一只名叫"爱因斯坦"的鹦鹉

Female Anchor: We all know people who are so smart that their friends call them Einstein. But who ever thought a bird could be that bright. Well this African grey parrot from Knoxville Zoo is called Einstein and she really lives up to her name.

FA: Stephanie White is Einstein's trainer. Good morning, Stephanie.

Stephanie White: Good morning.

How old is Einstein and how long you've been a trainer for her?

Well, Einstein is 18 years old, which is pretty young, they live 50 or 60 years, and I've been training with her for about five years now.

And I understand that you really don't know of the zoo whether or not that Einstein is a female.

That's right. (Why do you call?) The boys and girls look exactly the same. You have to have the vets¹ to tell you with the blood test, so we just never had her sex. We didn't think there's any reason to.

So why do you call her "she"?

Well, she's so smart, so we figure she must be a girl, right?

Well, let's see how smart she is.

Oh, sure!

She knows about 200 words and all sounds in her vocabulary.

Yes, she knows about 70 young keys, so I will be glad to run through some of those with you. (Yeah) Well, introduce yourself first, can you tell me what's your name? (Einstein). Can you say Hi? (Hello) That's nice. Can you be polite? (Hi, sweetheart) Very good! Before you start. Do you wanna clear your throat? OK. Since she lives in the zoo, she does know a lot of animal sounds. So we'll do some of the fun ones for you. How about a chimpanzee? Can you do chimpanzee? Good! What about a rooster? How about this big tiger in the jungle? Yeah, the growl².

Oh. my goodness! And she also has different laughs that she can do?

Yes, she does. Is that funny? Is that funny? And she also does a Santa Clause laugh. How about laugh? Very good!

Does she do like an evil, villain³ laugh?

She can be very evil. Are you evil?

How did you train her to do all this? How does that work?

African grays naturally like to mimic⁴ sounds. She's pretty exceptional though, not all African grays are like her. She really enjoys mimicking⁵ things, so if she hears a sound that she likes she will start to repeat it over and over. And then we will put it on cue. So she gets lots of these sounds from us, oinking like pigs.

Oh, let's hear that one.

Ok. Can you, can you do a pig? How about a pig? That's a penguin⁶. How about a pig? Good!

What about a cat and dog?

Can you do a cat? How about a dog? Can you bark? Good! What about a skunk⁷? (stinker) That's her nickname, it 's stinker.

And also with the training it's the reward at the end, you feed her seeds?

Exactly! She loves sunflower seeds but she really gets excited if she gets a peanut. What would you do if you get a peanut!! (Oh, my God my God!) That's actually her favorite.

What would Einstein do if Einstein met a celebrity⁸? What would she say?

Oh, let's see. What would you say, well, if there were a man, /would you say, we just say, to a good-looking man?

"Hi, baby!" She gets kind of oppressed.

Would you blow him a big kiss? Very nice! Do you think Julie is beautiful?

Very good! But we should keep in mind that not all African grays are this talented, or this smart.

Exactly!

Thank you, Stephanie White and Einstein. Thank you!

Thank you! Are you famous?

"Superstar".

Yeah.....

1 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网

2 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

3 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

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 mimicking   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• She's always mimicking the teachers. 她总喜欢模仿老师的言谈举止。
• The boy made us all laugh by mimicking the teacher's voice. 这男孩模仿老师的声音，逗得我们大家都笑了。 来自辞典例句

6 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

7 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

8 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。