This is what a macaque monkey would sound like if it suddenly proposed:
如果獼猴突然開口求婚，聽起來可能像這樣：
Will you marry me?
你願意嫁給我嗎？
Uh, yeah, I hate it too. Let's play it again.
呃，對，我也不喜歡。我們再播一次。
Will you marry me?
你願意嫁給我嗎？
Now of course, that's not a real monkey; it's a computer simulation that was part of a study on monkey vocal tracts. And what it shows is that monkeys have a strikingly similar vocal structure to humans.
當然，這不是真的猴子發出的聲音；是科學家在研究猴子聲道時用電腦模擬出來的。結果顯示猴子與人類的發聲構造出奇地相似。
But despite all these similarities, they can't speak.
但儘管有這麼多相似之處，猴子依然不會說話。
So here's a question. Compared to monkeys, birds are nothing like us. Yet this bird's talking to me right now.
那問題來了。與猴子相比，鳥類跟我們簡直天差地別。但這隻鳥現在在跟我說話。
Hello.
哈囉。
How?
怎麼辦到的？
Birds don't have lips. They don't have teeth. Their nose is totally different from ours. But they do have something we don't.
鳥類沒有嘴唇。沒有牙齒。鼻子跟我們的完全不同。但有樣東西是人類沒有的。
They actually have a different kind of voice box than we do. That's called a syrinx.
鳥類有個跟我們很不一樣的發聲器官。叫做「鳴管」。
This is Mya Thompson. She studies birds at Cornell University.
這位是米亞．湯普森。她在康乃爾大學研究鳥類。
They actually have two independent voice boxes.
牠們其實有兩個獨立的發聲器官。
In birds and in humans, the lower respiratory system is shaped sort of like an upside-down slingshot. The top part is the trachea, or windpipe, the bottom part is the lungs. These two pieces move air in and out.
不管是鳥類還是人類，下呼吸系統都有點像倒過來的彈弓。上半部是氣管，下半部是肺。這兩處則是空氣進出的地方。
In humans, the voice box is called the larynx, and it's located above the trachea. It contains vocal folds that vibrate when air flows through to produce sound. And humans primarily shape that sound with their mouths.
人類的發聲器官叫「喉頭」，位於氣管上方。喉頭裡有聲帶，空氣通過時會震動進而發出聲音。人類主要是用嘴巴去塑造聲音。
But in birds, the voice box is called the syrinx. And it's located at the bottom of the trachea. Instead of just sending air through vocal folds like we do, birds actually control muscles on the walls of the syrinx to shape and produce sound.
鳥類的發聲器官則是「鳴管」。位於氣管下方。不像我們單純任由空氣通過聲帶，鳥類其實會控制鳴管壁上的肌肉去塑造聲音。
Take a look at this cardinal as it sings. You can actually see the noise coming directly from the chest. 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. It's a powerful sound for such a small animal, but that's not even the most impressive part.
來看看這隻正在枝頭鳴唱的紅雀。你可以看到聲音其實是直接從胸腔發出。這隻鳥藉由頸部的伸縮及鳥喙的開闔來微調聲音，但聲音的主控權大多掌握在鳴管。這麼嬌小的動物能發出如此充沛的聲音已相當了不起，但更驚人的還在後頭。
Cardinals tend to make these whoop notes, and they go by very, very quickly. They're able to produce more pitches than a piano in less than a tenth of a second. They're actually switching from one side of the syrinx to another seamlessly to make this very, very incredible span of pitches.
紅雀經常發出這種尖銳叫聲，且非常、非常短促。短短十分之一秒不到，就能變化出比鋼琴還要多的音高。牠們從鳴管一側切換到另一側時毫無窒礙，完成這不可思議的聲音跨度轉換。
The syrinx also lets some birds replicate sounds with astonishing accuracy. For example, BBC Wildlife caught a lyrebird perfectly imitating a camera in the wild.
鳥類也能用鳴管複製聲音，精準度令人咋舌。例如《BBC Wildlife 野生動植物雜誌》就曾在野外捕捉到琴鳥完美模仿相機聲的片段。
And then, of course, some of them imitate us.
然後，當然，有些鳥會模仿我們。
Hello.
哈囉。
Parrots are born communicators. From the start, their brains are wired for speech. So when they're first hatched, they're learning right away. And they're learning from everything around them.
鸚鵡是天生的溝通者。從一開始，牠們的頭腦就做好了學說話的準備。所以一經孵化，牠們就開始學習。周遭一切事物都是牠們的學習對象。
But speaking human is no easy feat. We've got our vowels: a, e, i, o, u.
但要學人類講話並不容易。我們有母音：a、e、i、o、u。
Our plosives: pocket.
有爆破音：pocket。（p 是爆破音）
And a variety of consonants that we even struggle to enunciate clearly.
還有各式各樣的子音，有時甚至連我們自己要唸清楚都很困難。
Rural?
Rural？（R、r、l 是子音）
So to pull off such clarity in human speech, parrots really need to show off their ability to manipulate their vocal tract. Plosives, for example, require our lips. 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. The force of air replicates the plosive.
所以想要清楚發出人類語言，鸚鵡真的必須展現牠們操控聲道的超凡能力。例如，爆破音會用到嘴唇。為了突破沒有嘴唇的限制，鸚鵡發出所謂的「食道語」。幾乎就像在氣管中打了個嗝。藉由氣流擾動形成的氣壓模擬爆破音。
As for vowels, where we use our lips, tongue, and jaw, researchers have actually found that parrots move their tongues forward and backwards and adjust their beak opening to alter the sound. 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.
至於母音，我們運用到嘴唇、舌頭、下顎，研究者發現鸚鵡其實會藉由伸縮舌頭、調整鳥喙開闔幅度來發出母音。而且看起來鸚鵡是唯一具備這能力的鳥類，能像人類一樣用舌頭改變要發出來的聲音。
Parrots have a natural desire to communicate. In the wild, they form strong bonds with their flocks. But in captivity...
鸚鵡天生就有溝通的渴望。在野外，牠們會與鳥群建立強大聯繫。但被圈養時...
...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.
...鸚鵡會與人類建立社會聯繫，牠們想和你溝通，也會開始運用牠們的發聲器官來模仿你。
When parrots live with us, we're their flock, and they're determined to sing our song.
當鸚鵡跟我們生活在同個屋簷下，我們就是牠們的鳥群，而且牠們已決意要「唱我們的歌」。
