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
abkary
air force cadet screening test
alphanumeric bookkeeping machine
Anacardiaceae
animal tolerance
associable design
B.Adm.Eng.
bedfellows
booked for
brushed aside
burnt coal
cathode vacuum etching
centrifugal lubricator
chemi-ionization process
cherf
chongoni
clinozoisites
comble
commercial agencies stationed abroad
coordinatively
cratylus
crowper
detonating-cartridge
dynamic fragmentation
energy-conversion device
expired gas
factorial experimentation
ferro nickel alloy
fibrae perventriculares
first press felt
fore-hand rent
Fort Saint-Pierre
Fraas breaking point
Gajisan
gammier
gastric indigestion
haliplankton
Hegar's dilator
Holboellia angustifolia
Horner syndrome
immune-related peptide
include me out
input source
lattice vibration
Leptohymenium
linearized filter
Linociera leucoclada
Lubasz
lubritory
luttmann
Marano, L.di
Marcillac-la-Croisille
material wastage rate
noncommunism
nonhaemolytic
oloron
opportunity for buying large quantity
overdramatic
overhead cableway
overhead crane with grab
parenesis
pastor sturnuss
perfluocarbon
perihelion precession
pock-mark
Polygala globulifera
powder-metallurgy
precast ribbed roof slab
propeller blade spacing
prophylaxi
pull-ring
pullbutton
radiotelegraph autoalarm
rail-slitting mill
rasing raze
reduction thickening
refrigeran
Richella
semigraphical method
sequential structure
setting circle
sigmoidaugmentationcystoplasty
stack dilution factor
steering gear assembly
supereon
syn synchronous idle
Tafel equation
thin shell surface
torricellis
trade name aspirin
trithio
tuco-tucos
turretlike
unidimensional search
urban growth
violet-tinged
wastlers (mediaeval england)
wedge beam
weighted 4-bit code
widely-accepted
winch motor