时差N小时 随节奏舞蹈的时髦鸟儿

f there's any one thing that really separates humans from most other animals, it's our ability to get funky¹. When's the last time you saw a lion, or a giraffe, or even a chimpanzee, do the Funky Chicken or the Electric Slide? But there is one other species that can hold its own on the dance floor—birds.

如果真有一件事情能将人类与其它大多数动物区分开来的话，那就是人类具有跳舞的能力。你什么时候看到过一头狮子，或者一只长颈鹿，甚至是一个大猩猩在跳小鸡舞或者滑步舞？然而有一种动物——鸟类能够拥有自己的舞池。

A few studies have shown that some parrots and cockatoos can bob their heads and sway in time to music. Do a YouTube search for “dancing birds” and see for yourself.

几项研究表明，有些鹦鹉和凤头鹦鹉会合着音乐节拍摇头晃脑，左右摇摆。在 YouTube 上搜索“跳舞鸟”，你就会亲眼看到。

So why are birds rhythmically² endowed and not, say, chimps³, our closest animal relatives? Probably because birds, unlike chimps, but like people, can mimic⁴ sounds. When a parrot squawks out a human phrase or impersonates a sound effect, it's doing two things: processing the sound it hears, and monitoring the sound it makes in imitation.

为什么鸟类被赋予了韵律感，而与人类亲缘最近的黑猩猩却没有？也许是因为鸟类能像人类一样模仿声音，而黑猩猩则不能。当一只鹦鹉粗声模仿人们说话或者一个声音效果时，会做两件事：首先，处理听到的声音；其次，监测模仿时发出的声音。

Something similar goes on when we dance—we hear the music, and also somehow coordinate⁵ our bodies to move in time to it. In fact,scientists speculate that humans evolved the ability to dance as a by product of learning to speak by imitating sounds. Or maybe dancing evolved alongside sound mimicry⁶. In any case, it's interesting that the only animals besides humans that can dance are birds that mimic sound. It suggests that the two traits are related.

人们跳舞的过程也类似——听到音乐，然后以某种方式协调身体跟上节拍。实际上科学家们推测，人类通过模仿声音而学习说话衍生出了一个副产品——跳舞的能力。或许，跳舞是伴随着声音模仿一同进化的。无论如何，除了人类之外能跳舞的动物只有模仿声音的鸟类，这听起来很有趣。这表明模仿声音和跳舞这两个特征是有联系的。

1 funky   

adj.畏缩的，怯懦的，霉臭的；adj.新式的，时髦的

参考例句：

• The kitchen smelled really funky.这个厨房有一股霉味。
• It is a funky restaurant with very interesting art on the walls.那是一家墙上挂着很有意思的绘画的新潮餐馆。

2 rhythmically   

adv.有节奏地

参考例句：

• A pigeon strutted along the roof, cooing rhythmically. 一只鸽子沿着屋顶大摇大摆地走，有节奏地咕咕叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Exposures of rhythmically banded protore are common in the workings. 在工作面中常见有韵律条带“原矿石”。 来自辞典例句

3 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

4 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

5 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

6 mimicry   

n.（生物）拟态，模仿

参考例句：

• One of his few strengths was his skill at mimicry.他为数不多的强项之一就是善于模仿。
• Language learning usually necessitates conscious mimicry.一般地说，学习语言就要进行有意识的摹仿。