背景介绍

【背景】

狗尾巴的动作也是它的一种“语言”。虽然不同类型的狗，其尾巴的形状和大小各异，但是其尾巴的动作却表达了大致相似的意思。一般在兴奋或见到主人高兴时，就会摇头摆尾，尾巴不仅左有摇摆，还会不断旋动；尾巴翘起，表示喜悦；尾巴下垂，意味危险；尾巴不动，显示不安：尾巴夹起，说明害怕；迅速水平地摇动尾巴，象征着友好。狗尾巴的动作还与主人的音调有关。如果主人用亲切的声音对它说“坏家伙！坏家伙！”它也会摇摆尾巴表示高兴；反之，如果主人用严厉的声音说：“好狗！好狗！”它仍然会夹起尾巴表现不愉快。

这就是说，对于狗来说，人们说话的声音仅是声源，是音响信号，而不是语言。人类的微笑和狗摇尾巴是类似的沟通形式，但直到我读了柯伦（Stanley Coren）的《狗的智慧》（The lntelligence of Dogs），才知道狗只对有生命的物体摇尾巴。柯伦博士说，独自卧在那里的狗，虽然面前有它喜欢的无生物，也不会摇尾巴。狗可能爱吃某种食物，但它不会对着食物摇尾巴，除非另有生物在场。珍·乔琪（Jean Craighead George）在《怎么和你的动物说话》（How to Talk to Your Animals）一书中也有相同的见解：“狗只对生物摇尾巴，摇尾的作用相当于人类的微笑，只对人、狗、猫、松鼠、甚至老鼠和蝴蝶而生，但不会针对无生物。狗不会对着晚餐或床、车、棍子、甚至肉骨头摇尾。”

不过这种说法还有一些争议。对狗科动物颇有研究的学者毕克夫告诉我说，这点其实是错的：他曾由另一个房间望见狗对着晚餐摇尾巴，是不是因为狗发现有人在观察自己呢？不太可能（读者可以自己在家做这个实验）。我在柏克莱的兽医朋友费德曼也同意毕克夫的看法。不论如何，狗的尾巴能够传递非常多的讯息，就算狗对生物或无生物都一视同仁地摇尾巴，依然不能改变狗喜欢亲密情感接触的事实，而那也是它们见到我们时摇尾的主要原因，没有人会误解它们的意思。只要看看狗摇着尾巴走向生人的情况就可以知道：就算不是大部分，至少也有许多人立刻就会开始和狗展开热情洋溢甚至叫人难为情的对话：“你这个小可爱、小甜心、漂亮的小家伙，看看你多聪明，多棒！来，亲一个。”而这只狗盛情难却，果然遵命。

摘自百度贴吧

英文原文

【英文原文】

Point at a ball and a dog will look at the ball, whereas a cat will probably look at your hand. Dogs seem to have a ready understanding of how human beings direct attention by pointing, and can follow our gestures almost as if they thought the same way we do.

Of course, dogs probably aren’t born knowing anything about people. We just carefully train them to look, fetch, and so on, right? Or do we? A comparative psychologist at the Max Plank Institute in Germany,named Michael Tomasello ran a series of tests on dogs,in which they had to find which sealed container had yummy dog food in it. The only hint they got was from a human being who looked at or pointed at the right container. This wasn’t hard for dogs at all.

But it was hard for wolves. Wolves that have been raised by people should have had the same success at finding the sealed container, but they didn’t. Even chimpanzees, which are very smart animals indeed, weren’t as fast at finding the food as dogs. What does this mean?

One interpretation is that dogs do, in fact, have a natural ability to understand forms of human communication. Even nine-week old puppies found the food, suggesting the skill is there before training. Wolves don’t have the skill, suggesting that it has developed in dogs since the time they branched off from their evolutionary predecessors.

There is debate about this idea. But Tomasello thinks that in the past fifteen thousand years, as human beings and dogs have evolved together, the basis for fido’s ability to understand what you mean may have become encoded in his genes.

【词汇讲解】

1.comparative adj. 比较的，相当的

如：He majored in comparative literature.
他的专业是比较文学。

The comparative study of folk [fəuk]knowledge and culture.
对民间知识和文化的比较研究

2.whereas conj. 然而，却，鉴于

如：Wise men love truth, whereas fools shun it.
[谚]智者热爱真理，愚者回避真理。

Whereas we want a flat, they would rather live in a house.
我们想住公寓房，他们却想住一个大宅子。

3.encode 编码

如：We should encode the message for security reasons.
为了确保安全，我们应该对信息进行编码。

4.chimpanzee 黑猩猩

5.branch off: 从...分支出来

(可可英语版权所有,未经允许请勿转载)