پادکست BBC شماره 249 – Why do gibbons sing duets

پادکست BBC شماره 249

سلام با دویست و چهل و نهمین سری از پادکست‌های BBC 6 Minute English در خدمت شما هستیم. در این قسمت درباره گیبون ها (نوعی میمون های دست دراز) که متعلق به گروه پستانداران است، صحبت میشود. آنها میمون های کوچکی هستند که در جنوب شرقی آسیا زندگی می کنند. وقتی با یکدیگر ارتباط برقرار می کنند، اینطور به نظر می رسد که آنها می خوانند اما چرا؟
راب و نیل در مورد جیغ زدن میمون ها، صحبت می‌کنند، آهنگهایی که گیبون ها می خوانند و تکامل زبان بشر در حالی که برخی از واژگان مرتبط را یاد میگیرید.

در زیر کلمات کلیدی که باید با آن‌ها آشنا شوید برایتان توضیح داده شده‌اند:

gibbons : small apes that live in Southeast Asia

gibbons : میمون دراز دست

primates : animals belonging to the same group as humans, which includes monkeys and apes

primates : راسته پستانداران نخستین پایه

duets : songs sung by two people

duets : قطعه موسیقی یا اواز دونفری

a close shave : a dangerous or difficult situation you just manage to avoid

a close shave : وضعیت خطرناک یا دشواری که شما فقط می توانید از آن جلوگیری کنید

screeching : making a loud, high and unpleasant sound

screeching :صدایی بلند و ناخوشایند

face-off : argument or fight

face-off : بحث یا دعوا

evocative : brings strong feelings or memories to mind

evocative : احساسات یا خاطرات قوی را به ذهن می آورد

cacophony : mix of loud noises, which often sound out of tune

cacophony : ترکیبی از صداهای بلند ، که اغلب از تن صدا خارج می شوند

territory : an area of land

territory : اراضی، زمین

alert : warn

alert : هشدار

predators : animals that kills and eats other animals

predators : حیواناتی که حیوانات دیگر را می کشند و می خورند

ancestor : an animal – or human – from the past that a modern animal or human has descended from

ancestor : یک حیوان – یا انسان – از گذشته ای که یک حیوان یا انسان مدرن از آن سرچشمه گرفته است

evolutionary : a gradual process of change or development

evolutionary : یک روند تدریجی تغییر یا توسعه

Transcript of the podcast

پادکست BBC 6 minute English – Why do gibbons sing duets

Rob
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Rob…

Neil
And hello! I’m Neil.

Rob
Hi there Neil. Have you ever had a close encounter with a monkey or an ape? 

Neil
Well I’m sitting right next to you, Rob?

Rob
Very funny. Neil is referring to the fact that all humans are descended from apes, and apes and monkeys belong to a group of animals called primates.  The difference is that monkeys have tails, and apes don’t. 

Neil
Well, I didn’t know that. On a serious note… I had a close shave with some monkeys once in Bali.

Rob
A close shave is where you only just manage to avoid a dangerous situation. So Neil, what happened?

Neil
I was walking up a mountain on my own and suddenly a bunch of monkeys jumped out of nowhere, blocking my path.

Rob
Oh goodness! OK. So what did you do?

Neil
After standing there for ages while the monkeys screeched at me, I turned round and walked back the way I came.

Rob
OK. If you screech at someone it means to make a loud, high and unpleasant sound. So the monkeys won that face-off, then!

Neil
Absolutely! Yes, they did! And a face-off, by the way, means an argument or fight.

Rob
Well, today’s show is about gibbons and the different sounds they make. Gibbons are small apes that live in Southeast Asia. And while Neil’s monkeys screech unpleasantly, gibbons sound like they are singing.

Neil
Musical apes – that’s nice! So how about today’s quiz question, Rob?

Rob
OK, good idea. How far can a gibbon’s voice travel through the forest? Is it…

a) 500m

b) 1km

or c) 5km?

Neil
Hmm. Well, I have to guess and I’m going to say b) 1km.

Rob
You’ve never heard one.

Neil
Never heard one…

Rob
OK. We’ll find out later on in the programme whether you’re right or wrong. Now let’s listen to what a gibbon really sounds like.

Interview with Dr Esther Clarke, researcher at Durham University
Interviewer: Let’s just hear this. [gibbons calling] That’s an absolutely wonderful, evocative sound, isn’t it? Beautiful sound. And what are they doing there then? That is … I said talking to each other.

Dr Clarke: Well this is their… They’re singing together. So a male and a female, when they hold a territory together, will sing every morning what they call a duet. All the groups…

Interviewer: What we call a duet.

Dr Clarke: Yes, absolutely. And they’ll all sing together at the same time, and the whole forest will be alive with this cacophony of song.

Rob
So the gibbons make an evocative sound. If something is evocative it brings strong feelings or memories to mind.

Neil
And something that is evocative is usually pleasant, Rob.

Rob
It is. And what’s also interesting is that the apes are singing in pairs – one male and one female. They are singing duets together. So a duet is a song sung by two people – or in this case, sung by two gibbons!

Neil
And a lot of gibbons are singing duets at the same time – which Dr Clarke describes as a cacophony. Cacophony means a mix of loud noises, which often sound out of tune.

Rob
And that could easily describe us singing together!

Neil
Let’s not do that.

Rob
But what’s the reason for the gibbon duets, Neil?

Neil
Well, the songs advertise the relationship between the male and the female. And they also help to make clear which territory – or bit of land – belongs to a pair or group of gibbons.

Rob
Gibbons also use different sounds to alert – or warn – other gibbons about danger from predators – these are animals that eat other animals. The gibbons use a quiet ‘hoo hoo’ call to communicate that a leopard is nearby, and an even quieter ‘hoo hoo’ call for an eagle.

Neil
You’re very good at that Rob.

Rob
Thank you.

Neil
Now let’s hear more from Dr Clarke about this. How does she describe language?

Dr Esther Clarke, researcher at Durham University
Yes, so the idea is that if we find things like context-specific calling in non-human primates, it suggests that way back in time the ancestor that we shared with them also had context-specific calling so basically it just gives us some clues [as] to the evolutionary roots of complex communication like language.

Rob
Dr Clarke says that if we go far enough back in time humans and other primates such as monkeys and apes have the same ancestor.

Neil
Right. And ancestor means an animal – or human – from the past that a modern animal or human has descended from. So if this common ancestor used context-specific calls like modern gibbons – then it could have passed on this ability to humans a long time ago.

Rob
Context-specific calling means different calls for different situations, for example one call for ‘leopard’ and another for ‘eagle’.

Neil
And evolutionary means a gradual process of change or development.

Rob
OK, let’s have the answer to the quiz question. Earlier I asked: How far can a gibbon’s voice travel through the forest? Is it: a) 500m b) 1km or c) 5km?

Neil
And I said b) 1km.

Rob
And you were right! A good guess! Perhaps you do know a lot about gibbons. So well done! Now, can we hear today’s words again maybe in a gibbon’s voice Neil?

Neil
I’m not sure about that. I’ll do it in a human voice.

primates

a close shave

screech

face-off

gibbons

evocative

duet

cacophony

territory

alert

predators

ancestor

evolutionary

Rob
Thank you. Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. You can hear more 6 Minute English programmes on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.  Please join us again soon.

Both
Bye.

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