纪录片《为何讲话》 第27期：禁忌实验

but it later emerged that in her first three years

但不久之后人们发现她三岁之前

she lived in a domestic setting and had had human interaction.

一直生活在人类家庭 与人有过接触

It meant the scientists

这意味着 在人类说话能力

were no closer to establishing

有多大程度是天生的这一问题上

how much of our ability to talk is innate¹.

科学家并未取得任何进展

The forbidden experiment has remained enticing² but out of reach.

禁忌实验依然只能远观而无法触及

Until now...

直到今天

One scientist has found a unique way of getting round the ethical³ problem.

一位科学家独辟蹊径绕开了这一道德问题

Ofer Tchernichovski is studying something

奥弗·滕尼克斯基正在研究某种东西

linguists⁴ think might hold the key

语言学家认为那是

to whether speech and language is innate.

解开讲话是否天生这一谜题的关键

The forbidden experiment is trying to see

禁忌实验是为了探究

what speech and language human infants will develop

人类婴儿在没有语言交流的环境下

without any exposure to spoken language.

会发展怎样的语言

1 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。

2 enticing   

adj.迷人的；诱人的

参考例句：

• The offer was too enticing to refuse. 这提议太有诱惑力，使人难以拒绝。
• Her neck was short but rounded and her arms plump and enticing. 她的脖子短，但浑圆可爱；两臂丰腴，也很动人。

3 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

4 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句