纪录片《为何讲话》 第3期：牙牙学语

Cameras and microphones recorded

摄像机和麦克风不分昼夜地

every second of Deb's son's life

记录着戴布儿子的生活

from the moment he was born until he was three-years-old.

从他出生的那一刻起直到三岁为止

Capturing in precise detail the process of how we learn to talk.

捕捉下了学习讲话过程中的每个微小细节

Blue ball. Blue ball.

蓝球 蓝球

Blue ball, yeah.

对 就是蓝球

From the earliest unintelligible¹ babble²

从最初并无实际意义的牙牙学语

to the emergence³ of a very first word.

直到第一个完整单词的出现

Apple. Apple.

苹果 苹果

Yeah, apple.

对啦 苹果

My interest going in was really to understand

我的兴趣在于了解

the earliest stages of language formation,

语言形成的最初阶段

and the typical development stages in language,

以及语言发展的几个典型阶段

a child will go from babbling⁴ to using single words

从孩子牙牙学语到使用单个的词语

usually as a complete request and descriptions, and then

通常是一个简单的请求或描述

from that they will start what's called the two-word stage

接下来就会进入所谓的"双词阶段"

where they'll put two words together like "more milk"

两个词语一起使用 比如"更多牛奶"

and from that, very quickly more complex grammatical structures emerge.

之后更复杂的语法结构就会快速形成

1 unintelligible   

adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的

参考例句：

• If a computer is given unintelligible data, it returns unintelligible results.如果计算机得到的是难以理解的数据，它给出的也将是难以理解的结果。
• The terms were unintelligible to ordinary folk.这些术语一般人是不懂的。

2 babble   

v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语

参考例句：

• No one could understand the little baby's babble. 没人能听懂这个小婴孩的话。
• The babble of voices in the next compartment annoyed all of us.隔壁的车厢隔间里不间歇的嘈杂谈话声让我们都很气恼。

3 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

4 babbling   

n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密

参考例句：

• I could hear the sound of a babbling brook. 我听得见小溪潺潺的流水声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Infamy was babbling around her in the public market-place. 在公共市场上，她周围泛滥着对她丑行的种种议论。 来自英汉文学 - 红字