科学美国人60秒 SSS 科学家让狗成为我们最好的朋友

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard¹.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。

All domestic dogs belong to a single species that descended² from wolves—despite vast differences in size, appearance, behavior and temperament³ among breeds.

所有的家犬都属于同一个物种，都是狼的后裔，尽管不同品种之间在体型、外表、行为和性情上存在巨大差异。

While dogs first became domesticated⁴ tens of thousands of years ago, the breeds we know today are largely the result of selection for certain traits by humans over the past several hundred years.

虽然狗最早是在数万年前被驯化的，但我们今天所知道的品种在很大程度上是人类在过去几百年里对某些特征进行选择的结果。

“We have an enormous amount of diversity within the same species, and we can rarely observe such diversity in nature. So it’s a wonderful system to understand how evolution works within a short period of time.”

“我们在同一物种中有巨大的多样性，我们很少能在自然界中观察到这种多样性。因此，在短时间内了解进化是如何工作的，是一个非常棒的系统。”

Evolutionary⁵ biologist László Garamszegi of the Institute of Ecology and Botany in Hungary. He says that our playing with dogs is a key component⁶ of the human-canine⁷ bond.

匈牙利生态和植物研究所的进化生物学家拉斯洛·加拉姆塞吉说。他说，我们和狗玩耍是人犬关系的一个重要组成部分。

But breeds vary in their degree of playfulness. For example, a breed called the Vizsla is very playful.

但是品种的好玩程度各不相同。例如，一种叫做维兹拉的品种非常好玩。

“On the other hand, the Chihuahua doesn’t like to play at all. Of course, you can train a little bit, but the average level of playfulness will be always lower than in the Hungarian Vizsla.”

“另一方面，吉娃娃根本不喜欢玩。当然，你可以稍微训练一下，但平均的玩耍水平总是低于匈牙利的维兹拉。”

Garamszegi and his colleagues analyzed⁸ the playfulness of more than 89,000 purebred dogs across 132 breeds, from Pomeranians to Great Danes.

加拉姆塞吉和他的同事分析了 132 个品种的 89,000 多只纯种狗的好玩性，从博美犬到大丹犬。

The dogs were all given a test measuring their degree of enthusiasm for a game of tug-of-war with people.

这些狗都接受了一项测试，以衡量它们对与人进行拔河比赛的热情程度。

“We were interested in whether breeds could be distinguished⁹ by their average level of playfulness and what are the evolutionary forces that makes different breeds behave differently.”

“我们感兴趣的是，这些品种是否可以通过它们的平均玩耍水平来区分，以及是什么进化力量使不同品种的行为不同。”

The researchers found that after controlling for the degree of genetic¹⁰ relatedness between breeds, dogs bred for herding¹¹ and sporting were more playful on average than dogs that had been selected for other purposes like the nonsporting and toy breeds.

研究人员发现，在控制了不同品种之间的遗传关联度后，平均而言，用于放牧和运动的狗比用于非运动和玩具等其他目的的狗更爱玩。

“For some functions, like hunting or herding, you need trainable dogs and the very strong owner-dog relationship. So if you have a playful dog, it’s easy to train. One way to train a dog is to play with the dog.”

“对于某些功能，比如打猎或放牧，你需要训练有素的狗，以及非常牢固的主人与狗的关系。所以如果你有一只爱玩的狗，训练它很容易。训练狗的方法之一就是和狗一起玩。”

By tracing playfulness back genetically¹² through canine evolution, the researchers showed that the ancestors of today’s dogs already possessed¹³ an intermediate level of playfulness.

通过从基因上追溯狗的进化过程，研究人员发现，今天狗的祖先已经具备了中等程度的爱玩性。

“So this was one of the traits that was also important during the process of domestication¹⁴.”

“所以这是在驯化过程中也很重要的特征之一。”

Selective breeding often amplified¹⁵ the trait.

选择性育种通常会放大这种特征。

“But some breeds, like the toy dogs, they actually lost some of this playfulness.”

“但有些品种，比如玩具狗，它们实际上失去了一些这种俏皮感。”

Toy breeds were originally meant to be fashion accessories for the aristocracy, so playfulness could be a liability.

玩具品种原本是贵族的时尚配饰，所以好玩可能是一种负担。

“They need to match with your clothes; they need to match with your traveling habits. But they do not need too much attention. And in this particular situation, if you have a playful dog, it just creates a problem for you.”

“它们需要与你的衣服搭配；它们需要与您的旅行习惯相匹配。但他们不需要太多关注。在这种特殊情况下，如果你有一只顽皮的狗，它只会给你带来问题。”

The study is in the journal Biology Letters.

该研究发表在《生物学快报》杂志上。

The research could help people choose the optimal¹⁶ pet for their family. But ultimately ...

该研究可以帮助人们为家人选择最佳宠物。但最终...

“If you want to train your dog, you have to play a lot with your dog.”

“如果你想训练你的狗，你必须经常和你的狗玩。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。

1 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 temperament   

n.气质，性格，性情

参考例句：

• The analysis of what kind of temperament you possess is vital.分析一下你有什么样的气质是十分重要的。
• Success often depends on temperament.成功常常取决于一个人的性格。

4 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

6 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

7 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。

8 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

10 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

11 herding   

中畜群

参考例句：

• The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
• They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

12 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

13 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

14 domestication   

n.驯养，驯化

参考例句：

• The first was the domestication of animals. 第一个阶段是驯养动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In northwestern China, there is no evidence for endemic domestication of any animals. 在中国西北，没有任何当地动物驯化的迹象。 来自辞典例句

15 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

16 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。