Cats And strings
猫咪和线绳
Most cats and kittens love to play with string, but if a feline begins to swallow string, it could become a deadly game. If you're a cat owner, you might have witnessed a bizarre fact about cat behavior: once a cat begins eating a bit of string, it continues swallowing it until it has swallowed the entire string, even though it would be safer and simpler if the cat coughed it up.
多数猫咪喜欢玩线绳，但如果一只猫开始吃线绳，那会变成一个致命的游戏。如果你是猫的主人，你可能目睹过猫咪稀奇古怪的行为：当猫开始吃一根线绳时，它会不断吞绳子直到吞掉整根线绳，尽管猫咪将绳子咳出来会安全并简单得多。

Veterinary scientists aren't completely certain why this happens, but they know it has to do with the swallowing mechanism in the cat’s throat and esophagus. For cats, swallowing is an automatic response to having food or other substances in their mouths. A reflex in the front of the mouth pushes food to the back of the throat.
兽医学的科学家们不能完全肯定为什么会发生这种事，但他们知道这和猫咪喉咙及食道的吞咽机能有关系。对猫来说，嘴巴里有食物或其他东西时，它便会出于本能进行吞咽。嘴巴前部的一块肌肉将食物推向喉咙后部。
Once the nerve endings in the back of the throat get stimulated, they automatically cause the cat to swallow, sending the substance down the esophagus. When a bit of string reaches the back of the throat, the cat has no control over this swallowing mechanism, and the string continues to make its way down the one-way street of the cat's esophagus. While this reflex may help a cat hold onto struggling prey in the wild, it can cause the cat harm if what's in its mouth isn't food.
只要喉咙后部的神经末梢受到刺激，猫就会自动地开始吞咽，把东西送到食道里。当一根绳子碰到喉咙后部时，猫就无法控制这种吞咽机制，绳子就继续沿着猫的食道一路而下。尽管这块肌肉能帮助猫在野外控制住挣扎的猎物，但当猫口中的不是食物时，这就会给它带来伤害。
Swallowed string can get lodged in the cat's intestines and cause severe vomiting, appetite loss, rapid dehydration, and listlessness. If one end of the string is caught around a cat's tongue, it is very important that the cat's owner never try to pull the string up through the cat's mouth. Doing this might cause the string to cut open the intestines and possibly kill the cat. Instead, your vet can decide if surgery is needed to remove the string.
吞下的绳子会卡在猫的肠子里并导致严重的呕吐、食欲不振、急性脱水以及精神萎靡。如果绳子的一头缠住了猫的舌头，对猫的主人来说不要把绳子从猫的嘴巴里拉出来是很重要的。因为这样做的话可能导致绳子把猫的肠子割开并可能把猫杀死。反之，应该由你的兽医来决定是否需要动手术来取出绳子。