This is what a macaque monkey would sound like if it suddenly proposed.
這就是獼猴突然求婚時的聲音。
Will you marry me?
你愿意嫁給我嗎？
Yeah, I hate it too.
是的，我也很討厭。
Let's play it again: Will you marry me?
我們再放一遍：你愿意嫁給我嗎？
Now of course, that's not a real monkey, it's a computer simulation that was part of a study on monkey vocal tracts.
當(dāng)然，這不是真的猴子，這是一個對猴子聲道的一個部分研究的電腦模擬。
And what it shows is that monkeys have a strikingly similar vocal structure to humans.
這表明猴子和人類有著驚人的相似的聲音結(jié)構(gòu)。
But despite all these similarities, they can't speak.
盡管有這些相同點，它們不能說話。
So here's a question.
那么有個問題。
Compared to monkeys, birds are nothing like us.
與猴子相比，鳥與我們完全不同。
Yet this bird's talking to me right now.
但這只鳥現(xiàn)在正在和我說話。
Hello.
你好。
How?
這是怎么回事？
Birds don't have lips.
鳥沒有嘴唇。
They don't have teeth, their "nose" is totally different from ours, but they do have something we don't.
它們沒有牙齒，它們的“鼻子”和我們的完全不同，但它們有我們沒有的東西。
They actually have a different kind of voice box than we do.
它們的聲音和我們的不同。
It's called a syrinx.
它叫做鳴管。
This is Mya Thompson, she studies birds at Cornell University.
這是瑪雅·湯普森，她在康奈爾大學(xué)研究鳥類。
They actually have two independent voice boxes.
它們實際上有兩個獨立的喉頭。
In birds, and in humans, the lower respiratory system is shaped sort of like an upside down slingshot.
在鳥類和人類中，下呼吸系統(tǒng)的形狀有點像一個倒置的彈弓。
The top part is the trachea, or windpipe, the bottom part is the lungs, and these two pieces move air in and out.
上面的部分是氣管，下面的部分是肺，這兩個部分負(fù)責(zé)空氣的進(jìn)出。
In humans, the voice box is called the larynx, and it's located above the trachea.
在人類中，喉頭被稱為 larynx ，它位于氣管上方。
It contains vocal "folds" that vibrate when air flows through to produce sound.
它包含聲“襞”，當(dāng)空氣流動產(chǎn)生聲音時會振動。
And humans primarily shape that sound with their mouths.
人類主要用嘴來塑造聲音。
But in birds, the voice box is called the "syrinx", and it's located at the bottom of the trachea.
但在鳥類中，這種喉頭被稱為“syrinx”，而且它在氣管的底部。
Instead of just sending air through vocal folds like we do, birds actually control the muscles on the walls of the syrinx to shape and produce sound.
鳥類并不像我們一樣只是通過聲襞傳遞空氣，它們實際上控制著 syrinx 壁上的肌肉來塑造和發(fā)出聲音。
Take a look at this cardinal as it sings.
看看這只主紅雀唱歌的樣子。
You can actually see that the noise comes directly from the chest.
你可以看到噪音直接來自胸腔。
The bird extends and shortens its neck and opens or closes its beak to refine the noise, but most of the control is actually happening in the syrinx.
鳥伸長和縮短它的脖子，張開或合上它的嘴來改善聲音，但是大部分的控制實際上發(fā)生在鳴管上。
It's a powerful sound for such a small animal, but that's not even the most impressive part: Cardinals tend to make these "whoop" notes and they go by very very quickly.
這對于這樣小的動物來說是一個很大的聲音，但是這甚至不是最令人印象深刻的地方：主紅雀們傾向于發(fā)出這種“呼”的聲音，而且他們走得非常快。
They're able to produce more pitches than a piano in less than a tenth of a second.
它們能在不到十分之一秒的時間里發(fā)出比鋼琴還多的音高。
They're actually switching from one side of the syrinx to another seamlessly to make this very very incredible span of pitches.
它們實際上是在從鳴管的一邊無縫地切換到另一邊，以形成非常非常不可思議的音高跨度。
The syrinx also lets some birds replicate sounds with astonishing accuracy.
鳴管還能讓一些鳥類以驚人的準(zhǔn)確性復(fù)制聲音。
For example, BBC Wildlife caught a lyrebird perfectly imitating a camera in the wild.
例如， BBC 野生動物頻道捕捉到一只天琴鳥在野外完美地模仿攝像機(jī)。
And of course, some of them imitate us.
當(dāng)然，它們中的一些也會模仿我們。
Hello.
你好。
Parrots are born communicators.
鸚鵡是天生的溝通者。
From the start their brains are wired for speech.
從一開始，它們的大腦就與語言聯(lián)系在一起。
So when they're first hatched they're learning right away and they're learning from everything around them.
所以當(dāng)它們剛孵出來的時候，它們馬上就開始學(xué)習(xí)，從周圍的一切中學(xué)習(xí)。
But speaking human is no easy feat.
但說人話并非易事。
We've got our vowels A - E - I - O - U.
我們有我們的元音 A - E - I - O - U。
Our plosives "Pocket".
我們的爆破音“ Pocket ”。
And a variety of consonants, that we even sometimes struggle to enunciate clearly.
還有各種輔音，有時我們甚至很難清晰地發(fā)音。
Rural?
鄉(xiāng)村？
So to pull off such clarity in human speech, parrots really show off their ability to manipulate their vocal tract.
所以要說清楚人類的語言，鸚鵡確實在炫耀它們操縱聲道的能力。
Plosives, for example, require using our lips.
例如，爆破音需要用到我們的嘴唇。
To make up for the lack of lips, parrots use something called esophageal speech, it's almost like burping that comes from within the trachea.
為了彌補(bǔ)嘴唇的缺失，鸚鵡會使用一種叫做食道語言的東西，就像從氣管里發(fā)出的打嗝一樣。
The force of air replicates the plosive.
空氣的力量復(fù)制了爆破音。
As for vowels, where we use our lips, tongue and jaw, researchers have found that parrots move their tongues forward and backward and adjust their beak opening to alter the sound.
至于元音，我們使用嘴唇、舌頭和下顎，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)鸚鵡會前后移動舌頭，調(diào)整嘴的開口來改變聲音。
And it seems like they are the only birds that are actually using their tongue like humans do to shape the sound that's coming out.
它們似乎是唯一能像人類一樣用舌頭來塑造發(fā)出的聲音的鳥類。
Parrots have a natural desire to communicate.
鸚鵡有一種天生的交流欲望。
In the wild they form strong bonds with their flocks, but in captivity...
在野外，他們與羊群形成牢固的聯(lián)系，但在囚禁的時候......
The parrot forms a social bond with you and they want to communicate with you and they have the vocal anatomy to start mimicking you.
鸚鵡和你形成了一種社會聯(lián)系，它們想要和你交流，它們的聲音結(jié)構(gòu)開始模仿你。
When parrots live with us, we're their flock and they're determined to sing our song.
當(dāng)鸚鵡和我們生活在一起時，我們是他們的羊群，它們決定唱我們的歌。
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