背景介绍

【背景】

动物如何思考？

关于鸟类大脑，猴子思维以及更多的惊人真相

　　研究者发现，灌木丛里的鸟儿也能把你骗到。猴子会因为自己判断失误而自我惩罚。至少已经有一只鹦鹉能够理解一些与“0”相近的数学概念。

　　动物可以非常忠诚－－正如这些网页上的故事所证实的那样。但是它们的聪明伶俐就不是那么显而易见的了。过去十年间，一项又一项研究表明，动物表现出过去认为只有人类才具有的能力。

　　这里以灌木丛鸟作为例子。几年以前，哥伦比亚大学教授，Nicky Clayton发现这些鸟儿惊人的狡猾，它们不仅能记住自己藏了什么食物，而且记得何时，多久以前，是否会被其它动物发现。"如果被其它鸟儿看着，它们会耐心等待，直到那鸟儿飞走它们才会搬动食物。" Clayton 说。

　　更为有趣的是，不是所有的鸟都用这种方法保护它们的食物－－只有那些曾经偷吃其它鸟的食物的鸟才会这样。"最了解小偷的人就是小偷。"Clayton说。 另一个最新的实验则启示我们，猴子在因为自己错误的选择而错失食物后会感到后悔：研究者声称，脑扫描表明猴子们有“本可以，本来会，本应该”的想法。

　　"我知道猴子聪明，但我没想到它们是如此聪明。" 杜克大学的神经生物学教授Michael Platt说，他是上述研究的负责人。

　　但是，或许没有其它动物比Alex，一只非洲灰鹦鹉，更加颠覆了传统观念。对于科学家Irene Pepperberg博士来说，Alex，这只30岁的实验对象削弱了“鹦鹉只是简单的模仿生物”这一观念。Alex不断接受实验，当它厌倦时，它会告诉Pepperberg博士：“想要回去”－－回到它的笼子里。如果实验要求令它不高兴了，Alex会说：“对不起。”这只鹦鹉无所顾忌地与博士玩耍。一天下午，Alex表现出只有人类和少数猩猩才拥有的理解力：０的概念。

　　Pepperberg博士拿来一个盛着不同颜色的球的盘子。她要求Alex数出每种颜色的球有多少个。Pepperberg博士用很短的句子提问：“什么颜色有６个？什么颜色有２个？”Alex把球丢起来扔到地上，感到厌烦。最后，它说：“５。”之后一再重复：“５，５。”盘子上并没有５个同样颜色的球。于是Pepperberg博士问到：“好的，你很聪明，什么颜色有５个？”

　　Alex 回答说：“没有。”

　　Alex不仅理解了抽象的数学概念，而且还引导Pepperberg博士问出问题，好让它来解答。 "我几乎把盘子摔在了地上。" Pepperberg博士说。

摘自学根网

英文原文

【原文】

The question has often been asked, Do animals think? I believe that some of them think a great deal. Many of them are like children in their sports. We notice this to be true very often with dogs and cats; but it is true with other animals as well.
Some birds are very lively in their sports; and the same is true with some insects. The ants, hardworking as they are, have their times for play. They run races; they wrestle; and sometimes they have mock fights together. Very busy must be their thoughts while engaged in these sports.
There are many animals, however, that never play; their thoughts seem to be of the more sober kind. We never see frogs engaged in sport. They all the time appear to be very grave. The same is true of the owl, who always looks as if he were considering some important question.
Animals think much while building their houses. The bird searches for what it can use in building its nest, and in doing this it thinks. The beavers think as they build their dams and their houses. They think in getting their materials, and also in arranging them, and in plastering them together with mud. Some spiders build houses which could scarcely have been made except by some thinking creature.
As animals think, they learn. Some learn more than others. The parrot learns to talk, though in some other respects it is quite stupid. The mocking bird learns to imitate a great many different sounds. The horse is not long in learning many things connected with the word which he has to do. The shepherd dog does not know as much about most things as some other dogs, and yet he understands very well how to take care of sheep.
Though animals think and learn, they do not make any real improvement in their ways of doing things, as men do. Each kind of bird has its own way of building a nest, and it is always the same way. And so of other animals. They have no new fashions, and learn none from each other. But men, as you know, are always finding new ways of building houses, and improved methods of doing almost all kinds of labor.
Many of the things that animals know how to do they seem to know either without learning, or in some way which we cannot understand. They are said to do such things by instinct; but no one can tell what instinct is. It is by this instinct that birds build their nests and beavers their dams and huts. If these things were all planned and thought out just as men plan new houses, there would be some changes in the fashions of them, and some improvements.
I have spoken of the building instinct of beavers. An English gentleman caught a young one and put him at first in a cage. After a while he let him out in a room where there was a great variety of things. As soon as he was let out he began to exercise his building instinct. He gathered together whatever he could find, brushes, baskets, boots, clothes, sticks, bits of coal, etc., and arranged them as if to build a dam. Now, if he had had his wits about him, he would have known that there was no use in building a dam where there was no water.
It is plain that, while animals learn about things by their senses as we do, they do not think nearly as much about what they learn, and this is the reason why they do not improve more rapidly. Even the wisest of them, as the elephant and the dog, do not think very much about what they see and hear. Nor is this all. There are some things that we understand, but about which animals know nothing. They have no knowledge of anything that happens outside of their own observation. Their minds are so much unlike ours that they do not know the difference between right and wrong.

