美国发明新仪器 有助人类与海豚对话

For years man has dreamt of being able to communicate directly with animals. And now it appears that it could be a step closer thanks to a group of American scientists.

千百年来人类一直梦想有朝一日能同动物直接对话，直到今天，一群美国科学家的研究也许能使我们更接近这个梦想。

They are in the process of developing an underwater computer that attempts to recognize dolphin sounds and then respond in real time.

他们正在研发一种水下电脑，这种仪器能识别海豚的声音，并据此及时做出回应。

They are hoping to test the machine off the Florida coast in the next few weeks, and, if successful, it will be a huge step in establishing communication between humans and animals.

科学家们计划几个星期后在佛罗里达海域对该仪器进行检测，如果成功的话，他们将取得人类与动物交流领域的重大突破。

The machine works by using hydrophones to pick up the dolphin sounds and LEDs to show the direction they came from. When they receive a sound, the divers will then play back one of eight 'words' and see if dolphins mimic them.

这台仪器通过水听器采集海豚的声音，并用LED灯标明声音采自何方。当水听器收听到海豚的叫声，潜水员们会在八种不同的声音中选择一种进行播放，看看海豚是否会对"这句话"做出回应。

The scientists, led by Dr Denise Herzing, will then catalogue all the sounds the dolphins make and, they hope, establishing the building blocks of the dolphin's language.

这个由丹尼斯 赫尔辛领头的研究小组会将他们采集到的海豚声音进行分类，并试图从中找出构成海豚"语言"的某些基本要素。

Once this is completed, Dr Herzing and her team hope to create a language they can use to talk back to the dolphins using the machine.

一旦实验成功，赫尔辛博士及他的团队就能破译海豚的语言，并通过这种仪器同海豚进行交谈。