时差N小时 意想不到的婴儿技能

Y: Today, on a Moment of Science, it's time for another round of Baby Skills, that fun and wacky guessing game that shows your baby is up to more than crying and napping¹. And today's question is: What can six-month-olds do better than nine-month-olds? Don, care to take a stab² at it?

D: Hmmm! well! I really don't know, Yael. I thought nine-month-olds would be better at just about everything.

Y: Sorry, Don. It turns out that six-month-olds are better than nine-month-olds at recognizing certain faces. In a recent study, scientists observed that six-month-olds are equally good at distinguishing³ between non-human faces, as they are at distinguishing between human faces.

D: By non-human, do you mean animal faces?

Y: Exactly. Six-month-olds apparently⁴ have no trouble telling apart animal faces, but then they lose that ability by the time they turn nine months old. In contrast, as they get older, they just get better at distinguishing between human faces.

D: Hmm! I guess that makes sense. After all, even babies know which side their bread is buttered on.

Y: That's right—it doesn't take babies long to learn that it's more important to pay attention to human faces than to animal faces. Scientists call this phenomenon cognitive⁵ narrowing. The more human faces babies look at, the better they get at noticing individual features. At the same time, as they grow older, and their knowledge becomes more specialized⁶, babies lose the ability to recognize animal faces, because they don't see nearly as many. And, as you might expect, when scientists tested this on monkeys, the opposite was true.

D: The monkey babies got better at recognizing monkey faces?

Y: Exactly.

Y: 今天，在《科学时刻》栏目，来谈谈婴儿技能，那个好玩的古怪游戏表明婴儿不只是哭闹和打盹儿。今天的问题是：6个月大的婴儿在什么方面强过9个月大的婴儿？Don,来谈下好吗？

D: Yael，我真的不知道。我本以为9个月大的婴儿在什么方面做得都更好。

Y: Don,很遗憾。结果表明6个月大的婴儿在辨别某类型的脸部方面胜过9个月大的婴儿。在最近的研究中，科学家观察到在辨认非人脸方面和辨认人脸方面的能力是一样的。

D: 非人脸,你是说动物的脸？

Y: 是的。6个月大的应儿子在区别动物的脸方面没有问题，但是到9个月大时，他们就失去那种能力，相反，年龄越大，他们辨认人脸方面的能力就越强。

D: 我觉得有道理，毕竟，连婴儿都知道所吃的面包那边涂黄油了。

Y: 是的，婴儿不用多长时间就知道注意人脸比注意动物的脸更重要。科学家管这种现象叫做“认知缩小”，婴儿看到的人脸越多，他们月擅长辨认每个人的脸。同事，随着年龄的增长，他们的知识越来单一，婴儿失去了辨认动物的脸得能力，因为他们看到的动物的脸远没有人脸多。你也许会想到，当科学家在猴子身上测试的时候，结果正相反。

D: 猴子幼崽更多擅长辨认猴脸？

Y: 完全正确。

1 napping   

n.起绒，拉绒，拉毛；磨绒；搓呢；刷布

参考例句：

• He caught me napping. 他发现了我打盹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In it the Indians pass away hot noon hours, napping or chatting. 印第安人躺在上面，打发掉了正午几个小时的酷热。时而小憩时而闲聊。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

2 stab   

n.刺，戳，刺伤的伤口，剧痛，尝试；vt.刺伤，中伤；vi.刺，扎

参考例句：

• I found a stab wound on his leg.我在他的腿上发现一处刺伤。
• Can I stab at the meat with my knife to see if it is well cooked.为了看看肉是否煮熟，我可以在肉上戳个洞吗？

3 distinguishing   

a.有区别的

参考例句：

• Command of the mother tongue is the most distinguishing mark of the educated man or woman. 运用本国语言的能力是受过教育的人最明显的标志。
• A small child's confusion in distinguishing the right from the wrong is quite natural. 小孩子不明是非是很正常的。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

6 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。