纪录片《为何讲话》 第19期：婴儿听到妈妈的声音的反应

Professor William Fifer works¹ with new born babies

为了了解新生儿何时开始

to investigateat at what point they start to

对自己周遭的声音作出反应

respond² to the speech they hear around them.

威廉·菲弗教授开始研究他们

Early experiments used an adapted pacifier

早期实验使用改良的奶嘴

to measure how the baby's sucking³ responses changed

来检测播放不同的声音时

when it was played different voices,

婴儿吸吮反应的改变

But this technique relied⁴ on the baby being awake.

但这种技术需要婴儿一直醒着

He now measures new born brain activity using an array⁵ of electrodes

他现在用电极针来监测新生大脑的活动

and he can do that even when they're sleeping.

这种方法在婴儿熟睡时也可使用

So does this cute little baby have a name yet?

这可爱小宝贝有名字了吗

Liliana. Liliana. All right.

莉莉亚娜 莉莉亚娜 好的

And what we're talking about today

我们今天探讨的

is how quickly she's picking up information about language already.

是她从语言中获取信息的速度有多快

So, as you know, she's been listening in the womb

如你们所知 她子宫中就一直在听了

and we think that she's particularly prepared

我们觉得她已经完全准备好

to want to listen to certain things, especially mom's voice.

听些特别的东西了 特别是妈妈的声音

Sorry, dad, but you'll come soon.

对不起 爸爸要等一下

That's ok, don't worry.

没事的 别担心

She'll stop listening to both of us soon enough, we know.

她很快就会不再听我们俩的话了

1 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

2 respond   

vi.回答，响应

参考例句：

• I offered him a drink but he did not respond.我请他喝酒，但他未作回答。
• I greeted him but he didn't respond.我跟他打招呼，他没答理我。

3 sucking   

adj.吸奶的；授乳的；乳臭未干的；尚未断奶的v.吸，吮( suck的现在分词 )；舐，吮吸

参考例句：

• The baby was sucking away at the empty feeding-bottle. 那个孩子正在吮吸着空奶瓶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man is sucking at a cigar. 老人在抽烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 relied   

信任( rely的过去式和过去分词 )； 信赖； 依赖； 依靠

参考例句：

• They cannot be relied on to offer much support or advice. 不能指望他们提供很多支持和意见。
• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis. 他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。

5 array   

n.展示，排列，盛装；vt.排列，打扮

参考例句：

• He was unable to escape the array of facts.他无法躲避一连串的事实。
• She puts on her finest array.她穿上最漂亮的衣服。