经济学人192:狗狗,人类最好的朋友

 　　Human beings and dogs

　　人类与狗

　　Man’s best friend

　　狗，人类最好的朋友

　　Scientific research throws new light on a very old partnership¹

　　科学研究为人狗关系提供新视角

　　Aug 6th 2011 | from the print edition

　　Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behaviour Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet.

　　《狗的心灵世界：狗类行为科学新发展让你更加走进爱犬的内心世界》

　　By John Bradshaw. Basic Books; 324 pages; $25.99. Published in Britain as “In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding”. Allen Lane; ?20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

　　作者：约翰?布拉德肖；Basic Books出版社出版；324页；售价25.99美元；英国出版名为《为狗辩护：为何狗需要我们的理解？》；Allen lane出版社出版；售价20英镑。本书也可在Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk购得。

　　THE relationship between people and dogs is unique. Among domesticated² animals, only dogs are capable of performing such a wide variety of roles for humans: herding³ sheep, sniffing⁴ out drugs or explosives and being our beloved companions. It is hard to be precise about when the friendship began, but a reasonable guess is that it has been going strong for more than 20,000 years. In the Chauvet cave in the Ardèche region of France, which contains the earliest known cave paintings, there is a 50-metre trail of footprints made by a boy of about ten alongside those of a large canid that appears to be part-wolf, part-dog. The footprints, which have been dated by soot⁵ deposited from the torch the child was carrying, are estimated to be about 26,000 years old.

　　人狗关系可谓独一无二。在各种家畜中，只有狗可为人类担负如此多重任：看护羊群，搜寻毒品、炸药，做我们的挚爱伙伴。人类与狗之间的友情很难精确追根溯源，一种比较合理的说法是2万多年前开始，这种友情就开始逐渐深厚了。法国阿尔代什省的萧维岩洞中保存着迄今为止最早的岩洞壁画，岩洞中有一串50米长的约十岁男孩的脚印，旁边还有一串半狼半狗的大型犬类的脚印。从男孩所持火把掉落的灰尘来看，这些脚印是在约2万6千年前留下的。

　　The first proto-dogs probably remained fairly isolated⁶ from each other for several thousand years. As they became progressively more domesticated they moved with people on large-scale migrations⁷, mixing their genes⁹ with other similarly domesticated creatures and becoming increasingly dog-like (and less wolf-like) in the process. For John Bradshaw, a biologist who founded the anthrozoology department at the University of Bristol, having some idea about how dogs got to be dogs is the first stage towards gaining a better understanding of what dogs and people mean to each other. Part of his agenda is to explode the many myths about the closeness of dogs to wolves and the mistakes that this has led to, especially in the training of dogs over the past century or so.

　　狗最早的祖先们相互之间并无太多交集，这种情况很可能持续了数千年。随着驯化程度越来越高，它们随人类进行大迁移，并同其他驯化的动物进行交配，狗的特征逐渐明显（同样，狼的特征渐趋减弱）。约翰?布拉德是布里斯托尔大学人与动物关系学院的创始人，对这位生物学家来说，了解狗如何演变为狗是更好地研究人类与狗关系的第一步。书中，他想要打破关于狗狼近亲的种种谬论以及由此而导致的错误做法，尤其是过去约一世纪中人类对狗的驯化问题。

　　One idea has governed dog training for far too long, Mr Bradshaw says. Wolf packs are supposedly despotic hierarchies¹⁰ dominated by alpha wolves. Dogs are believed to behave in the same way in their dealings with humans. Thus training a dog effectively becomes a contest for dominance in which there can be only one winner. To achieve this the trainer must use a variety of punishment techniques to gain the dog’s submission¹¹ to his mastery. Just letting a dog pass through a door before you or stand on the stairs above you is to risk encouraging it to believe that it is getting the upper hand over you and the rest of the household. Mr Bradshaw argues that the theory behind this approach is based on bad and outdated¹² science.

