments, but today we're going to do an experiment of our own. Here's the deal: see if you can tell      if I'm smiling or not as I speak. Ready? Here's goes. Am I smiling now? How about      now? What about...

Ya?l: Wait, hold on. Don, what are you doing?

D: An experiment. Like I said, I want to see if our listeners can tell if I'm smiling just by  the sound of my voice.

Y: But how is that possible?

D: Researchers at the University of Portsmouth, in England, have worked on this. They recorded interviews with volunteers who were asked silly questions, the idea being to make them smile as they spoke¹. Then the researchers played the recordings² for another set of volunteers and asked them to identify when the speakers were smiling. And more often than not, they could.

Y: Interesting. Is that because smiling affects the vocal³ cords or something?

D: Sorta. It's probably more that smiling can affect your pitch, making your voice sound   higher. So the listeners might have been picking up on that cue. They might also have  been concentrating on the intensity⁴ of the voices. It's not an exact science, obviously,  but something was tipping off the listeners.

Y: So does this have any practical application?

D: It could help improve voice recognition software and synthetic⁵ voices for things like computer games.

Y: Cool. OK, so let me try. I'm smiling now, can you tell? And now I'm not smiling. Do  I sound different?

D: Yes...and yes.  

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 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

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

5 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。