會(huì)“說話”的鴨子

徐維維

在我們的生活中，鸚鵡、八哥會(huì)學(xué)人說話不是一件新鮮的事情。然而，一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，澳大利亞的一只麝鴨竟然也能夠模仿人類說話，成為目前已知的第一只會(huì)“說話”的鴨子。

1?Thirty?years?ago，?Ripper?sounded?as?if?he?had?had?enough.?“You?fool，”?he?repeated?in?a?recently

rediscovered?recording.

2?Besides?that?shocking?sound，?Ripper，?who?was?4?years?old?at?the?time，?also?managed?to?imitate?the?sound?of?closing?the?door.?Researchers?have?analyzed?his?voice，?as?well?as?those?of?a?different?duck?that?was?able?to?imitate?the?calls?of?another?species.

3?Carel?ten?Cate，?a?researcher?of?animal?behavior?in?the?Netherlands，?and?Peter?Fullagar，?a?nowretired?scientist?who?made?the?recordings，?teamed?up?to?uncover?the

remarkable?imitating?ability?of?Ripper?and?his?species.

4?Ripper，?a?duck?native?to?Australia，?looks?a?little?odd，?and?smells?a?bit?smelly.?Most?specially，?the?species?has?a?bit?of?skin?that?hangs?below?the?bill?and?can?swell?sometimes.?The?recordings?of?the?bird?are?the?first?known?examples?of?any?duck?or?goose?species?being?able?to?imitate?human?speech.

5?“We?do?not?know?how?exactly?the?sounds?are?being?produced?or?whether?vocalization

organs?of?this?species?are?very?different?from?other?ducks，”?ten?Cate?said.?“What?is

more?important?for?the?ducks?ability?to?imitate?is?the?brain.?There?must?be?areas?that?are?capable?of?storing?the?sound?and?using?it?to?model?the?birds?own?sounds，”?he?added.

6?Ripper?lived?in?a?nature?reserve?in?the?southwest?of?Canberra?in?the?1980s，?and?Fullagar?made?the?recordings?on?a?cassette?in?July?1987.?The?researchers?interpreted?both?vocalizations?as?angry?displays，?though?theres?no?indication?that?Ripper?actually?understood?the?meaning?of?his?two?vocalizations.

7?The?other?unnamed?duck?imitated?the?sounds?of?Pacific?black?ducks.?Ten?Cate?and?Fullagar?interviewed?other?people?who?raised?such?ducks，?who?told?the?researchers?that?their?ducks?imitated?the?coughs?of?a?little?horse?and?other?sounds?which?didnt?seem?like?that?of?a?duck.

8?“The?remarkable?thing?is?that?they?do?this?spontaneously?（自發(fā)地），”?ten?Cate?said.?“It?is?similar?to?songbirds，?which?store?the?songs?of?their?own?species?at?a?young?age?and?then?start?to?produce?them?when?they?become?adults.”

Detail?1.?What?can?we?know?about?Ripper？

A.?It?is?a?fouryearold?duck.

B.?It?is?a?duck?that?is?smelly.

C.?It?is?able?to?communicate?with?people.

D.?It?is?the?only?duck?that?can?imitate?people.

Detail?2.?What?is?unique?about?ducks?like?Ripper？

A.?They?dont?look?like?ordinary?ducks.

B.?Their?sound?is?similar?to?that?of?Rippers.

C.?Their?skin?hanging?below?the?bill?can?swell.

D.?They?belong?to?the?earliest?duck?in?Australia.

Detail?3.?Whats?the?main?contributor?to?the?ducks?imitating?ability？

A.?Its?bill.??B.?Its?skin.

C.?Its?brain.?D.?Its?sounds.

Detail?4.?Whats?the?probable?reason?for?Rippers?imitation？

A.?To?play?for?fun.

B.?To?show?its?anger.

C.?To?display?its?growth.

D.?To?draw?others?attention.

Ⅰ.?Difficult?sentence?in?the?text

The?researchers?interpreted?both?vocalizations?as?angry?displays，?though?theres?no?indication?that?Ripper?actually?understood?the?meaning?of?his?two?vocalizations.?研究人員將這兩種聲音都解讀為憤怒的表現(xiàn)，盡管沒有跡象表明Ripper真正理解了這兩種聲音的含義。

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句中，though?theres?no?indication?that?Ripper?actually?understood

the?meaning?of?his?two?vocalizations為though引導(dǎo)的讓步狀語從句，其中that?Ripper

actually?understood?the?meaning?of?his?two?vocalizations為同位語從句，解釋說明indication的內(nèi)容。

Ⅱ.?Textcentered?chunks

as?well?as?也;和

team?up?合作

be?capable?of?有……的能力

live?in?a?nature?reserve?生活在一個(gè)自然保護(hù)區(qū)中

be?similar?to?和……類似

at?a?young?age?在小時(shí)候