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Wow, look at that! What a nice belly!
哇　看看　多么漂亮的肚皮
Oh, you're so cute, yes you are. Oh, yeah!
哦 你太可爱了　太可爱了
But responding to pets as though
然而尽管人们对宠物的反应就像
they were children can be seen in a very different light.
对待孩子一样　但还是可以看出有所不同
I think we can think of little puppies brought home as parasites.
我认为人们把小狗作为寄生动物带回家
They don't do anything useful, they're not perceived
它们不需要做任何事　不作为食物来源
as a food source, they're not perceived as a guard dog.
它们不需要看家
They are simply brought home for fun.
它们只是为了给家里增添乐趣
They are essentially moving our
它们让我们把养育孩子的注意力
focus away from having children on to having pets.
转移到了饲养宠物
I think it's safe to say that
我们可以说
dogs have evolutionally been very successful.
狗狗进化的比较成功
If you compare them to wolves,
把它们和狼比较一下
you'll see that wolves are now an endangered species
你就会发现狼现在是频临灭绝的物种
while dogs, of course, are all around the world.
而狗呢　遍布全世界
The cuckoo is perhaps quite a good analogy,
布谷鸟大概是个很好的例子
because the baby cuckoo, of course,
因为布谷鸟的幼鸟
Being planted in somebody else's nest,
被放置到其他鸟的窝里
prompts mother bird to look after baby cuckoo,
提醒雌鸟去照顾年幼的布谷鸟
even though there's nothing in it for the mother bird at all.
尽管雌鸟的窝里根本没有它自己的孩子
They actually, through their behaviour,
实际上 它们是凭借它们的行为
through their looks, get exactly what they want.
和它们的外貌　得到所需要的照顾
They may be parasitic in that we cannot help ourselves, but what we get
也许是人类导致了它们的寄生性　
in return is probably sometimes much greater than what we put in.
但是我们从它们那里得到的也许更多

重点解释

I think we can think of little puppies brought home as parasites.我认为人们把小狗作为寄生动物带回家

think of:想到；考虑

What do you think of modern art?

你对现代艺术有何看法？

She'd never think of imposing herself.

她决不想勉强别人接纳自己。

prompts mother bird to look after baby cuckoo,even though there's nothing in it for the mother bird at all.提醒雌鸟去照顾年幼的布谷鸟，尽管雌鸟的窝里根本没有它自己的孩子

look after:照料；看管

I took my turn to look after the baby.

轮到我照顾婴儿了。

He has many affairs to look after.

他有许多事务要照料。

even though:即使；尽管

Even though you do not like it, you must do it.

即使你不喜欢这工作，你也得做。