时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:初学者听力文摘精选


英语课

The complex vocalizations of songbirds are learned, not inherited. Some even have regional accents.



Wrens 1, thrushes and other songbirds don't hatch with their impressive musical talents. They learn to sing their extensive repertoires 3 by listening to others of their kind.

Donald Kroodsma is the author of a new book, 'The Singing Life of Birds.' Kroodsma says many birds seem to come naturally equipped with basic sounds and even some very simple songs. The eastern wood-pewee is an example.



'We've done some experiments showing that those songs are pretty much encoded in the DNA 4. But as a result, it's a pretty limited repertoire 2 of, oh, in the eastern wood peewee, of up to three different songs. But all the songbirds, when we think of songbirds, we think of wrens and warblers, robins 5, thrushes, sparrows, all the birds that make so much racket, these are the songbirds that have very special groups of neurons in the brain, and most of them imitate precise details of songs just like you and I learned our native language.'

Kroodsma says birds even share our tendency toward regional dialects.



'When birds learn songs at a particular location and stay around at that location, regional dialects tend to develop. They have the same kind of dialects that develop in human speech.'

Kroodsma says he recently took a long bike trip, from the Atlantic Coast through Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois. He says the accents and dialects of both people and birds changed along the way.



Script for Tuesday, May 10, 2005



1 wrens
n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 )
  • Other songbirds, such as wrens, have hundreds of songs. 有的鸣鸟,例如鹪鹩,会唱几百只歌。 来自辞典例句
2 repertoire
n.(准备好演出的)节目,保留剧目;(计算机的)指令表,指令系统, <美>(某个人的)全部技能;清单,指令表
  • There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。
  • He has added considerably to his piano repertoire.他的钢琴演奏曲目大大增加了。
3 repertoires
全部节目( repertoire的名词复数 ); 演奏曲目
  • There were huge repertoires of pipa music in Chinese history, particularly during the Tang Dynasty. 这种情况在我国古代诗词中有大量的记载。
4 DNA
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
5 robins
n.知更鸟,鸫( robin的名词复数 );(签名者不分先后,以避免受责的)圆形签名抗议书(或请愿书)
  • The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后,Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
5-Lipoxygenase
actual midair collision
afghanistinia hsipinga
Androsovka
annual felling
apple-picking
Arradon
assigned servant
auto-dyne radio
Baltimore Sun, The
binding orbital
Bollington
bromoallene
children's department
coated pigment
Colcord
concreteness
conventional tariff system
corrosion of cornea
crops make sugar from air and water
crotonylation
current transmission
Cypholophus
cystadenocarcinoma
data object resource
datel services
defeater
dimethyl sulphoxide
direct vision spectroscope
direct-transmission system
discommunion
druum cam
duty of averting or minimizing losses
dyschromatopsia
erdingers
exchange A with B
FastPrep
fellow-commoner
first egg
fitting out
flexion of knee joint
forcing cucumber
frequency adjustment
gawk
geoducks
gravity separation method
have the courage of one's convictions
highest-ranked
hold aloof
hotched
hygienic quality
in more detail
inappropriately
informatises
infrared solvent
installment book
isolated singularity
Jean Luc Godard
Kawaihoa Point
kts.
laboratory oncology
let well enough alone
loaded potentiometer function generator
marine sedimentophysics
methylenediphosphonates
methylphenidate
mineral powder
monostatic (incoherent scatter) radar
musculi arytaenoideus obliquus
Māmā Kheyl
nauseating
nekrocoenose
pelvimeter for outlet measurement
phyllosticta broussonetiae hori
pipe alley
Portsmouth I.
powersleeve
preglabellar field
procurement lead time
pronounce
Pyrrhonisms
quandrary
rhodesian men
rotary wings
routefindings
self-destructs
Skawina
soil thermometre
spayeder
squeezable
superior femoral septum
swallow sth at a mouthful
Tarangara
tarik
territorial sovereignty by adjudication
testpiece
theogallin
transplant rice seedlings
troweled
two-headed floppy disk
voucher audit
washpots