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Not all sounds made by animals serve as language,
and we have only to turn to
that extraordinary discovery of echo-location in bats to see a case
in which the
voice plays a strictly utilitarian role.
To get a full appreciation of what this means we must turn first to
some recent
human inventions. Everyone knows that if he shouts in the vicinity
of a wall or
a mountainside, an echo will come back. The further off this solid
obstruction
the longer time will elapse for the return of the echo. A sound made
by tapping
on the hull of a ship will be reflected from the sea bottom, and by
measuring the
time interval between the taps and the receipt of the echoes the
depth of the
sea at that point can be calculated. So was born the echo-sounding
apparatus,
now in general use in ships. Every solid object will reflect a
sound, varying according
to the size and nature of the object. A shoal of fish will do this.
So it is a
comparatively simple step from locating the sea bottom to locating a
shoal of
fish. With experience, and with improved apparatus, it is now
possible not only
to locate a shoal but to tell if it is herring, cod, or other
well-known fish, by the
pattern of its echo.
A few years ago it was found that certain bats emit squeaks and by
receiving
the echoes they could locate and steer clear of obstacles--or locate
flying insects
on which they feed. This echo-location in bats is often compared
with radar, the
principle of which is similar.
New words and expressions生詞和短語(yǔ)
bat
n. 蝙蝠
strictly
adv. 明確地
utilitarian
adj.實(shí)用的
appreciation
n. 理解
elapse
v. 障礙物
hull
n. 消逝
interval
n. 船體
receipt
n. 間隔
apparatus
n. 收到
shoal
n. 儀器
herring
n. 魚(yú)群
cod
n. 鱈魚(yú)
squeak
n. 尖叫聲
參考譯文
動(dòng)物發(fā)出的聲音不都是用作語(yǔ)言交際。我們只要看一看蝙蝠回聲定位這一極不尋常的發(fā)現(xiàn)，就可以探究一下聲音在什么情況下有絕對(duì)的實(shí)用價(jià)值。
要透徹理解這句話的意義，我們應(yīng)先回顧一下人類(lèi)最近的幾項(xiàng)發(fā)明。大家都知道，在墻壁或山腰附近發(fā)出的喊聲，就會(huì)聽(tīng)到回聲。固體障礙物越遠(yuǎn)。回聲返回所用時(shí)間就越長(zhǎng)。敲打船體所發(fā)了的聲音會(huì)從海底傳回來(lái)，測(cè)出回聲間隔的時(shí)間，便可算出該處海洋的深度。這樣就產(chǎn)生了目前各種船舶上普遍應(yīng)用的回聲探測(cè)儀。任何固體者反射聲音，反射的聲音因物體的大小和性質(zhì)的不同而不同。魚(yú)群也反射聲音。從測(cè)定海深到測(cè)定魚(yú)群，這一進(jìn)展比較容易。根據(jù)經(jīng)驗(yàn)和改進(jìn)了的儀器，不僅能夠確定魚(yú)群的位置，而且可以根據(jù)魚(yú)群回聲的特點(diǎn)分辨出是鯡魚(yú)、鱈魚(yú)，這是人們所熟悉的其他魚(yú)。
人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，某些蝙蝠能發(fā)出尖叫聲，并能通過(guò)回聲來(lái)確定并躲開(kāi)障礙物，或找到它們賴(lài)以為生的昆蟲(chóng)。蝙蝠這種回聲定位常�？膳c雷達(dá)相比較，其原理是相似的。
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