《英语周报》有声：鹦鹉不止会学舌

　　Alex

　　2007-2008 学年 第8期

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　　HOST: A talking parrot named Alex died earlier this month at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. For thirty years, Alex helped scientists learn about the brains of avians, or birds. He changed the idea that parrots can only repeat words without understanding them. Faith Lapidus has more.

　　FAITH LAPIDUS:In nineteen seventy-three, Irene Pepperberg was studying at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was working to get a doctoral degree in chemistry. Then a television program changed her plans.

　　The program told about how birds sing. Miz Pepperberg completed her requirements in chemistry. But she decided she would study bird recognition and communication instead.

　　She bought an African Grey parrot at a pet store in nineteen seventy-seven. Miz Pepperberg called the parrot Alex.

　　She spent the next thirty years teaching Alex. The parrot learned more than one hundred words. He could identify fifty different objects by name. He could recognize seven colors and five shapes.

　　For example, when shown a group of objects, Alex could identify which ones were blue, metal or round. He could count objects to six, and was working on seven and eight when he died. His abilities changed the way many scientists understand the avian brain.

　　IRENE PEPPERBERG: "What color's smaller?"

　　ALEX: "Orange."

　　IRENE PEPPERBERG: "Orange is right. Good boy!"

　　Alex seemed pleased with his abilities. Sometimes he appeared to criticize two other parrots that Miz Pepperberg was studying. "Talk better," he would tell Arthur and Griffin. Reseachers in Miz Pepperberg's laboratory, however, say the parrot might just have been repeating words he had heard.

　　Experts say Alex had the intelligence of a five-year-old child and the emotions of a two-year- old. Miz Pepperberg said he would sometimes get angry and throw things on the floor.

　　Alex and Miz Pepperberg did their research at a number of America's finest universities. They often appeared on television science programs worldwide. Irene Pepperberg published a book called "The Alex Studies" in nineteen ninety-nine. She says she will continue her research with Arthur and Griffin.

　　What Alex taught Miz Pepperberg about learning and communication has been used to help children with learning disabilities.

　　此部分内容由美国知音提供