无字幕（盲听）

It’s a common saying that elephants never forget. But these magnificient animals are more that … drives. Unlike many provers, the one about … accurate. Elephants know every members in their … … recognize many as … as … Looking inside their head we can see why. Elephants are both the latgest brain in manual.. as well as … quotion … … expect body size. Elephants eq is nearly high as champhees despite … relation. … has made the .. to human brain. With many … and sweet … … into long term memories.

有字幕（精听）

It’s a common saying that elephants never forget, but these magnificent animals are more than giant walking hard drives. Unlike many proverbs, the one about elephant memory is scientifically accurate. Elephants know every member in their herd, able to recognize as many as 30 companions by sight or smell. Looking inside their heads, we can see why. The elephant boasts the largest brain of any land mammal, as well as an impressive encephalization quotient. This is the size of the brain relative to what we’d expect for an animal’s body size, and the elephant’s EQ is nearly as high as a chimpanzee’s. And despite the distant relation, convergent evolution has made it remarkable similar to the human brain, with as many neurons and synapses and a highly developed hippocampus and cerebral cortex. It is the hippocampus, strongly associated with emotion, that aids recollection by encoding important experiences into long-term memories.

据说大象永远不会忘记，但是这些壮丽的动物不仅仅是巨大的行走硬盘。与许多谚语不同，关于大象记忆的谚语在科学上是准确的。大象能够认识它们群体中的每一个成员，通过视觉或嗅觉能够辨认出多达30个同伴。从它们的脑袋里观察，我们可以看到原因所在。大象拥有所有陆地哺乳动物中最大的脑袋，以及令人印象深刻的脑重指数。这是指脑与动物体型相对应的大小，大象的脑重指数几乎与黑猩猩相当。尽管它们的亲缘关系较远，但是趋同进化使它们的大脑与人类的大脑非常相似，拥有相同数量的神经元和突触，以及高度发达的海马体和大脑皮层。海马体与情感密切相关，通过将重要的经历编码成长期记忆，帮助记忆回忆。

生词

单词

  1. magnificent: 壮丽的
  2. proverbs: 谚语
  3. herd: 兽群
  4. companions: 同伴
  5. boast: 拥有
  6. encephalization: 脑化指数（encephalization quotient）
  7. quotient: （某一品质或特点的）程度；数量
  8. convergent: 趋同进化
  9. neurons: 神经元
  10. synapses: （两个神经元的相接处）突触
  11. hippocampus: 海马（沿侧脑室的突起，据称是情感、记忆及植物性神经系统的中枢）
  12. cerebral: 脑的
  13. cortex: 皮层
  14. aids: 帮助

短语

  1. relative to: 与…有关
  2. similar to: 与…相似
  3. associate sth with: 和…有关联

课外加餐

地球上记忆力最好的动物还有哪些

  1. 黑猩猩：作为和人类最接近的动物，经研究证实，黑猩猩是地球上已知仅次于人类的最聪明的动物，其行为和社会行为都与人类非常相似。有科学家曾经做了一个测试，6只黑猩猩和12名大学生进行记忆力比赛。测试结果显示，黑猩猩的表现优于大学生。
  2. 海狮：海狮是已知的记忆能停留时间最长的动物物种，更加令人印象深刻的是，海狮的寿命平均为25年，它们这样的记忆就相当于我们人类在70岁的时候，还能记佳在30岁时所学到的东西。而人类如果真的到了70岁，很可能因为身体和大脑的老化而遗忘许多事情。
  3. 猫：猫的短期记忆有在不断增强，虽然已经驯养了许多年，但是它们的短期记忆仍是一般动物的几十倍。与人类相比，猫的短期记忆是人类的20倍。