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Whales are some of the most highly intelligent species on Earth. Each species of whale has a distinct communication system that often varies within populations. Since humans have been researching and observing these forms of communication, a question has surfaced: Could humans one day engage in acoustic (声学的) interactions with whales? And what could these interactions reveal about non-human intelligence? Researchers from the University of California and the Alaska Whale Foundation have been exploring whale-to-human communication with humpback whales, and they've

come up with some fascinating conclusions.

When scientists recorded a humpback whale contact call, known as a whup, and played it underwater around their research vessel, they were surprised when a whale named Twain became a more than willing participant in the call-and-response exchange. Scientists produced a single sound, or whup call, that Twain would then respond with her

own whup call to them, a "conversation" described in their PeerJ paper.

"It might loosely translate to 'hello' or some sort of greeting call for when animals come together or just to signal that individuals are in a certain location," says Dawson Hubbard, study author and animal behaviourist with Whale SETI. In this case, it was as if Twain was either saying "hello" to scientists or "I'm over here." But in both instances,

she was responding to and engaging with whale signals that humans produced.

Of course, whether whales want to communicate with humans varies by the temperament of the whale and by the situation. Just like some humans are more

extroverted than others, this could also be true for whales, although this would need more research to understand. Twain circled around the scientists' boat and was in proximity to its speakers. Permit limitations only allow for researchers to produce the sound for 20 minutes, but once they stopped, Twain continued to produce more signals before leaving. "What's cool about Twain is that she could have left at any point, as it wasn't a caged environment where she couldn't leave, so she was choosing to be close to us," says Hubbard.

Often, a willingness to communicate with humans would be food-mediated, but in this case, it wasn't. There have also been other examples. Gray whales in the San Ignacio lagoon in Mexico, for example, are famously friendly. In fact, some gray whales regularly approach boats and allow visitors to have gentle contact with them.

According to the Oceanic Society, this behaviour isn't shared amongst all gray whales, and in fact, this species of whale was almost hunted to extinction just a generation ago. But the behaviour may have been passed down through generations, and some gray whales in this population voluntarily approach humans. In the end, these and other encounters show that, in some cases, individual whales appear willing to engage with humans. And the more we learn about their mode of communication and what they are saying to us, the more we can learn about them.

1. To study whales, the scientists ___. A. caught whales for controlled experiments
   1. trained whales to converse with humans
   2. responded to whales with recorded calls
   3. played whale calls to interact with them
2. What can we infer from the passage?
   1. The maximum duration of whales' response is 20 minutes.
   2. Gray whales' friendly behaviour may be a learned feature.
   3. Whales' personality decides their willingness to interact.
   4. Humpback whales respond to humans for food rewards.
3. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage? A. Decoding the Talk Between Humans and Whales
   1. Are Whales Willing to Talk with Humans?
   2. Could Humans Ever Talk with Whales?
   3. Unlocking the Secret of Whale Whups