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When we think about how to represent sound visually, most of us probably picture those volume-dependent sine waves. But that"s not how John Stuart Reid pictures sound. He"s patented something called a CymaScope. And he"s using it to help us learn more about how animals like dolphins communicate.
说到如何用图像表示声音，大多数人都会想起与音量有关的正弦曲线。但John Stuart Reid并不用这种方法把声音图像化。他已经为CymaScope申请了专利，并用这项技术进一步了解海豚等动物是怎样交流的。
The CymaScope contains a thin film of water-basically a membrane. Sound-even at frequencies humans can"t hear-is directed at the water. The water vibrates in response, and a camera records the vibration. The end result is a spherical image of sound patterns.
CymaScope含有一层薄薄的水膜。声音（即使是频率超出人耳识别范围的声音也行）被送入水中，水就会相应地震动。用录像机拍下这种振动，最终能得到声音模式的球形图像。
Reid is working with Jack Kassewitz, a dolphin researcher in Florida. Kassewitz has recordings of dolphins in specific situations-for instance, what he knows to be distress calls from a variety of individual animals. Those calls have been imaged by the CymaScope. Kassewitz also plans to have a number of different dolphins echolocate on a ball. He hopes that"ll give us a visual picture of how dolphins recognize a ball.
Reid正在与佛罗里达的科学家Jack Kassewitz合作。Kassewitz有海豚在特殊情况下的录像，例如不同的海豚个体发出的求救信号。CymaScope将这些信号记录成像。 Kassewitz还计划让一些海豚凭用回声测定一只球的方位。他希望藉此得到海豚识别球时的声音图像。
It might sound far-fetched, but Reid and Kassewitz believe these sound images will provide a library of what we might call dolphin words. Which could one day let us communicate with them with their own vocabulary.
这听上去可能有些牵强，但Reid和Kassewitz认为这些声音图像能建立起一本"海豚语词典"。将来有一天，也许我们能用海豚的语言与海豚交流。
词汇注解：
patent : obtain a patent for (an invention or process) 取得（某项发明或方法的）专利权.
vibrate : (cause sth to) move rapidly and continuously backwards and forwards; shake （使某物）振动, 颤动, 摇摆
spherical : of or relating to a sphere 球形的
distress call n. 遇险信号
far-fetched : not readily believable because of improbable elements therein 牵强的
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