【新朋友】點擊標題下面藍字【可可英語】加關注
【老朋友】點擊手機右上角圖標【轉發分享】內容
【聽音頻，也可猛戳左下角「閱讀原文」】
This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English dot com.
這裡是bbclearningenglish. com英語六分鐘節目。
Rob: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English with me, Rob, and a very beautiful sound…
大家好，歡迎收聽本期BBC英語六分鐘，我是羅伯，我們一起欣賞這優美的聲音。
Jen: Ahhh, the sound of birdsong. Hello, I'm Jennifer and that's what we're talking about today - birdsong.
啊，鳥叫聲。大家好，我是詹尼佛。今天節目的主題是鳥叫聲。
Rob: In Britain, this is the sound of summer - lots of different species - or types - of birds tweeting .
在英國，這是夏天的聲音--各種小鳥嘰嘰喳喳地叫著。
Jen: Tweeting? You mean they are using Twitter - the social media site?!
Tweeting？你是說它們用的是社交媒體網站--Twitter？
Rob: Of course not! Tweeting is a way of describing the sounds birds make. We sometimes say they chirp or trill too - making short, high- pitched sounds.
當然不是！Tweeting是用來描述鳥的叫聲的。有時我們也會說chirp（唧唧）或trill（囀鳴），就是說這種聲音較短而且音調高。
Jen: Yes, I knew that really. But a BBC radio station in the UK is playing a different birdsong every day. They're calling it 'Tweet of the Day' - which is a clever title.
沒錯，我知道。但英國BBC廣播電臺每天都在播放不同的鳥叫聲。它叫做'鳥語時光'，這個標題真的很棒。
Rob: Yes, it is and we'll talk more about that soon. But first I need to see if you are a twitcher - another name for a person who watches birds for a hobby. Do you know how many species of birds there are on Britain's official bird list? a) 396 b) 496 c) 596
是啊，的確很好。稍後我們再繼續探討這一話題。現在我要看看你是不是觀鳥迷（即把觀鳥當作業餘愛好的人）。請問，英國官方鳥名單上有多少種鳥？A. 396 B. 496 C. 596
Jen: Wow, there are lots but I have no idea so I will guess a) 396
哇，這麼多啊。但我不知道答案，蒙一個吧，我選A. 396
Rob: That is quite a lot, isn't it? We'll find out if you are right at the end of the programme. So, let's talk more about tweeting - of the bird kind. Where I live, there are many fields and trees and there is nothing more beautiful - and noisy - than the sound of the dawn chorus.
確實很多。在節目的最後，我們再看你的答案是否正確。現在咱們繼續聊聊鳥叫吧。我住的地方有很多田地和樹木，當然也有噪音。但是最美好的聲音莫過於清晨的鳥叫聲。
Jen: That's when all the birds start singing at sunrise - so first thing in the morning. It's not so beautiful if you are trying to sleep! But I know what you mean about birdsong - it makes you think about different places. Listen to this birdsong , for example…
一大清早，鳥兒們就開始名叫。如果當時你想多睡會，那你就不覺得這叫聲美妙了。我知道你說的"鳥叫"什麼意思。鳥叫會讓人想起很多地方。先來聽聽下面這段鳥叫聲。
Rob: Yes, the seagull - a scavenger which eats food scraps or other dead animals.
這是海鷗的叫聲，他們是食腐動物，專吃食物殘渣或其他動物的屍體。
Jen: Yes, it reminds me of the seaside, although I wouldn't describe that as a beautiful sound - more of a screech. Let's hear another sound from one of our feathered friends - or in other words, birds…
沒錯，雖然我覺得這種尖叫聲並不動聽，但這讓我想起了海邊。下面我們再來聽一段鳥叫聲。
Rob: That's the call of a blackbird - something I hear in my back garden. It's a very distinctive song - easy to recognise and something you hear a lot of in the British summer.
這是烏鴉的叫聲！在我家後花園裡就能聽到這種聲音。它的聲音非常獨特，容易辨識。我們經常在夏天聽到這種聲音。
Jen: And how about this bird - what does it make you think of?
