What is foreign accent syndrome（口音综合症）?
A man from Yorkshire claims（v.声称） to have started speaking in a broad（adj.明显的）Irish（adj.爱尔兰的） accent after waking up from a brain operation（n.手术）. Why?
He's never even visited Ireland, but when Chris Gregory came round from brain surgery（n.手术室） he reportedly started speaking like a native（n.当地人）.Mr Gregory had spent three days on a life-support machine（n.呼吸机） after surgery. When he came round he sang a stirring（adj.激动人心的） rendition（n.表演） of Danny Boy from his hospital bed, much to the surprise of staff and his family.
His strange behaviour（n.行为） is thought to be the result of a very rare condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS)（n.外地口音综合症）. People who have it start speaking in an entirely different（adj.完全不同的） accent. In some cases they speak fluently in a language they hardly know.
Doctors believe it is triggered following a stroke or head injury, when tiny areas of the brain linked with language, pitch and speech patterns are damaged.
The result is often a drawing out（拖长） or clipping（缩短） of the vowels（元音） that mimic the accent of a particular country, even though the sufferer may have had limited exposure to that accent.
"This syndrome（n.综合病症） results in a very particular constellation of changes（n.一系列的变化） to the way a person speaks," says Professor Sophie Scott, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience（n.神经系统科学） at University College London.
"They do not actually develop a whole new（n.完全新的） accent, it is the listener who attaches a particular label to what they are hearing. In the UK people are most likely to say someone with Foreign Accent Syndrome sounds French or German, while in the US people are mostly likely to be told they sound British."
There has been an estimated（adj.估计的） 50 recorded cases since the syndrome was first indentified in the 1940s. A slight increase in cases has occurred in recent years, but this is probably because researchers are now looking out for them, says Prof Scott.
One of the first reported cases was in 1941 when a young Norwegian（adj.挪威的） woman developed a German accent after being hit by bomb shrapnel（n.流散弹） during a World War II air raid. She was shunned（v.避开的） by friends and neighbours who thought she was a German spy（n.间谍）.
"It can be a very distressing(adj.悲伤的) experience for people," says Prof Scott.
"We tend to take our voices for granted but people don't like it when they don't sound like themselves. Society can be very judgemental when it comes to accents."
In 2006 Linda Walker, 60, woke from a stroke to find that her Geordie accent had been transformed into a Jamaican（adj. 牙买加的） one. At the time she said she was devastated（adj.被毁的）.
"I've lost my identity(n.身份), because I never talked like this before," she said.
"I'm a very different person and it's strange and I don't like it."
The condition can be permanent（n.永久的） or last for a few hours. Some people get help to try learn how to speak in their usual accent again, but it can be a difficult process（n.过程）.
"Foreign Accent Syndrome changes the melody（n.旋律、音调） of your speech, the rhythms（n.节奏） and specific sounds," says Prof Scott. "Changing that back to what it once was is not easy."
【参考翻译】
外地口音综合症揭秘 约克郡的一名男子声称从一次脑手术中醒来之后开始用明显的爱尔兰口音说话。为什么呢？
克里斯乔治从来没有去过爱尔兰，但是据说他从脑手术醒来之后，他的口音就象是爱尔兰本地人。
乔治术后三天才能离开生命维持机。醒来时，他在医院的床上唱了一首《丹尼男孩》，表演之精彩令医护人员及家人大为吃惊。
他这种奇怪的行为被认为由一种非常罕见“外地口音综合症”所致，这种病的患者会用一种完全不同的口音说话。有的案例中他们甚至能流利的说一种他们几乎不懂的语言。
医生们相信它是由中风或脑外伤所致的大脑中与语言、音调和言语模式相关的一小块区域损伤所引发。
这种变化经常是由元音的拉长或省略所致，而其与特定国家的口音极其相似。虽然病人或许与这种口音有过短暂接触。
伦敦大学认知神经学院的苏菲亚斯考特教授说：“外地口音综合症对人们说话的方式的改变体现在特定的几个方面。他们其实并没有形成一种新的口音，只是听者在为他们所闻贴标签。在英国人们很可能说有外地口音综合症的人说话象是法国人或德国人，而在美国，人们则很可能说他们说话有英国口音。”
自从20世纪40年代发现外地口音综合症，估计已经有50个记录在案的案例。近年来案例有所增加，但这也有可能是研究人员在寻找更多案例的缘故。斯考特教授说。
首批被报道的案例中的一例是在1941年，一位年轻的挪威女子在被二战空袭的炸弹弹片所伤之后开始用德国口音说话。她被朋友和邻居认为是德国间谍而遭疏远。
“这对患者来说可能是一种非常痛苦的经历，”斯考特教授说，“我们倾向于对自己的声音无保留的接受，但大众并不喜欢听起来与自己不一样的声音。在口音这件事上，社会有时是非常主观的。
2006年，琳达沃克60岁，从中风中醒来的她发现她的泰恩赛德口音变成了牙买加口音。她说那一刻她极为震惊。
“我变得不再是我，因为我之前从来没有那样子说过话，”她说，“我成了另外一个人，这真奇怪，我并不喜欢这样。”
这种情况可以是永久性的或只持续几个小时。有些人受到帮助去尝试着学习怎么用他们正常的口音去说话，但这可能会是一个非常困难的过程。
“外地口音综合症改变了你说话的旋律，节奏和特定的一些声音，”斯考特教授说，“把它们改回原来那样可不容易 |
