This is what a macaque monkey would sound like if it suddenly proposed.
这就是猕猴突然求婚时的声音。
Will you marry me?
你愿意嫁给我吗？
Yeah, I hate it too.
是的，我也很讨厌。
Let's play it again: Will you marry me?
我们再放一遍：你愿意嫁给我吗？
Now of course, that's not a real monkey, it's a computer simulation that was part of a study on monkey vocal tracts.
当然，这不是真的猴子，这是一个对猴子声道的一个部分研究的电脑模拟。
And what it shows is that monkeys have a strikingly similar vocal structure to humans.
这表明猴子和人类有着惊人的相似的声音结构。
But despite all these similarities, they can't speak.
尽管有这些相同点，它们不能说话。
So here's a question.
那么有个问题。
Compared to monkeys, birds are nothing like us.
与猴子相比，鸟与我们完全不同。
Yet this bird's talking to me right now.
但这只鸟现在正在和我说话。
Hello.
你好。
How?
这是怎么回事？
Birds don't have lips.
鸟没有嘴唇。
They don't have teeth, their "nose" is totally different from ours, but they do have something we don't.
它们没有牙齿，它们的“鼻子”和我们的完全不同，但它们有我们没有的东西。
They actually have a different kind of voice box than we do.
它们的声音和我们的不同。
It's called a syrinx.
它叫做鸣管。
This is Mya Thompson, she studies birds at Cornell University.
这是玛雅·汤普森，她在康奈尔大学研究鸟类。
They actually have two independent voice boxes.
它们实际上有两个独立的喉头。
In birds, and in humans, the lower respiratory system is shaped sort of like an upside down slingshot.
在鸟类和人类中，下呼吸系统的形状有点像一个倒置的弹弓。
The top part is the trachea, or windpipe, the bottom part is the lungs, and these two pieces move air in and out.
上面的部分是气管，下面的部分是肺，这两个部分负责空气的进出。
In humans, the voice box is called the larynx, and it's located above the trachea.
在人类中，喉头被称为 larynx ，它位于气管上方。
It contains vocal "folds" that vibrate when air flows through to produce sound.
它包含声“襞”，当空气流动产生声音时会振动。
And humans primarily shape that sound with their mouths.
人类主要用嘴来塑造声音。
But in birds, the voice box is called the "syrinx", and it's located at the bottom of the trachea.
但在鸟类中，这种喉头被称为“syrinx”，而且它在气管的底部。
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.
鸟类并不像我们一样只是通过声襞传递空气，它们实际上控制着 syrinx 壁上的肌肉来塑造和发出声音。
Take a look at this cardinal as it sings.
看看这只主红雀唱歌的样子。
You can actually see that the noise comes directly from the chest.
你可以看到噪音直接来自胸腔。
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.
鸟伸长和缩短它的脖子，张开或合上它的嘴来改善声音，但是大部分的控制实际上发生在鸣管上。
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.
这对于这样小的动物来说是一个很大的声音，但是这甚至不是最令人印象深刻的地方：主红雀们倾向于发出这种“呼”的声音，而且他们走得非常快。
They're able to produce more pitches than a piano in less than a tenth of a second.
它们能在不到十分之一秒的时间里发出比钢琴还多的音高。
They're actually switching from one side of the syrinx to another seamlessly to make this very very incredible span of pitches.
它们实际上是在从鸣管的一边无缝地切换到另一边，以形成非常非常不可思议的音高跨度。
The syrinx also lets some birds replicate sounds with astonishing accuracy.
鸣管还能让一些鸟类以惊人的准确性复制声音。
For example, BBC Wildlife caught a lyrebird perfectly imitating a camera in the wild.
例如， BBC 野生动物频道捕捉到一只天琴鸟在野外完美地模仿摄像机。
And of course, some of them imitate us.
当然，它们中的一些也会模仿我们。
Hello.
你好。
Parrots are born communicators.
鹦鹉是天生的沟通者。
From the start their brains are wired for speech.
从一开始，它们的大脑就与语言联系在一起。
So when they're first hatched they're learning right away and they're learning from everything around them.
所以当它们刚孵出来的时候，它们马上就开始学习，从周围的一切中学习。
But speaking human is no easy feat.
但说人话并非易事。
We've got our vowels A - E - I - O - U.
我们有我们的元音 A - E - I - O - U。
Our plosives "Pocket".
我们的爆破音“ Pocket ”。
And a variety of consonants, that we even sometimes struggle to enunciate clearly.
还有各种辅音，有时我们甚至很难清晰地发音。
Rural?
乡村？
So to pull off such clarity in human speech, parrots really show off their ability to manipulate their vocal tract.
所以要说清楚人类的语言，鹦鹉确实在炫耀它们操纵声道的能力。
Plosives, for example, require using our lips.
例如，爆破音需要用到我们的嘴唇。
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.
为了弥补嘴唇的缺失，鹦鹉会使用一种叫做食道语言的东西，就像从气管里发出的打嗝一样。
The force of air replicates the plosive.
空气的力量复制了爆破音。
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，我们使用嘴唇、舌头和下颚，研究人员发现鹦鹉会前后移动舌头，调整嘴的开口来改变声音。
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.
它们似乎是唯一能像人类一样用舌头来塑造发出的声音的鸟类。
Parrots have a natural desire to communicate.
鹦鹉有一种天生的交流欲望。
In the wild they form strong bonds with their flocks, but in captivity...
在野外，他们与羊群形成牢固的联系，但在囚禁的时候......
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.
鹦鹉和你形成了一种社会联系，它们想要和你交流，它们的声音结构开始模仿你。
When parrots live with us, we're their flock and they're determined to sing our song.
当鹦鹉和我们生活在一起时，我们是他们的羊群，它们决定唱我们的歌。
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