时差N小时 微笑的声音

Don: Hi everyone. On this show we usually talk about other people's experiments, but today we're going to do an experiment of our own. Here's the deal: see if you can tell if I'm smiling or not as I speak. Ready? Here's goes. Am I smiling now? How about now? What about...

唐：嗨，大家好。这个节目一般讲其他人的实验，但这一期我们可以拿自己做实验。具体情况是这样的：猜猜看，我是在笑呢，还是没有笑。真的吗？现在开始。我在笑吗？现在呢？...怎么样？

Yael: Wait, hold on. Don, what are you doing?

雅艾尔：等等，打住。唐，你在干什么？

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Don: An experiment. Like I said, I want to see if our listeners can tell if I'm smiling just by the sound of my voice.

唐：做实验。正如我说的，我想知道听众是否能通过我的声音分辨出我在微笑。

Yael: But how is that possible?

雅艾尔：但这怎么可能呢？

Don: Researchers at the University of Portsmouth, in England, have worked on this. They recorded interviews with volunteers who were asked silly questions, the idea being to make them smile as they spoke¹. Then the researchers played the recordings² for another set of volunteers and asked them to identify when the speakers were smiling. And more often than not, they could.

唐：英国朴茨茅斯大学的研究人员正在研究这个。他们问志愿者很傻的问题，让他们在回答的时候感到好笑，并记录了采访过程。然后研究人员向另一组志愿者播放采访录音，让他们分辨说话人什么时候在笑。而且大部分时候都能猜对。

Yael: Interesting. Is that because smiling affects the vocal³ cords or something?

雅艾尔：真有趣。那是因为笑会影响声带还是什么吗？

Don: Sorta. It's probably more that smiling can affect your pitch, making your voice sound higher. So the listeners might have been picking up on that cue. They might also have been concentrating on the intensity⁴ of the voices. It's not an exact science, obviously, but something was tipping off the listeners.

唐：差不多。微笑更有可能影响你的音高，让声音听起来更高。因此，听者可能是根据这条线索来做出判断。他们也许一直专注于声音的强度。显然这不是一门精密的科学，但听的人的确可以发现点什么。

Yael: So does this have any practical application?

雅艾尔：那这个研究有没有什么实际用途呢？

Don: It could help improve voice recognition software and synthetic⁵ voices for things like computer games.

唐：它对声音识别软件的开发很有帮助，还有电脑游戏中的那些合成声音。

Yael: Cool. OK, so let me try. I'm smiling now, can you tell? And now I'm not smiling. Do I sound different?

雅艾尔：酷。好吧，让我试试吧。我现在在笑，你能分辨出来吗？现在我没有笑了，我的声音听起来有什么不同吗？

Don: Yes...and yes.

唐：是的...是的。

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

5 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。