LYRICS
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Phil. And I'm Georgie. For most parents, their baby's first word is a special moment.
大家好。这是BBC六分钟英语。我是Phil。我是Georgie。对于大多数父母来说，他们宝宝说出的第一个词是一个特殊的时刻。
This happens after an early stage of language development called babble, when babies start making simple sounds like "ga" or "ma".
这发生在语言发展的早期阶段，称为牙牙学语，这时婴儿开始发出“ga”或“ma”等简单的声音。
Babies have to learn to use their mouth muscles to make specific sounds. They experiment with different sounds and mouth shapes. So, what exactly is happening when babies start learning to speak? What do you think, Georgie?
婴儿必须学会使用口腔肌肉发出特定的声音。他们尝试不同的声音和嘴形。那么，当婴儿开始学习说话时究竟发生了什么？你怎么看，Georgie？
Well, Phil, I'm no expert, but I imagine they watch the adults around them and kind of copy and imitate what they do. What do you think?
好吧，Phil，我不是专家，但我想他们会观察周围的成年人，并模仿他们的行为。你怎么看？
I definitely think that's what my children did when they were learning to speak.
我绝对认为这就是我的孩子在学习说话时所做的。
Well, let's compare our ideas with those of an expert - Professor Julian Pine from Liverpool University, speaking here on BBC Radio 4, and he lists the skills that babies develop in order to speak:
好吧，让我们将我们的想法与利物浦大学的朱利安·派恩（Julian Pine）教授的想法进行比较，他在BBC Radio 4上发言，列出了婴儿为了说话而发展出的技能：
Well, one of the first things the child's got to do is, they've got to break down the speech stream into words.
好吧，孩子要做的第一件事就是，他们必须将语音流分解成单词。
Then they've got to link the words to the things that they refer to in the environment, so they've got to learn what the words mean. [Right].
然后他们必须将单词与他们在环境中提到的事物联系起来，所以他们必须学习单词的含义。
In this programme, we'll discover how babies learn to speak, and, as usual, we'll learn some useful new vocabulary.
在本节目中，我们将发现婴儿如何学习说话，并且像往常一样，我们将学习一些有用的新词汇。
And on the subject of words, remember you can find a list of this programme's vocabulary on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Some people find it helpful to study the vocabulary before listening.
关于单词，请记住，您可以在我们的网站bbclearningenglish.com上找到本节目的词汇表。有些人发现在听之前学习词汇很有帮助。
And another thing to do before listening is ask my question, Georgie. We've mentioned the babbling noises that babies make when learning to speak, but at what age does this usually start?
听之前要做的另一件事是问我的问题，Georgie。我们提到了婴儿在学习说话时发出的咿呀声，但这通常是在什么年龄开始的？
Is it: a) around 6 months old? b) around 9 months old? or, c) around 1 year old? OK, I think my best guess would be a) around six months old.
是：a)6个月左右？b)9个月左右？还是c)1岁左右？好的，我认为我的最佳猜测是a)6个月左右。
OK, well, we'll find out a little bit later on in the programme. Let's return to Professor Pine's list. The first thing babies do is recognise where individual words start and end.
好的，我们稍后会在节目中揭晓答案。让我们回到派恩教授的列表。婴儿做的第一件事是识别单个单词的开始位置和结束位置。
For this it helps to know that, in English at least, words often begin with a stressed syllable – the sound in a word which is emphasised by being spoken longer or louder.
为此，了解至少在英语中单词通常以重读音节开头会有所帮助——单词中的声音通过说得更长或更大声来强调。
Learning this takes time, and here, Professor Pine and Michael Rosen, presenter of BBC Radio 4's programme, 'Word of Mouth', discuss children who haven't quite discovered it yet:
学习这一点需要时间，派恩教授和BBC Radio 4节目“口耳相传”的主持人迈克尔·罗森（Michael Rosen）讨论了尚未完全发现这一点的孩子：
We can see this in the kind of errors that children make, because little kids will often call a giraffe a 'raffe' by leaving off the unstressed syllable because that's not typical English.
我们可以从孩子们犯的错误中看到这一点，因为小孩子经常会通过省略非重读音节来将长颈鹿称为“raffe”，因为这不是典型的英语。
Ooh, and I've got an example of this - my son used to call a machine a 'sminge' – he just hit the stress, he didn't bother with the 'ma' bit. Yeah, exactly.
我有个这样的例子——我儿子过去常常把一台机器称为“sminge”——他只注意重音，没有注意“ma”这个音。是的，没错。
Or he may have thought it was 'my sminge' of course, that's the other thing. And the classic example, of course, is 'nana' instead of 'banana'.