　　布拉德肖说，长期以来一种观点指导着狗的驯化。一般认为，狼群内部等级森严，头狼具有绝对领导权，狗在与人类相处时，这一点也与狼相同。于是训狗实际就成了一场领导权的竞争，最后只有一个胜者，要么人胜，要么狗胜。为赢得这场竞争，人类必须用各种惩罚手段使狗对自己服服帖帖。例如，若允许狗在你之前进门或上台阶就会让狗觉得自己可凌驾于你和家人之上。布拉德肖认为这种训狗方式背后的指导思想是过时的谬误理论。

　　Dogs share 99.6% of the same DNA¹³ as wolves. That makes dogs closer to wolves than we are to chimps¹⁴ (with which we have about 96% of our DNA in common), but it does not mean that their brains work like those of wolves. Indeed, the outgoing affability of most dogs towards humans and other dogs is in sharp contrast to the mix of fear and aggression¹⁵ with which wolves react to animals from other packs. “Domestication has been a long and complex process,” Mr Bradshaw writes. “Every dog alive today is a product of this transition. What was once another one of the wild social canids, the grey wolf, has been altered radically¹⁶, to the point that it has become its own unique animal.” If anything, dogs resemble juvenile¹⁷ rather than fully¹⁸ adult canids, a sort of arrested development which accounts for the way they remain dependent on their human owners throughout their lives.

　　狗和狼的DNA相似度高达99.6%，这样狗与狼的相似度甚至比人与大猩猩还要高（人类与大猩猩的基因相似度为96%）。但这并不意味着狗和狼大脑运作方式相同。实际上，狗对人类和其同类都友好和善，与狼对本群之外的其他动物怀有的恐惧和攻击心理形成鲜明对比。布拉德肖说在书中写道：“驯化是一个漫长复杂的过程，如今每一只狗都是这个过程的产物。比如灰狼曾经是一种野外群居犬科动物，现在已经在这个过程中彻底改变，形成了一种新的独特物种。”如果说狗与犬科动物确有相似性，那么也只是像未成年而非成年犬科动物。这种类似发育停滞的现象可以解释狗为何一生都如此依赖主人。

　　But what makes the dog-wolf paradigm¹⁹ especially misleading, Mr Bradshaw argues, is that until recently, the studies of wolves were of the wrong wolves in extremely artificial conditions. In the wild, wolf packs tend to be made up of close family members representing up to three generations. The father and mother of the first lot of cubs²⁰ are the natural leaders of the pack, but the behavioural norm is one of co-operation rather than domination and submission. However, the wolves on which biologists founded their conclusions about dominance hierarchies were animals living in unnaturally²¹ constituted groups in captivity²². Mr Bradshaw says that feral or “village” dogs, which are much closer to the ancestors of pet dogs than they are to wolves, are highly tolerant of one another and organise²³ themselves entirely²⁴ differently from either wild or captive wolves.

　　布拉德肖认为，近来某些研究中的狼都是生活在人工色彩极重的环境中的豢养狼，是不可以作为研究对象的，这让狗狼相似理论变得尤其具有误导性。野生狼群常常以数个家庭为单位，祖孙三代共同生活。第一窝狼崽的父母顺理成章地成为狼群领袖，但狼群之内行为模式是以合作为主的，而非统治与服从。然而生物学家关于狼群等级统治的结论是建立在非自然聚合的豢养狼群之上。布拉德肖说：“同狼相比，野狗或者说土狗与如今宠物狗的祖先关系要近得多，野狗个体之间非常宽容，狗群的组织方式与野生和豢养的狼也完全不同。”

　　Dogs are not like nicely brought-up wolves, says the author, nor are they much like people despite their extraordinary ability to enter our lives and our hearts. This is not to deny that some dogs are very clever or that they are capable of feeling emotion deeply. But their intelligence is different from ours. The idea that some dogs can understand as many words as a two-year-old child is simply wrong and an inappropriate way of trying to measure canine²⁵ intellect. Rather, their emotional range is more limited than ours, partly because, with little sense of time, they are trapped almost entirely in the present. Dogs can experience joy, anxiety and anger. But emotions that demand a capacity for self-reflection, such as guilt²⁶ or jealousy²⁷, are almost certainly beyond them, contrary to the convictions of many dog owners.

　　根据布拉德肖的看法，狗并不是精心调教大的狼，也不怎么像人类——尽管他们能如此走进我们的生活，走进我们的内心。当然不否认有些狗非常聪明，善于体会人类的感情。但狗的智力和我们是不同的。有人说一些狗能理解的词汇数量可以同一个两岁小孩一样多，这种看法根本就是不对的，狗的智力也不能用这种方式衡量。实际上，狗的情感范围相比人类是很有限的，这部分是因为狗没有时间的概念，因此几乎就生活在当前。狗确实能够体会高兴、焦虑和愤怒，但和很多狗主人所想的完全相反，有些情感如内疚或嫉妒等需要自省能力，这些情感是几乎完全在狗的体验能力之外的。

　　Mr Bradshaw believes that it is difficult for people to empathize with the way in which dogs experience and respond to the world through their extraordinary sense of smell: their sensitivity to odours is between 10,000 and 100,000 times greater than ours. A newly painted room might be torture for a dog; on the other hand, their olfactory²⁸ ability and their trainability allow dogs to perform almost unimaginable feats²⁹, such as smelling the early stages of a cancer long before a normal medical diagnosis³⁰ would detect it.

