纪录片《为何讲话》 第2期：孩子轻而易举掌握语言

For most of us it just happens.

对于大多数人 说话是自然而然的事

It's such a sophisticated skill

这是一项精妙复杂的技能

and yet children learn it so easily with minimal¹ effort at all.

而孩子们却能够轻而易举地掌握

That's Mummy.

那是妈妈

And when you start thinking about it,

当我们仔细回味时就觉得

it is quite miraculous² how the brain does it.

大脑做到这一切的方式多么不可思议

But despite decades of research,

尽管经过了数十年的研究

how we learn to talk remains³ a mystery.

我们如何学会讲话依旧是个未解之谜

How did this ability evolve?

这种能力是如何进化的

Why is it uniquely human?

为什么这是人类所特有的

And is it something we are born with

它是我们与生俱来的

or something that we learn?

还是后天习得的

It strikes me it's surprising and odd that

这让我觉得很惊奇

we know an enormous amount about, for example,

我们知道很多东西 比如说

the first fractions of a second in the history of the universe,

宇宙历史开始时那零点几秒的故事

but we really know very little at all

但对于什么东西使我们成之为人类

about what makes us human and where language comes from.

以及语言来自何处 我们几乎一无所知

1 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

2 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。