聪明的鹦鹉

科学家们教会了一只鹦鹉说英语。那又有什么稀奇呢？原来这一回这只鹦鹉不仅会说话，而且还懂得这些话的意思。Alex是养在美国印第安那州普杜大学的一只灰色的非洲鹦鹉，它掌握了将近40个词汇，它能用这40个词汇识别50多种玩具，讨要、有时则拒绝接受某种玩具。它看来能把这些词作为抽象符号来熟练运用。换句话说，它能使用语言的原始形式。

The Smart Parrot

Scientists have taught a parrot English. So what？ This time, it seems, the bird not only says the words but also understands them. Alex, an African grey parrot residing at America＇s Purdue University in Indiana, has a vocabulary of about 40 words with which it identifies, requests and sometimes refuses more than 50 toys. It seems to manipulate words as abstract symbols- in other words, to use a primitive form of language.