　　布拉德肖觉得，关于狗有一点人们很难理解，即狗靠其灵敏的嗅觉来体验周围世界并作出反应：狗的嗅觉灵敏度是人类的1万到10万倍。让狗呆在新粉刷的房屋里可能对它就是巨大的折磨；另一方面，狗的嗅觉敏锐度和高度可训练性让它们能够做到几乎无法想象的事情，例如早在医学诊断结果出来之前，狗就可以嗅出早期癌症。

　　The latest scientific research can help dogs and their owners have happier, healthier relationships by encouraging people to understand dogs better. But Mr Bradshaw is also fearful. In particular, he deplores³¹ the incestuous narrowing of the gene⁸ pool that modern pedigree breeders have brought about. Dogs today are rarely bred for their working abilities (herding, hunting, guarding), but for a very particular type of appearance, which inevitably³² risks the spread of physical and temperamental abnormalities. Instead, he suggests that dogs be bred for the ideal behavioural traits associated with the role they will actually play. He also worries that the increasing urbanisation of society and the pressures on couples to work long hours are putting dogs under huge strain. He estimates that about 20% of Britain’s 8m dogs and America’s 70m suffer from “separation distress” when their owners leave the house, but argues that sensible training can teach them how to cope.

　　最新的科学研究鼓励人们去更加了解狗，从而使狗与主人之间的关系更加健康愉快。但布拉德肖也有担忧，他尤其反对现今为保证狗种纯正而让狗近亲繁殖，导致狗的基因库缩小。如今狗种培育很少是注重其为人们做事的能力（如放牧、打猎、看门等），而是为了让其具有特定外形，这不可避免地可能导致一些生理和性情上的畸形现象随繁殖而扩散。布拉德肖认为，狗种培育时应注重保留与其扮演角色相关的优点。他还担心随着城市化发展，人们工作时间增长，狗也会面临巨大压力。据他估计，英国800万和美国7000万只狗中，约有20%在主人离开时表现出“分别忧郁症”症状，不过他认为合理训练会让狗们知道如何应付分别。

　　"Dog Sense” is neither a manual nor a sentimental³³ account of the joys of dog-ownership. At times its rigorously research-led approach can be slightly heavy going. A few more jolly anecdotes³⁴ might have leavened³⁵ the mix. But this is a wonderfully informative³⁶, quietly passionate³⁷ book that will benefit every dog whose owner reads it.

　　《狗的心灵世界》既非养狗手册亦非养狗之乐的温情系列。书中有的地方引用大量研究结果，读起来可能还有些费劲，如果书中再增加些趣事的话可能会让内容轻松一点。但不管怎样，本书是一本内容充实、充满热情又不失宁静的好书，读读这本书会让你的爱犬幸福无比的。

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 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》

3 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。

4 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

6 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

7 migrations   

n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。 来自辞典例句
• Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。 来自互联网

8 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

9 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

10 hierarchies   

等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系

参考例句：

• That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
• Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

11 submission   

n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出

参考例句：

• The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
• No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。

12 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

13 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

14 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

15 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

16 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

17 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

18 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

19 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

20 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 unnaturally   

adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地

参考例句：

• Her voice sounded unnaturally loud. 她的嗓音很响亮，但是有点反常。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her eyes were unnaturally bright. 她的眼睛亮得不自然。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

23 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

24 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

25 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。

26 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

27 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

28 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

29 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

30 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

31 deplores   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He often deplores his past sins. 他经常痛悔自己过去的罪恶。 来自辞典例句
• Regretting the lack of spontaneity and real sensuousness in other contemporary poets, he deplores in Tennyson. 他对于和他同时代的诗人缺乏自发性和真实的敏感，感到惋惜，他对坦尼森感到悲痛。 来自辞典例句

32 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

33 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

34 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

35 leavened   

adj.加酵母的v.使（面团）发酵( leaven的过去式和过去分词 )；在…中掺入改变的因素

参考例句：

• He leavened his speech with humor. 他在演说中掺了一点幽默。 来自辞典例句
• A small cake of shortened bread leavened with baking powder or soda. 由烤巧克力或可可粉、牛奶和糖制成。 来自互联网

36 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。

37 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。