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Scientists in Search of a Common Language With Dolphins

时间:2011-03-23 00:51:26

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(单词翻译)

BOB DOUGHTY1:This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Today, we tell about efforts by American scientists to communicate with dolphins. We also tell about applications programs for computers, better known as apps. We tell how a sharp increase in demand for apps has affected2 computer science programs at many universities.
(MUSIC)
BOB DOUGHTY: People have always been able to talk to animals. The problem is: do they really talk back? And what are they saying? When a dog barks three times, is he really communicating? Or is he hoping to get praise or even food for his actions?
And what about dolphins? Are their squeaks3 and whistles really communication? Or are they just noises? Scientists have thought for a long time that dolphins have their own language and can “talk” among themselves. But is it possible for them to communicate with us?
Bottlenose dolphins swim in the Georgia Aquarium4 last month in Atlanta
FAITH LAPIDUS: Denise Herzing is a biologist with the Wild Dolphin Project in Jupiter5, Florida. She has studied the animals for over twenty years. Her latest work involves creating a language that both dolphins and humans can understand.
Members of her team lower a keyboard into the water. Then a diver pushes one of the keys to show the dolphin how it works. When the key is pushed, someone above the water throws a ball to the diver. At the same time, a high frequency whistle is produced. The sound is something that the dolphin can hear, and also make. The dolphin then learns that to get the ball, it can either push the key, or make the whistle sound. The result is real communication between an animal and a human.
BOB DOUGHTY: Ms. Herzing found that young female dolphins like to play this game the most. Young males were not as interested. Another thing she learned was that dolphins played the game best after being “introduced” to humans. Divers6 first swim with the dolphins in slow, easy movements. They look directly at its eyes. If a dolphin swims one way, the diver does what the dolphin does. After a while, the dolphins become friendly and are ready to play the language game.
FAITH LAPIDUS: At the Dolphin Institute in Hawaii, scientists have taught dolphins hundreds or words. They use hand and body movements, and pictures to teach the dolphins. They found that dolphins could learn the difference between a statement and a question. And they learned that changing the order of words in a sentence can change the meaning.
Scientists at the SETI Institute in California are also interested in communicating with animals. Their job is to listen to sounds coming from outer space that might be signs of life. If they were to find distant life forms, how would they communicate with them? They think using a language like “dolphin talk” may be the answer.
(SOUND)
An iPad with many choices of apps
BOB DOUGHTY: Have you ever played a simple video game on a mobile phone? If you have, you are a mobile app user. And you have experienced a small part of a revolution in computing7.
People are buying and using mobile apps at an increasing rate in the United States and in other countries. Earlier this year, Apple announced the ten billionth mobile app download from its App Store website. The App Store currently8 offers about three hundred fifty thousand apps for iPhones and other Apple products.
Google offers apps for its Android mobile operating system through its Android Market. And many companies directly sell apps for use with their products. For example, General Motors has developed an app that gathers information about its new hybrid9 car, the Chevy Volt10.
FAITH LAPIDUS: University professors in computer sciences have a good idea about the growing number of apps that are becoming available. Many professors offer classes in which they guide computer engineering students in building apps. Some of the resulting products have been very creative and gained popularity11.
Marc Buchner is an associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. He says apps are really nothing new.
MARC BUCHNER: “Applications, or apps, are really short for application programs. And these are the things that run on computers: your pc’s, your macs, and run on mobile devices such as iPhones and Android devices. But they’re all programs.”
FAITH LAPIDUS: Apps are programs -- a series of instructions or orders for computing devices. When computers only sat in offices, applications were just another word for software programs. But with wireless12 devices, something changed. Now, you have computing power anywhere you go.
BOB DOUGHTY: Marc Buchner says the way people get apps is also different from earlier methods of getting software. Traditionally, software came on plastic CDs. It also could be downloaded on computers. But the payment process takes time and generally requires a keyboard.
Professor Buchner says he sees three ways in which apps have changed computing. With apps, he says, a user can search for an interesting product and pay for it quickly. Payment is easy and the result is immediate13.
Apps are also low cost. Many are free. Others are a few dollars at most.
Marc Buchner adds that an important part of the app revolution is that a lot of people are getting involved in making them.
MARC BUCHNER: “Because these things are so accessible, there are [a] very, very large number of people that are developing apps.”