或者他可能以为那是“my sminge”，当然，那是另一回事。当然，经典的例子是“nana”而不是“banana”。
Yes, I think I call them that! One error, or mistake, infants make is calling a giraffe a 'raffe' because they cut off the first syllable 'gi' because it's not stressed.
是的，我想我就是这么叫的！婴儿犯的一个错误是把长颈鹿称为“raffe”，因为他们把第一个音节“gi”截掉了，因为它不是重音。
The classic example of this is when children say 'nana' instead of 'banana'.
典型的例子是孩子们说“nana”而不是“banana”。
A classic example of something means the best example of it, one containing all the features you expect such a thing to have. For example, ants are a classic example of animals working together.
某事物的经典例子意味着它的最佳例子，它包含您期望该事物具有的所有特征。例如，蚂蚁就是动物合作的典型例子。
The second skill babies develop as they learn to speak is correctly linking a word to the object it refers to, in other words knowing what the word means.
婴儿在学习说话时发展的第二项技能是正确地将单词与其所指代的物体联系起来，换句话说，知道单词的意思。
As adults we do this without thinking, but it's actually much harder than it sounds, as Professor Julian Pine explains to BBC Radio 4 programme, 'Word of Mouth'.
作为成年人，我们无需思考就能做到这一点，但实际上，正如朱利安·派恩教授在BBC Radio 4节目“口口相传”中解释的那样，这比听起来要难得多。
Well, we take for granted the fact that it's kind of obvious what words refer to in the environment, but actually if you look at it from the child's point of view,
我们理所当然地认为单词在环境中所指代的东西很明显，但实际上，如果你从孩子的角度来看，
it's really difficult to work out what a word refers to because there's so many things it could refer to.
很难弄清楚一个单词所指代的东西，因为它可以指代的东西太多了。
So, you know, the speech signal is very ambiguous. How does the child know that you're talking about the cup in front of you, or the pen in front of you when you say 'pen' or 'cup'?
语音信号非常模糊。当你说“pen”或“cup”时，孩子怎么知道你在说你面前的杯子或你面前的笔？
As adults, we take it for granted that when a friend says, "apple", they mean that round, red thing on the table. To take it for granted means to assume something without question.
作为成年人，我们理所当然地认为，当朋友说“apple”时，他们指的是桌子上那个圆圆的红色东西。To take it for granted意味着不加质疑地假设某事。
But for a baby, the link between the word 'apple' and the object is not obvious, it's ambiguous, meaning it has more than one possible meaning.
但对于婴儿来说，“apple”这个词和物体之间的联系并不明显，它是模棱两可的，这意味着它有不止一种可能的含义。
Wow! Who knew so much was going on inside babies' sponge-like brains as they soak up the sounds they hear? Right, Phil, isn't it time to reveal the answer to your question?
谁知道婴儿在吸收他们听到的声音时，他们海绵般的大脑里发生了这么多事情？对了，Phil，现在不是时候揭晓你问题的答案了吗？
It is indeed. The question was, at what age do babies start to make babbling noises? And I said it was around six months. And that is the correct answer. Yay!
的确如此。问题是，婴儿在什么年龄开始发出牙牙学语的声音？我说是六个月左右。这是正确答案。
Babies start to do this when they're about 6 months old. OK, let's recap the vocabulary that we've learned starting with babble, the meaningless noises babies make as they're learning to speak.
婴儿在大约6个月大时开始这样做。好的，让我们回顾一下词汇，从babble开始，babble是婴儿在学习说话时发出的毫无意义的声音。
The stressed syllable in a word is the sound which is emphasised by being longer, louder, or higher. An error is a mistake.
单词中的stressed syllable是通过变长、变响或变高来强调的音节。error就是失误。
The classic example of something is the most typical example of it, containing its most important features.
事物的classic example是事物最典型的例子，包含其最重要的特征。
If you take something for granted, you accept or assume it without question. And finally, the adjective ambiguous means having more than one possible meaning.
如果您take something for granted，您会毫无疑问地接受或假定它。最后，形容词ambiguous表示具有多种可能的含义。
Once again, our six minutes are up, but if you're ready for more you'll find the worksheet with a quiz and a transcript for this programme on our website – see you there soon! Bye! Bye!
六分钟时间又到了，但如果您准备了解更多，您可以在我们的网站上找到带有测验的工作表和本节目的成绩单——很快再见！再见！再见！
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