中文译文

【中文译文】

人们会经常问到这样的问题：动物会思考吗？我想念有些动物很会动脑筋思考的。很多动物玩起来像小孩子们是一样的。我们注意到，这一点就猫狗说确实真是这样的，而对其他一些动物来说也是如此。
有些鸟类在玩起来的时候是很活跃的，有些昆虫类也是如此。蚂蚁，虽然干起活来很勤奋，可是它们也能抽出时间来玩。蚂蚁参加各种赛跑，摔跤，有时还在一起模拟战斗。在蚂蚁从事这些活动的时候，他的思想肯定很活跃。
可是，也有些动物从来也不玩耍，它们的思想性格令人觉得好像是属于比较严肃冷静的那种类型。我们从来没见过蛙类在一起玩耍。蛙类总是令人觉得很严肃的样子。猫头鹰也是这样：总让人看起来好像猫头鹰老是在考虑很重要的问题的样子。
动物在筑巢或垒窝的时候就会考虑得比较多。鸟在筑巢时就要搜索它能用得上的材料，在做这类工作时，鸟儿就在动脑筋。河狸在修水坝或垒窝的时候也会动脑子。河狸在寻找建筑材料，在把撒谎到的材料考虑怎样安放以及用泥土把这些材料粘合到一起时都在动脑子思考。有些种类的蜘蛛所垒的窝，除了有些思想的动物而外，是很少有什么动物能垒成的。
动物不但会思考，而且也会学习。有些动物比其他动物更关于学习。鹦鹉虽然在别的方面很蠢，可是会学说话。美国南方的模仿鸟会模仿很多不同的音响。马不用很长时间就能学会跟让它干的活儿有关的许多东西。虽然牧羊犬不懂得基他种狗所懂的绝大部分事物，可是牧羊犬却精通于怎样看护好羊群。
虽然动物会思考也会学习，可是却不能像人那样，对学会的事物作出任何真正的改革。每种鸟都有自己的筑巢方法，但总是用的同样的方式，互相之间也不学习。可是，你知道，人类就不是这样，人类总是要寻求新的盖房子的方式，人类总是要改进作一些事情的方式方法。
有许多事情，似乎是动物都知道怎么做。它们秘书科不用学就会或者是用我们还没了解到的方法就掌握了。据说它们都是凭着本能去做这类事情，都能像人类设计新房子那样，动物也能有周密的计划和仔细的考虑，那么动物的巢穴在式样上也会有所变化和改进的。
我提到了河狸的建筑上的本能。一位英国先生抓到了只小河狸，起先把它放到一只笼子里了，过了一会儿又把它放出来，放进了一间里面有很多种不同的东西的房间里。刚把这只小河狸放出来，它就开始施展了它筑坝的本能。它把凡是能找到的东西：刷子、筐子、靴子、衣服、棍子、煤块等等都集中到一起，然后来安排这些东西，好像要筑水坝似的。那么，如果它真的有头有脑的话，它就该知道，在这没有水的地方筑水坝是根本没用的。
道理很明显，当动物像我们人一样在凭各种感官学习事物时，动物对所学的事物几乎不多加考虑，这就是之所以动物不能较迅速地提高的原因。即使是像大象和小狗这样最聪明的动物，也不能对它们的所见所闻加以思考。事情还远不止如此。有些事情我们能懂，而这些事情，动物根本一窍不通。动物对于发生在自己的视野之外一切事物一无所知。动物的头脑与我们人类的头脑是很不相同的，所以动物的头脑就分辨不出真伪或对错。

词汇讲解：


1.mock模仿

如：
She opened her eyes wide in mock disbelief.
她睁大眼睛假装不相信。

The army training exercises ended with a mock battle.
军事训练演习以一场模拟战结束。

2. engage in从事，参加

如：I have no time to engage in gossip.
我无暇闲聊.

Is it wise to engage in active sports at your age?
我这样的年纪积极参加体育活动是否明智？

3. sober清醒的,沉着冷静的,稳重的,颜色暗淡的

如：He is perfectly sober.
他根本没喝醉。

They had to give a sober assessment of the situation.
他们必须对情况做个实事求是的估量。

4.grave严肃的,严重的,低沉的

如：
His face was grave when I told him my decision.
当我告诉他我的决定时, 他的脸色很严肃。

The situation poses a grave threat to world peace.
这局势对世界和平构成了严重的威胁。

5.let out放出，泄露

如：
The prisoners were let out to work in the garden.
囚犯们被放出到花园里去劳动。

When the land was seen, the sailor let out a whoop of joy.
当看见陆地时, 那水手发出一声欢呼。

(可可英语版权所有,未经允许请勿转载)