纪录片《为何讲话》 第8期：动物学不会的语言

It's remarkable¹

值得注意的是

that no other animal has ever developed speech.

没有任何其它动物曾拥有自己的语言

What is it that makes us unique?

是什么让我们这么独特

Do this, Vicky.

跟我学 薇琪

Another sound resembles the letter K.

另一个类似字母K的声音

Vicky, sit up.

薇琪 坐起来

Not even our closest relatives, the chimps², can talk.

连人类的近亲黑猩猩也不会讲话

Psychologists spent nearly seven years

心理学家花了大概七年时间

trying to teach Vicky to speak with little success.

试图教薇琪讲话 却一无所获

And in this case they really tried to teach a chimp³ to say some basic words

他们确实尽力教黑猩猩说些基本单词了

and completely failed, and everyone knew of course that,

结果是彻底的失败 大家肯定都知道

say, parrots can learn to imitate speech.

鹦鹉可以通过学习模仿人们说话

So it was kind of a very surprising and eye-opening experience

所以看到黑猩猩拥有更大的大脑

to see that these chimps with great big brains

却无法学会说话

for an animal were not able to do this.

是令人十分惊奇的经历

It was already very clear that chimpanzees don't have

很显然 黑猩猩们

the kind of control over their vocal⁴ tract⁵ that we do.

无法像我们一样控制声带

So once people knew that chimpanzees couldn't produce speech,

当人们知道黑猩猩无法讲话之后

the big question was why?

最大的疑问是为什么

1 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

2 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

3 chimp   

n.黑猩猩

参考例句：

• In fact,the color of gorilla and chimp are light-color.其实大猩猩和黑猩猩的肤色是较为浅的。
• The chimp is the champ.猩猩是冠军。

4 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。

5 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。