与婴儿相同，鹦鹉宝宝也咿呀学语（上）

This is Scientific American’s Science, Quickly. I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是《科学美国人》的科学快报。我是凯伦·霍普金。

Little kids say the most nonsensical things, like my son at the aquarium when he was two or three. “They say bloop bloop. I think that one and this one are saying bloop bloop”

小孩子会说一些最没有意义的话，比如我儿子两三岁时在水族馆说：“它们说bloop bloop。我认为那只和这只都在说bloop bloop。”

Even sweeter are the sounds they make when they’re just beginning to explore their vocal capabilities.

当人类幼崽开始探索发声能力时，他们甚至能发出更甜美的声音。

But human babies are not unique—at least when it comes to this sort of inarticulate articulation—because a new study shows that baby parrots also babble before they leave the nest.

但最起码这种口齿不清的情况并非人类幼崽独有，因为一项新的研究表明，鹦鹉幼崽在离开巢穴前也会咿呀学语。

The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

这项研究结果发表在《英国皇家学会学报B辑:生物科学》上。

When baby humans are babbling, they’re kind of stringing a bunch of sounds together in sort of unintelligible ways. There’s no identifiable context.

当人类幼崽咿呀学语时，他们会把一堆声音串在一起，意思难以理解，也没有上下文可以识别。

Karl Berg is an associate professor of biology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He says parrot babble is really very similar.

卡尔·伯格是德克萨斯大学里奥格兰德河谷分校的生物学副教授。他认为鹦鹉的咿呀学语与人类非常相似。

Gibberish is a good descriptor.

胡言乱语是个很好的描述。

They’re kind of mixing everything together, and it seems like they’re regurgitating everything they’ve ever heard before.

它们会把所有声音混合在一起，它们似乎在机械重复它们以前听过的所有声音。

Berg and his colleagues have been studying a species of parrot called the Green-rumped Parrotlet in Venezuela.

伯格与同事们一直在研究委内瑞拉一种叫做绿腰鹦哥的鹦鹉。

We’ve been intensively monitoring the population. We’re in our 35th consecutive year.

我们一直在密切监测这种鹦鹉的数量。今年是我们连续第35个年头进行监测。

The researchers positioned video cameras inside the birds’ nests. But it took them a while to notice the baby parrots running through their vocal warmups.

研究人员在鸟巢里放置了摄像机。但过了一段时间他们才注意到鹦鹉幼崽在对它们的声音进行热场排练。

We initially missed it because when we first started filming inside the nest cavities, all of the action and all the interesting things seemed to be happening when the parents would arrive.

我们最初没有察觉到，因为当我们开始在鸟巢内进行首次拍摄时，所有动作以及所有趣事似乎都围绕着鹦鹉父母亲到来时。

That prompts the babies to start clamoring for food.

这促使鹦鹉幼崽开始吵着要食物。

But when their parents are away, the nestlings take turns napping, preening each other and talking to themselves.

但当鹦鹉父母离开时，鹦鹉幼崽会依次打盹，互相梳理毛发，自言自语。

Oftentimes the other siblings are asleep.

通常其他兄弟姐妹都睡着了。

And they keep up this peeping and cheeping even after those siblings have flown the coop, leaving them the last little parrotlet left in the nest.

即使这些兄弟姐妹已经悄然飞走，留下鸟巢里最后一只鹦鹉幼崽时，它们仍然会继续发出叽叽喳喳声。

So they’re spending endless hours in there alone, and they do look kind of bored, and we see babbling then as well.

它们在鸟巢里独自呆了很长时间，它们看起来很无聊，后来我们才发现它们也在咿呀学语。

This nestling nattering differs from adult conversation in that it’s a little lackadaisical—and very, very quiet.

鹦鹉幼崽的闲聊不同于成年鹦鹉的交谈，因为幼崽的声音有点懒散，而且很轻。

If you’re standing just a few feet from the nest, I suspect you would not hear it.

如果你站在离鸟巢几英尺远的地方，我想你是听不到这种声音的。

Whereas mature calls are much faster paced ... And generally more strident.

而成年鹦鹉的叫声节奏要快得多……而且通常也更刺耳。

Parrots are kind of known for being noisy and loud.

鹦鹉以吵闹而闻名。