本集內容

The changing sound of whale song 變化萬千的鯨魚之歌

學習要點

有關 “singing and songwriting 唱歌和寫歌” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

How long have the scientists studied the whales?

文字稿

Humpback whales are known for their haunting songs, and much like human tunes, they can quickly spread until all whales in the group are singing from the same song sheet.

座頭鯨以其醉人的歌聲而出名，就像人類的曲調一樣，鯨魚的歌聲可以迅速傳播，直到鯨群里的所有成員都同唱一曲為止。

This signature song evolves gradually over time as individual males add embellishments and others copy. Seen here off the east coast of Australia, this is what the whales were singing two years later. But every now and then a song completely disappears from the oceans and is replaced by something new in what scientists call a 'revolution event'.

這首主打歌曲隨時間的推移逐漸演變：雄性個體給曲子加以修飾，其它的鯨魚會模仿。人們在澳大利亞東岸附近看到了這些鯨魚，這是它們兩年后的歌聲。但時不時的，一首歌會從海洋中完全消失，隨后被新歌替代，科學家們把這一現象稱作一次 “蛻變性事件”。

Dr Jenny Allen, Honorary Research Fellow at Queensland University
Normally, when the song is evolving kind of through gradual changes, you can hear the songs from one year to the next and hear the similarities. But with a revolution, the song is completely different. They essentially start from scratch with a revolution.

珍妮·艾倫博士     名譽研究員     澳大利亞昆士蘭大學
“通常，當鯨魚之歌在逐漸演變時，你可以聽出前后兩年歌聲之間的相似之處，但隨著 ‘蛻變’，歌曲聽起來會完全不同。它們基本上會從零開始創作。”

Researchers studied whales over 13 years. They found that when they changed their tune, the new ballads were always more simple.

研究人員對鯨魚進行了 13 年研究。他們發現，當鯨魚改變曲調時，新的歌謠總是更簡單。

Dr Jenny Allen, Honorary Research Fellow at Queensland University
What this tells us is that there might be some kind of limitation to that learning. So there might be some kind of cap either in terms of how complex a thing they can learn or how much new material they can learn at one time.

珍妮·艾倫博士     名譽研究員     澳大利亞昆士蘭大學
“這說明鯨魚的學歌能力可能有一些局限性。也就是說，它們能學習多復雜的事物，或一次能學到多少新素材。”

And that could explain how the crooners of the sea adapt and change their songs, ensuring their musical repertoire stands the test of time.

這可以解釋這些海洋中的低吟歌手如何改編及改變它們的歌曲，確保它們所有的音樂曲目經得住時間的考驗。

詞匯

tunes 曲子，旋律

singing from the same song sheet 同唱一曲

embellishments 修飾、裝飾

start from scratch 從零開始

musical repertoire 全部音樂曲目

問題答案

They have studied the whales for 13 years.