听力文摘：犬吠为何？

Why Dogs Bark?

犬吠为何？

Have you ever wondered why do dogs bark?

你可曾想过犬缘何而吠呢？

In terms of evolution, there has to be a reason for barking, or it probably wouldn’t be there. Is it to warn of predators¹? But dogs bark when there are no predators around. Is it play? Some dogs play without barking. In fact, people who study canine² behavior find there isn’t much of a pattern to barking–it seems to be an all-purpose noise.

从进化的角度来说，狗汪汪叫肯定是有理由的，要不这叫声肯定在漫长的进化过程中给淘汰掉了。那么这叫声是为了警告捕食者么？但是周围没有捕食者的时候狗也会汪汪叫。那么它只是在玩耍么？有些狗玩的时候也没有发出叫声呀。事实上，研究狗类行为的专家告诉我们，狗的叫声并没有固定的形式。它只是是一种多用途的响声。

Now here’s another fascinating thing: adult wolves don’t bark. They growl³, and they whine⁴, but no barking. And dogs evolved from wolves. So where did the bark come in?

另一件让人着迷的事情是：成年的狼并不会吠叫。它们只是嚎叫、哀鸣，但并不吠叫。但是狗是从狼进化而来的，那么，狗的这种吠叫声是从何而来的呢？

Mark Feinstein and Ray Coppinger of Hampshire College in Massachusetts have a theory. These biologists have noted⁵ that while adult wolves don’t bark, adolescents do. Wolf pup barking seems to be an intermediate noise you grow out of.

对此，来自马萨诸塞州罕布什尔学院的马克·范斯坦和雷·科平杰提出了一个理论。这两位生物学家注意到，虽然成年的狼不会吠叫，但是狼崽会。狼崽的吠声就好比是在它成长发声过程中的一个中间产物。（译者注：就好比我们在学习一门新的语言时产生的中介语）

Now, a few tens of thousands of years ago, wolves and people started becoming friendly species. You can imagine a person tossing a bone to a friendly wolf from time to time. But “friendly” is the key. Nobody ever gets close to a hostile wolf. So over many thousands of years we would have been gradually selecting for certain behavioral traits–playfulness, low hostility⁶, the ability to bond. Very puppy-like behaviors!

现在我们来谈谈人的因素，数万年前，狼和人便开始进化成为可以友好相处的物种。你可以想象人们会时不时地向一只温顺的狼扔块骨头，但是“温顺”二字是关键，没人会靠近一只充满敌意的狼。因此，实际上，成千上万年以来，人类都在渐渐地、有意识地进行着选择，选择具有特定行为特征的狼群。这些特征包括爱嬉戏玩闹，温顺，合群。这些行为难道不像小狗吗？

See what’s happening? A species that resembles a wolf puppy that never grows up may have slowly evolved in this way. That species would retain its puppy-like behaviors, such as barking, but never grow into growling⁷, howling adult wolves. That species we would now call “dogs.”

现在明白这是怎么回事了吗？就像这样，一种类似于狼崽的物种开始慢慢的进化着。这一物种保留了那些幼崽般的行为特征，比如吠叫，它们也不会进化为嚎叫的成年狼。这一物种便是我们现在把它称之为“狗”的动物。

1 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
• Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。

3 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

4 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

7 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。