那這種鳥叫聲呢？它讓你想起了什麼？
Rob: That has to be a cuckoo - its call sounds like its name - 'cuckoo'. It reminds me of springtime because that's when you first hear them. It's incredible that there are so many different birdsongs.
這肯定是布穀鳥，它的叫聲聽起來就像它的名字--'布穀'。這讓我想起了春天，因為你第一次聽到這種叫聲是在春天。哇，真是難以置信，竟然有這麼多種不同的鳥叫聲。
Jen: Well, that's why BBC Radio 4's Tweet of the Day features 265 different birdsongs. Sound engineers have been outside and captured - or recorded - the sounds of birds with strange names like the wood warbler, night jar, lesser whitethroat and yellowhammer.
是啊，所以BBC第四廣播臺的'鳥語時光'節目裡有265種聲音。錄音師們到室外捕捉並記錄鳥叫聲，這些的鳥的名字都很奇怪，如林柳鶯，歐夜鷹，白喉林鶯，金翼啄木鳥。
Rob: Great names. But listening to these strange-named birds may be enjoyable but their tweeting could also be useful.
好名字。雖然這些鳥的名字比較奇怪，但是聽著他們的叫聲或許能讓人心情愉悅，而且他們的叫聲也會很有用。
Jen: That's right. Sound experts say some birdsongs can help you concentrate when you're studying.
沒錯。聲音專家表示，在大家學習時，某些鳥叫聲有助於我們集中注意力。
Rob: Yes, a writer called Julian Treasure says birdsong can relax the body and make your mind more alert. He thinks the dawn chorus is like nature's alarm clock - 'it stimulates us cognitively' - so gets our brains working and thinking.
是的，一位名叫朱利安·特雷熱的作家稱鳥叫聲可放鬆身體、讓大腦更清醒。他認為清晨的鳥叫就像自然鬧鐘，刺激我們的認知能力--讓大腦開始工作。
Jen: Another study found the natural sounds of birdsong might stop you getting tired and sleepy after eating a meal. An experiment found playing birdsong to school children after lunch made them more alert. We should try it here Rob.
另一項研究表明，自然界的鳥叫聲或許能讓你在飯後不會疲乏和睏倦。實驗發現，午餐後，學校給學生放鳥叫聲，可讓學生更清醒。羅伯，咱倆應該在這裡試試。
Rob: We should. There's even a smartphone app that plays birdsong and claims to help you work better. But there's no need for an app, all I need to do is open the window and listen to the birds outside…
是的。你知道嗎，能播放鳥叫聲的手機應用聲稱這些鳥叫聲有助於我們更好地工作。但沒必要使用這些應用，我只需打開窗戶，聽聽外面的鳥叫聲就行了。
Rob: But are they all of the bird species I asked you about earlier? My question was how many species of birds are there on Britain's official bird list?
但外面有我之前問你的那些所有的聲音嗎？我的問題是英國官方鳥名單上有多少種鳥？
Jen: And I said a) 396 .
我選的A. 396
Rob: Sorry Jen, you're wrong. Incredibly there are 596 types of species in Britain. 286 of them are rare - so not many of them left. OK Jen, there's just time to remind us of some of the vocabulary that we heard today:
抱歉，詹尼，回答錯誤。實際上，英國有596種鳥，其中286種是稀有品種。好了，詹尼，該帶大家回顧一下今天聽到的詞彙了。
Jen: We heard…
我們聽到了：
species
物種、品種
tweeting
啁啾、鳥叫
chirp
唧唧
twitcher
觀鳥迷
dawn chorus
清晨鳥叫聲
scavenger
食腐動物
screech
尖叫
feathered friends
鳥
captured
捕捉
nature's alarm clock
自然鬧鐘
rare
稀有、罕見
Rob: Thanks. Time, now, for some more tweeting. Join us again soon for 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English .
謝謝你。我們現在再來聽聽更多的鳥叫聲。歡迎繼續收聽我們下一期的BBC六分鐘。
Both: Bye.
拜拜。
That was 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English dot com.
以上是bbclearningenglish. com英語六分鐘節目。