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In a recent podcast, we heard the beluga whale NOC change his voice's rhythm and pitch to imitate human speech.

Pretty impressive, but you ain't heard nothing yet. M K, an Asian elephant that appears to form actual words. That’s annyong,Korean for hello.

His trainers claim to have taught K six Korean words. But how accurate is he? Researchers recorded the elephant at his home, the Everland Zoo in South Korea, and then played the recordings¹ for 16 native Korean speakers.

When the subjects transcribed² K's noises, they generally recognized five of the six words, including annyong. It turns out that Koshik can produce correct-sounding vowels³ 67 percent of the time, but his consonant⁴ pronunciation was only recognizable 21 percent of the time. The work is in the journal Current Biology.

To achieve his remarkable⁵ feat⁶, K sticks his trunk in his mouth, which changes the shape of his vocal⁷ tract⁸ so he can reproduce human sounds and pitch. However he learned this technique, it’s a good bet the elephant won’t forget it.

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1 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

2 transcribed
（用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )；改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）；抄写；用音标标出（声音）
参考例句：
He transcribed two paragraphs from the book into his notebook. 他把书中的两段抄在笔记本上。 Every telephone conversation will be recorded and transcribed. 所有电话交谈都将被录音并作全文转写。

3 vowels
n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。来自《现代英汉综合大词典》 Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。来自超越目标英语第3册

4 consonant
n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的
参考例句：
The quality of this suit isn't quite consonant with its price.这套衣服的质量和价钱不相称。 These are common consonant clusters at the beginning of words.这些单词的开头有相同辅音组合。

5 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。

6 feat
n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的
参考例句：
Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。 He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

7 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。

8 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。