What does a circle sound like? Although the question  may sound strange, a new study indicates you already know the answer. Experimental psychologists Michael Turvey and Andrew Kunkler-Peck of the University of Connecticut hid various objects behind a screen, struck them, and let them resonate while a group of subjects listened on. Participants could consistently discern the size and shape they were hearing, distinguishing circles from triangles or medium-sized rectangles from long and narrow ones. The composition of the pieces—whether wood, steel, or plexiglas — didn't affect the results. 襎he vibrations of any struck object have a structure that depends on the boundaries of the object, and our hearing system is attuned to pick that out,?Turvey says. People might learn this skill unconsciously by associating sounds with visual events, but Turvey suspects humans are naturally attuned to the topological* meanings of sounds. Guess that blind people would still do well on these kinds of tests,?he says.

*    topology: 拓朴学，数学的一个分支，研究几何图形在连续改变形状时还能保持不变的一些特性，它只考虑物体间的位置关系而不考虑它们的距离和大小。

一个圆听起来是什么样子？这个问题乍一听有点古怪，一项新的研究却指出你已经知道答案了。康涅狄格大学的实验心理学家迈克尔·特维和安德鲁·昆克勒-佩克把各式各样的物品藏在屏风后面，敲击它们并使之共鸣，同时让一组受试者倾听。受试者们自始至终都能分辨听到的物体的大小和形状，区分出圆和三角形、中等大小的矩形和狭长的矩形。物体的材质——不论是木头、钢铁还是树脂玻璃——对结果没有影响。特维说：“任何受敲击物体都有一个由其边界决定的振动模式，而我们的听觉系统能够把它们分辨出来。”人们也许可以通过联系声音和视觉事件在无意中习得这种技能，但特维怀疑人类天生就能理解声音的拓扑学意义。他说：“我猜想盲人在这种测试中表现也会不错。”

Remarks：古诗云：“听雨寒更尽，开门落叶深”。 落叶可以听成雨点，看来这个理论也不是绝对的。

摘自《英语学习》2002年第4期（J-04）