英语听力：自然百科 猫有九条命（在线收听）

The cat's earliest ancestors probably hunted both on the ground and in the trees. To survive, they needed not only claws, but remarkable balance, an aptitude all cats retain to this day. In keeping with its reputation, the cat usually does land on all fours, and scientists have come to understand how. Slow-motion photography reveals that cats always right themselves in a precise order. The head rotates first based on messages from the eyes and inner ear. Then, the spine twists and the rear quarters align. At the same time, the cat arches its back to reduce the force of impact.

猫最早的祖先可能在地面与树上神出鬼没。为了生存,他们需要的不仅仅是爪子,而且卓越的平衡感也是必不可少。后者是所有的猫时至今日还保留着的重要生存技能。为了保持其名誉,猫通常都是四脚着地在地上爬行,科学家已经明白了猫们这样做的目的。慢动作摄影捕捉到猫总是竭力追求一种精确的顺序。头部旋转要以眼睛和内耳的讯息为基础，然后脊柱弯曲,后躯排成一条线。与此同时,猫背拱起减少冲击力。

Despite its agility, the cat faces particular dangers in today's modern cities. Here although hundreds of feet above the ground, the indoor cat is just as attracted by moving prey as is any other cat. If any thing, it may be a stir-careen through unscreened windows that the phenomenon now has a name,high-rise syndrome. At the Animal Medical Center in New York City, doctors were perplexed when they found that victims of higher falls often had less severe injuries than those that fell a shorter distance.

尽管身手矫捷,但猫在今天的现代城市中却极其危险。离地面数百英尺高的大楼,室内的猫会像过去一样被猎物吸引，任何移的其他猫也可以吸引它。任何东西,只要是一种不对劲的能量束都会吸引猫的注意力。很多猫冲向没有关的窗户这一现象现在有了一个专有名词——高空综合症。在纽约的动物医疗中心,医生们对受伤者们感到大惑不解,他们发现更高的距离伤势反而较轻，较短的距离伤势反而严重。

It's been about a month since you were here, lad. We'd been puzzled by the high-rise syndrome for a long time, the name that we give for cats falling out of windows. A clinical impression is that cats that fall from medium-level stories are hurt much worse than cats that fell from even greater distances. That seemed to defy our logic that cats that would fall farther would be hurt less. So we undertook a study to examine the records on cats that had been admitted here for falling out of windows. And it actually confirmed that our clinical impression was correct. It seems that cats that fall from higher stories have enough time to reach free fall like a parachutist and are relaxed when you experience trauma when you are relaxed, you'll probably avoid injury; when you experience trauma when you are very rigid and very tight, you will attain a maximized injury.

小家伙，你在这里大约有一个月的时间了。我们有很长一段时间困惑于高层综合症，这是我们给猫从窗户掉下去的一种统称。科学表象为猫从更高的距离落下伤势较轻，较短的距离伤势反而严重。这似乎不合我们的逻辑,猫可以说是掉下去的楼层越高，受到的伤害越小。所以我们进行了一项研究检查猫从窗户掉下去的记录。实验实际上证实了我们的科学表象是正确的。那些猫似乎从更高的楼层掉落时有足够的时间来展开自由落体及放松,就像你经历创伤后会自我放松一样,这样你可能会避免伤害。当你经历创伤,你表现僵硬，非常紧绷,你就会承受最大化的伤害。

The cat may not have nine lives. But its uncanny abilities to sail through the air is almost certainly responsible for the myth.

这只猫可能没有九条命。但它驾驭高空的神秘能力或许只有神话才可以解释。

词语解释：

spine n. 脊柱

impression n. 印象

uncanny a. 神秘的，不可思议的