【听音频，也可猛戳左下角“阅读原文”】
Rob:Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Rob.
大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟。我是罗伯。
Neil:And hello! I'm Neil.
大家好！我是尼尔。
Rob:Hi there Neil. Have you ever had a close encounter with a monkey or an ape?
你好，尼尔。你和猴子或者猿有过近距离接触吗？
Neil:Well I’m sitting right next to you, Rob?
我就坐在你旁边啊，罗伯？
Rob:Very funny.Neil is referring to the fact that all humans are descended from apes, and apes and monkeys belong to a group of animals called primates. The difference is that monkeys have tails, and apes don’t.
很好笑。尼尔是在说人类的祖先是猿这个事实，而猿和猴子同属于一类动物，灵长目动物。猴子和猿的区别在于前者有尾巴，后者没有。
Neil:Well, I didn’t know that. On a serious note… I had a close shave with some monkeys once in Bali.
啊，我不知道这个。说正经的，我曾经在巴厘岛遇到了一群猴子，后来侥幸脱险了。
Rob:A close shave is where you only just manage to avoid a dangerous situation. So Neil, what happened?
侥幸脱险是指你幸运地设法避免了危险的处境。尼尔，发生了什么事？
Neil:I was walking up a mountain on my own and suddenly a bunch of monkeys jumped out of nowhere, blocking my path.
我当时自己正在爬山，突然一群猴子不知道从哪里蹦了出来，挡住了我的去路。
Rob:Oh goodness! OK. So what did you do?
哦天啊！然后你怎么办了？
Neil:After standing there for ages while the monkeys screeched at me, I turned round and walked back the way I came.
我在那里站了很久，那群猴子一直朝我尖叫。我转过身沿原来的路回去了。
Rob:OK. If you screech at someone it means to make a loud, high and unpleasant sound. So the monkeys won that face-off, then!
向某人“尖叫”是指朝着某人发出很响、很高、刺耳的声音。所以在你与猴子们的对峙中，猴子们获胜了！
Neil:Absolutely! Yes, they did! And a face-off, by the way, means an argument or fight.
当然！他们赢了！顺便说一下，“对峙”是指一场辩论或者战斗。
Rob:Well, today’s show is about gibbons and the different sounds they make. Gibbons are small apes that live in Southeast Asia. And while Neil’s monkeys screech unpleasantly, gibbons sound like they are singing.
我们今天的节目是关于长臂猿和他们发出的不同的叫声的。长臂猿是居住在东南亚的瘦小的猿类。尼尔说猴子会发出尖叫声，而长臂猿的叫声听起来像是在唱歌。
Neil:Musical apes – that’s nice! So how about today’s quiz question, Rob?
会音乐的猿，太好了！说一下我们今天的测试题目怎么样，罗伯？
Rob:OK, good idea. How far can a gibbon’s voice travel through the forest? Is it a) 500m b) 1km or c) 5km?
好主意。长臂猿的叫声在森林中能传播多远？是a)500米？b)1000米？还是c)5000米？
Neil:Hmm. Well, I have to guess and I’m going to say b) 1km.
啊，我只能猜了，我选择b)1000米。
Rob:You’ve never heard one.
你从来没有听到过吧。
Neil:Never heard one.
从来没有。
Rob:OK. We’ll find out later on in the programme whether you’re right or wrong. Now let’s listen to what a gibbon really sounds like.
好的。我们在稍后的节目中揭晓你的回答正确与否。现在让我们听一下长臂猿的叫声到底是怎样的？
Interviewer: Let’s just hear this. (gibbons calling) That’s an absolutely wonderful, evocative sound, isn’t it? Beautiful sound. And what are they doing there then? That is … I said talking to each other.
让我们听听这个。（长臂猿的叫声）那可真是美妙的，能引起共鸣的声音，对吗？很好听的声音。那么它们当时在干什么？我是说那是它们在对话。
Dr Clarke: Well this is their… They’re singing together. So a male and a female, when they hold a territory together, will sing every morning what they call a duet. All the groups…
那是它们在一起唱歌。当一个雄性和一个雌性的长臂猿占领一块领地时，它们每天早上都会“唱歌”，它们把那叫做二重奏。整个猿群……
Interviewer: What we call a duet.
是我们把它叫做二重奏。
Dr Clarke: Yes, absolutely. And they’ll all sing together at the same time, and the whole forest will be alive with this cacophony of song.
是的，当然。它们会同时“歌唱”，然后整个森林里充斥着这种不和谐音。
Rob:So the gibbons make an evocative sound. If something is evocative it brings strong feelings or memories to mind.
长臂猿会发出引起共鸣的声音。“引起共鸣”是指会使人产生强烈的感情或者勾起回忆。
Neil:And something that is evocative is usually pleasant, Rob.
