"Could you tell me the difference between the words howl, wail, bellow and yowl? Thank you very much! "
George, Chengdu, China
This week George asks us about four words that describe noises made by humans and animals.
To answer the question, Wang Fei once again opens the famous BBC FX cupboard. Listen to the programme to hear examples of the noises these words describe together with example sentences of the words in use.
Can you identify some of the sounds the words refer to by looking at the example sentences below?
A wailing baby
The dogs were yowling.
They collapsed into howls of laughter.
The wailing of the siren could be heard above the traffic noise.
The sergeant major bellowed loudly at the troops.
Remember, if you have a question you would like to ask our team, email us at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
We might make a programme about your question.
听力原文
Howl, Wail, Bellow and Yowl 四种叫声
Wang Fei: 大家好，欢迎收听你问我答节目。今天的问题来自一位成都的听友George. 我们一起来听一听他的问题。
Insert
Hello, I'm George. I'm from Chengdu. Could you tell me the difference between the words: howl, wail, bellow and yowl. Thank you very much!
Wang Fei: George 想知道下面四个词的区别howl, wail, bellow 和 yowl. 这四个词看起来很难，如果查字典，它们都可能被翻译成吼叫、嚎叫的意思，但是字典里很难描述清楚它们之间的细微区别。不过，我们一会儿一起听一听这些不同的声音，就知道它们的区别了。
So let's start with the word yowl. We're going to listen to some clips of yowling and that will help us understand what exactly this word means.
Yowl examples
A man in pain
Dogs in pain
A donkey giving birth
Wang Fei: 下面是一些例句来描述我们刚才听到的声音–
The man gave a yowl in pain. The dogs were yowling. The donkey yowled as it gave birth.
所以yowling 是一种让人不太高兴的声音，特别是表示一种痛苦的声音。和汉语中的哀叫、哀号很相似。那什么是howling 呢?
Howl examples
Dogs howling
People laughing
The wind howling
A man in pain
Wang Fei: 我们刚才听到的声音都可以用 howling 来描述
The dogs started howling. They collapsed into howls of laughter. We can hear the howling wind. He howled with pain.
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我们也可以用howl 来描述一种低沉的痛苦的声音。它也经常被用于描述那种深沉的发自内心的笑声。但最常用的还是用来描述狗的低沉的吼叫声。
So, what's next? It's the word wail. Hmmm... 这个声音是不是会让人开心点呢?
Wail exmaples
A child crying
A siren
A woman crying
The wind wailing
Wang Fei: The baby wailed on. The wailing of the siren could be heard above the traffic noise. The woman wailed with despair. The wind wailed outside the house. 所以 wail 和howl 非常相近。 但是howling 是指比较低沉的声音，而wailing 则是指那种很高、很尖的叫声。
Ok, now it's time for George's last word, bellow. 这个词的拼写很像 below这个词，但是注意了，这里面有两个l, 同时，它们的重音也不相同，我们听一下: bellow, below, bellow, below.
Bellow examples
Cows bellowing
Someone commanding a parade
People laughing
A foghorn
Wang Fei: The cows bellowed as they were moved. The sergeant major bellowed loudly at the troops. They bellowed with laughter. The ship's horn let out a long mournful bellow. Bellowing 这个词描述的是一种很低、很大的声音。它与wailing 这种声音又不同，它可以用来描述愤怒的吼叫声，同时也可以用来描述大笑声。 我们刚才讲的这四个词中，常用的是 howling 和 wailing.
Well I do hope that you've enjoyed this programme, George, and that you feel it has answered your question. 如果其他听友也有关于英语词汇和语法方面的问题，请给我们发电子邮件。我们的邮箱地址是 questions.elt@bbc.co.uk. Goodbye!