超有才“猩爸”：会做饭会网聊

He’s just had to sit through his offspring’s fourth birthday party, with the youngster tearing open his presents and jumping all over daddy’s head in his excitement. So I can understand the expression of weariness on Kanzi’s face when I ask him what he wants for lunch.

孩子的四岁生日派对，爸爸肯兹耐着性子坐着，看儿子撕扯着爸爸送的礼物包装纸、兴奋的在他脑边跳来跳去。当我问这位猩爸午餐想吃什么的时候，它脸上显出倦怠的表情，对此我深表理解。

Then someone mentions the word ‘omelette’ — a Kanzi favourite, not just to eat but even to cook — and he’s off. He clambers on to a ledge in the viewing room of his concrete, steel and glass home and positions himself in front of a large, touch-sensitive computer screen showing a grid of some 400 symbols, or ‘lexigrams’, each representing a particular object or idea.

这时有人说了“煎蛋卷”这样一个词——这是肯兹的最爱，不仅是它最爱吃的，甚至也是最擅长做的——然后它就起身去做饭了。它爬进自己钢筋玻璃构造的小屋，走到观赏室内的一个平台前，这里摆放着一台大型的，带有触感功能的电脑显示器，显示器上显示的符号网格中包括了400个象征符号，或者说图像符号，每个符号都代表了一个特定的东西或概念。

A huge forefinger skims dextrously over the icons, pressing the ones he wants. The computer voices his selections with an American accent.

肯兹用大大的食指灵巧的掠过这些按键，按下他想按的符号。电脑用带有美式英语腔调的声音读出他按下的键所组成的语句。

This remarkable creature is a superstar. For years he has been changing the way we humans think about our relatives in the animal world, and challenging our assumed superiority to them.

这只令人惊叹的猩猩是一位超级巨星。数年来，它一直促使我们改变自己对人类的动物界亲属的理解，促使我们反思自己是否比它们优越。

The bonobo is a more gentle and intelligent cousin of the chimpanzee. Its only natural homeland is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bonobos are our closest animal relative (sharing about 99 per cent of our DNA) and physically resemble our distant ancestors.

倭黑猩猩比它们的近亲、黑猩猩性情更加温和，智商也更高。刚果民主共和国是它们仅存的自然栖息地。倭黑猩猩是我们最亲近的动物亲属（与我们的DNA有99%相同），在行为举止上与我们的远祖十分相似。

Kanzi, now 33, has been fully immersed in the human world, and the English language, since birth. Scientists who have studied Kanzi all his life say he possesses a vocabulary big enough to follow and contribute to simple conversations.

现年33岁的肯兹自从出生以来就完全融入了人类世界，也熟谙英语。毕生都在研究肯兹的科学家认为，肯兹掌握的词汇量足以组织简短的对话，回答问题乃至提出问题。

He can cook, make knives out of stone and play the arcade game Pac-Man (he can get past the first round — a feat beyond many humans). He and his similarly talented late sister, Panbanisha, once even jammed with British rock star Peter Gabriel, playing along on a keyboard as the former Genesis man played a synthesizer.

他会做饭，用石头打磨刀具，会玩游戏厅里的“吃豆人”游戏（他能过游戏第一关——这已经比很多人都厉害啦）。他和他那位同样十分聪明的妹妹、潘班尼莎甚至与彼得·盖布瑞尔组织过虚拟乐队、“同台演出”。兄妹俩在键盘上演奏，那位前吉妮西丝乐队主唱在电子合成器上演奏。

小编注：吉妮西丝是七十年代、八十年代乃至九十年代最成功的摇滚乐队之一，彼得·盖布瑞尔曾是该乐队的主唱。

Kanzi loves chatting on the video-calling service Skype. Two days later, I hear from him. Kanzi wants to see my home and particularly the contents of the fridge.

肯兹喜欢用视频聊天软件Skype与人交谈。在我拜访他两天之后，我收到肯兹的讯息。他很想拜访一下我家，尤其像看看我家冰箱里有什么好吃的。

In Swahili, Kanzi means ‘buried treasure’ — a quality this creature has in buckets.

在斯瓦希里语中，肯兹这个名字意为“深藏不漏的珍宝”——这正是这只倭黑猩猩具有的特质。