Did you ever do this when you were young:
你年轻的时候有没有这样做过呢？
Dive to the bottom of a swimming pool with a friend, then have your friend yell a phrase into the water?
与朋友一起潜入游泳池底部，然后让你的朋友在水中冲你喊一句话。
You listen to the phrase all low and garbled, then try to guess what it was.
你听到模糊不清的句子，然后努力猜测那是什么。
This low, muffled, underwater noise is how the world would sound if you were inside a womb.
这种沉闷的水下声音就如你在还在子宫时能听得到的声音。
Researchers have placed tiny microphones inside a pregnant woman's uterus.
研究人员在孕妇的子宫体内安置了一个微型麦克风，
They found that outside noises became much lower and muffled, and about thirty decibels quieter.
他们发现外界的声音变得更小更低沉，安静了大概30分贝。
Do these noises just wash around the fetus like so much amniotic fluid, or can the fetus actually hear them?
这些声音只是像羊水那样环绕在子宫周围？还是胎儿能够听到它们？
Actually, after twenty eight weeks a fetus begins to hear the internal sounds of its mother's body-the rush of blood and the rumble of the digestive system.
事实上，28周后胎儿开始听到母亲体内的声音-血液流淌声和消化系统的隆隆声。
By the third trimester, the fetus can respond to external noises too.
到了妊娠晚期，胎儿也能对外界的声音有反应。
As many expectant mothers know, a sudden car horn can start a etus kicking.
就如许多准妈妈知道的那样，突如其来的汽车喇叭声也能引起胎儿的踢动。
Not only can fetuses hear outside noises, they sometimes remember what they've heard.
胎儿不仅能够听到外界的声音，他们有时也会记住他们所听到的。
One study found that infants who repeatedly heard a soap opera theme song in the womb reacted positively when they heard that same music after birth.
一项研究发现，婴儿出生后，会对在子宫里反复听到的肥皂剧的主题曲做出积极的反应。
Perhaps this ability to remember helps a newborn recognize its mother's voice.
或许这种记忆能力帮助一个新生儿认出母亲的声音。
A fetus can't hear specific words or intonation–these are too muffled. Instead, they remember the rhythm of their mothers' voices.
胎儿不能听到具体的词或者声调-这些都太低沉了。相反地，他们记得住母亲声音的节奏。
To check this out, researchers gave newborns a special nipple rigged to a tape recorder.
为了验证这一点，研究人员给了新生儿一个特殊的与录音机相连的奶嘴。
By changing the way they sucked, these infants could modify the cadence of a prerecorded voice.
通过变换他们吸允的方式，这些婴儿能够改变预先录制的语音节奏。
Eighty percent of these newborns sucked in the way that produced a voice with their mother's specific rhythm.
百分之八十的新生儿吸吮时的声音与母亲声音的特定节奏一致。