FAITH LAPIDUS: Being able to carry apps anywhere opens new possibilities for computer programmers. An app can be as simple as a program that turns a mobile phone into a flashlight to light your way at night. Or apps can be more complex. They can use satellite positioning information to tell you where you are. Or they can give you directions to the nearest store where you can buy something you want.
Manuel Perez-Quinones is a computer engineering professor at Virginia Tech University. He says it is easy for designers to understand how people will use their apps because they are designed with a clear task in mind. This clear and immediate usefulness provides motivation for many programmers who make mobile apps.
And there is a technical reason for apps popularity among developers.
MANUEL PEREZ-QUINONES: “The other part is on Apple and Google in the case of Android. They’ve made it really easy to build entry level applications. And a lot of the apps you see on the phones and all these mobile devices are very simple.”
FAITH LAPIDUS: Last year, Google launched Google App Inventor for Android. Its software lets anyone build an app for their mobile phone with an Android operating system.
(MUSIC)
BOB DOUGHTY: The sharp increase in demand for apps has been good news for computer science programs at many universities. The Computing Research Association in Washington says a drop in the number of students taking computer sciences classes started in two thousand two. The group’s most recent complete study shows enrollment14 in computer sciences increased five and a half percent in two thousand nine.
Jobs related to apps are also increasing. In January, Google announced plans to employ software developers to help it create more apps for mobile devices. Experts say this is so the Internet search company can compete with Apple.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Yet, mobile apps have not always been loved. Manuel Perez-Quinones says Apple did not want developers building apps for the first iPhone. The idea was that a personal computer, not a phone, was the right place for a computer program. But Apple changed. The company has since become a leader in app sales by providing mobile devices, like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which use them.
Marc Buchner says there is a lot of energy and excitement in the field of computer apps. He says the combination of useful computing tasks that can be carried everywhere is at the heart of this.
MARC BUCHNER: “It’s exciting to be able to expand what you can do with something you are carrying around in your pocket or your purse.”
(MUSIC)
BOB DOUGHTY: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Mario Ritter and Jim Tedder15. June Simms was our producer. I’m Bob Doughty.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. What would you like in an English learning mobile app if you could have one designed just for you? Tell us at voaspencialenglish.com. Or go to voaspecialenglish.com where you can find transcripts16, MP3s and podcasts of our programs. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 doughty Jk5zg     
adj.勇猛的,坚强的
参考例句:
  • Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质:脾气倔强,性格刚强。
  • The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。
2 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
3 squeaks c0a1b34e42c672513071d8eeca8c1186     
n.短促的尖叫声,吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 );吱吱叫;告密;充当告密者
参考例句:
  • The upper-middle-classes communicate with each other in inaudible squeaks, like bats. 那些上中层社会的人交谈起来象是蚊子在哼哼,你根本听不见。 来自辞典例句
  • She always squeaks out her ideas when she is excited. 她一激动总是尖声说出自己的想法。 来自互联网
4 aquarium Gvszl     
n.水族馆,养鱼池,玻璃缸
参考例句:
  • The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
  • I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天,我要和父母一起到水族馆去。
5 Jupiter mz2zM     
n.木星
参考例句:
  • Jupiter is unlike the Earth in almost every way.木星与地球几乎完全不同。
  • The astronomers were taking an observation of Jupiter.天文学家们正在观测木星。
6 divers hu9z23     
adj.不同的;种种的
参考例句:
  • He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人,要他们和他作伴。
  • Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作,同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。
7 computing tvBzxs     
n.计算
参考例句:
  • to work in computing 从事信息处理
  • Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代(约1980年),他们就创办了软件公司。
8 currently SvMzI2     
adv.通常地,普遍地,当前
参考例句:
  • Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
  • Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。
9 hybrid pcBzu     
n.(动,植)杂种,混合物
参考例句:
  • That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
  • The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。
10 volt bhTwF     
n.伏特,伏
参考例句:
  • You may use 100 and 110 volt appliances in your room.您可以在房间使用100及110伏特的电器。
  • The common service voltage of electric power in our country is 220/380 volt.我国普通供电电压为220/380伏。
11 popularity bO4xU     
n.普及,流行,名望,受欢迎
参考例句:
  • The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
  • Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。
12 wireless Rfwww     
adj.无线的;n.无线电
参考例句:
  • There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
  • Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。
13 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
14 enrollment itozli     
n.注册或登记的人数;登记
参考例句:
  • You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
  • I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。
15 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
16 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

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