能引起共鸣的事物通常是好的，罗伯。
Rob:It is. And what’s also interesting is that the apes are singing in pairs – one male and one female. They are singing duets together. So a duet is a song sung by two people – or in this case, sung by two gibbons!
是的。还有一个有趣的地方就是这些猿是成对唱歌的：一个雄性和一个雌性。他们一起唱二重奏。二重奏是指两个人在一起唱的歌，在这里就是两只猿了。
Neil:And a lot of gibbons are singing duets at the same time – which Dr Clarke describes as a cacophony. Cacophony means a mix of loud noises, which often sound out of tune.
而且有许多猿在一起同时唱二重奏，这被克拉克博士称作不和谐音。
Rob:And that could easily describe us singing together!
这个简单的词就描述了我们在一起唱歌的情景！
Neil:Let’s not do that.
我们还是不要一起唱歌了。
Rob:But what’s the reason for the gibbon duets, Neil?
但是长臂猿为什么要唱二重奏呢，尼尔？
Neil:Well, the songs advertise the relationship between the male and the female. And they also help to make clear which territory – or bit of land – belongs to a pair or group of gibbons.
它们是在秀恩爱。另外它们这样做还是为了宣示它们的领土——属于一对儿或者一群长臂猿的领地。
Rob:Gibbons also use different sounds to alert – or warn – other gibbons about danger from predators – these are animals that eat other animals. The gibbons use a quiet ‘hoo hoo’ call to communicate that a leopard is nearby, and an even quieter ‘hoo hoo’ call for an eagle.
当长臂猿有被食肉动物捕食的危险时，其他长臂猿会发出不同的声音来警告它们。食肉动物是指以其他动物为食的动物。当附近有美洲豹时，长臂猿会低声地发出“呼呼”的声音，有老鹰时它们会发出更低的“呼呼”声。
Neil:You’re very good at that Rob.
你模仿得很好罗伯。
Rob:Thank you.
谢谢。
Neil:Now let’s hear more from Dr Clarke about this. How does she describe language?
现在让我们听一听克拉克博士对语言的介绍。
Yes, so the idea is that if we find things like context-specific calling in non-human primates, it suggests that way back in time the ancestor that we shared with them also had context-specific calling so basically it just gives us some clues [as] to the evolutionary roots of complex communication like language.
是的，也就是说，如果我们发现非人灵长类动物在特定情境下有特定的呼叫方式，这就证明很早之前，我们与它们共同的祖先也会这样做。那么这最起码为我们研究复杂的沟通方式，比如语言，的进化根源提供了线索。
Rob:Dr Clarke says that if we go far enough back in time humans and other primates such as monkeys and apes have the same ancestor.
克拉克博士说，追溯到足够遥远的以前，人类和灵长类动物，比如猴子和猿，是同一个祖先。
Neil:Right. And ancestor means an animal – or human – from the past that a modern animal or human has descended from. So if this common ancestor used context-specific calls like modern gibbons – then it could have passed on this ability to humans a long time ago.
对。祖先是指现代动物或者人类以前的先辈。所以，如果这个共同的祖先也像现在的长臂猿一样在特定情境中有特定的呼叫方式，那么有可能他们在很久以前就把这种能力传授给了人类。
Rob:Context-specific calling means different calls for different situations, for example one call for ‘leopard’ and another for ‘eagle’.
特定情境的呼叫是指在不同的情景下发出不同的呼叫声，比如提醒附近有猎豹和老鹰时发出的不同叫声。
Neil:And evolutionary means a gradual process of change or development.
进化是指一个改变与发展的缓慢过程。
Rob:OK, let’s have the answer to the quiz question. Earlier I asked: How far can a gibbon’s voice travel through the forest? Is it: a) 500m b) 1km or c) 5km?
好的，让我们来揭晓今天测试题目的答案。之前我问你：长臂猿的叫声在森林中能传播多远？是a)500米？b)1000米？还是c)5000米？
Neil:And I said b) 1km.
我的回答是b)1000米。
Rob:And you were right! A good guess! Perhaps you do know a lot about gibbons. So well done! Now, can we hear today’s words again maybe in a gibbon's voice Neil?
你的回答是正确的！猜得没错！也许你对长臂猿并不了解，所以干得好！现在或许我们可以听一下用长臂猿的声音来读我们今天的单词，尼尔？
Neil:I’m not sure about that. I’ll do it in a human voice.
这个我不太会。我还是用人类的声音吧。
primates
灵长类动物
a close shave
侥幸脱险
screech
尖叫
face-off
对峙
gibbons
长臂猿
evocative
引起共鸣的
duet
二重奏
cacophony
不和谐音
territory
领地
alert
警告
predators
食肉动物
ancestor
祖先
evolutionary
进化
Rob:Thank you. Well, that's the end of today's 6 Minute English.
谢谢你。我们今天的英语六分钟到这里就结束了。
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