墨尔本PTE素材库——Frogs Signal Visually in Noisy Environments

墨尔本PTE素材库——Frogs Signal Visually in Noisy Environments

中文批注

说到青蛙之间是如何交流的，很多人肯定都会说，青蛙叫啊。但是一些巴西科学家则发现，其实蛙类也会通过视觉信号来进行交流哦！这段podcast的主要内容，就是围绕一种巴西树蛙如何用视觉信号进行交流的主题展开的。这段录音可以用来练习Dictation和Re-tell Lecture。当然不做任何题型，只做听力材料来练习听力也是很好的。

澳大利亚语言学院整理的墨尔本PTE素材库，旨在用最贴近PTE Official Question Criteria的材料，给大家提供一系列不同话题的PTE素材！让大家可以在平时练习听力、阅读、口语、写作，不至于陷入“题荒”的境地哦！例如这篇不错的听力练习，大家能否试着回答以下问题：

• How do Brazilian torrent frog signal each other by sight?
• Why do frogs communicated through semaphore system other than just through sound?

【Key Vocabulary】

sophisticated adj. 精致的，复杂的

Herpetologist n. 爬行动物学家

Signal v. 发信号，用信号通知

chirp v. 吱喳而鸣

peep n. 偷看，瞥见

squeal n. 尖叫声

intruder n. 入侵者

semaphore n. 信号，旗语

repertoire n. 保留节目，全部技能，计算机指令系统

Full Transcript

The Brazilian torrent frog has the most sophisticated visual communications system yet documented for a frog species.

Ask anyone what sound a frog makes and they’ll probably say “ribbit.” But there’s only one frog that makes that sound: the Pacific chorus frog. It may have become the go-to frog call because it just happens to live near sound artists in Hollywood.

Herpetologists have long known that frog calls are more diverse than just ribbit. But their communications are more diverse than just calls—they also signal each other by sight.

Say you’re a male of a species called the Brazilian torrent frog. And you live alongside a fast-flowing stream in the Amazon jungle. You happily chirp away, advertising your availability to whatever female torrent frogs are around. But when another male comes too close, your chirps give way to peeps and squeals.

So you wave your red and brown arm in front of your cream-colored face. The ensuing color contrast turns your body into a warning light. The intruder gets the hint and hops away to bother someone else.

Brazilian zoologist Fábio P. de Sá witnessed Brazilian torrent frogs using eighteen different visual displays, five of which had never been seen before in other frogs. He and colleagues published their findings in the journal PLOS ONE. [Fábio P. de Sá, Juliana Zina and Célio F. B. Haddad,Sophisticated Communication in the Brazilian Torrent Frog Hylodes japi]

The frog semaphore system probably developed because streams are noisy places. Instead of shouting over the sound of rushing water, these frogs communicate by jumping, head bobbing, arm waving or even wagging their toes.

The set of signals is the most sophisticated ever documented for a frog, but de Sá thinks that other frogs could have similarly complex repertoires, if only researchers would take the time to look. One thing is certain: it’s not easy being green, but it’s simple to be seen.

—Jason Goldman

(Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/frogs-signal-visually-in-noisy-environments/)