三大动物传闻真相大揭秘.doc

三大动物传闻真相大揭秘.doc 三大动物传闻真相大揭秘 Animals have been the subject of myths， urban legends and old wives' tales1) for so long that it has become hard to separate fact from fiction. The behaviour of animals is so mysterious and foreign to us that we will often believe just about anything we are told about them. Most of these myths are not true. 长期以来，动物一直都是神话传说、民间故事和坊间传闻的话，以 至于有关它们的事实和假象早已变得难以区分。动物的习性是如此神秘莫 测，我们对此也不甚了解，所以常常会认为我们听到的都是对的。其实， 大多数这些传闻并不属实。 Myth 传 闻2 One dog year equals about seven human years. 狗活一年大约相当于人活七年。 There is a common misconception that dogs are seven years for each calendar year， because the lifespan of a dog is about one seventh in duration to a human's average lifespan. This model， however， is completely incorrect. In fact， determining the exact age of a particular dog， relative to a human scale， is much more complex than that with the ratio2) of dog years to human years varying with the weight， breed3)， and health condition of the dog. There are four main groups of dogs each having a different ratio small dogs (20 pounds of translating4) dog years to human years: or less)， medium dogs (21,50 pounds)， large dogs (51,90 pounds) and giant breeds (more than 90 pounds). Large dogs mature more slowly， but at the age of five they will be considered elderly， while small dogs are not considered seniors until the age of ten. So overall， after the first two years， the ratio is about 5 dog years to 1 calendar year for small and medium breeds and 6,7 dog years to 1 calendar year for large and giant breeds. 人们有一个普遍存在的错误认识，认为由于狗的寿命大约是人类平均 寿命的七分之一，所以狗活七年就相当于我们人类活一年。然而，这种类 比模式是完全错误的。事实上，狗与人类年龄的比例会因狗的体重、品种 和健康状况的差异而不尽相同，所以用人类的尺度来衡量一条狗的确切年 龄比“七年之说”要复杂得多。 狗有四种主要的种群:小型犬(体重不超过20磅)、中型犬(体重21, 50磅)、大型犬(体重51,90磅)和巨型犬(体重90磅以上)，每个种群 的年龄与人类年龄的换算比率都是不同的。大型犬虽然成熟得较慢些，但 是到五岁时就会被认为是老狗了，而小型犬直到十岁才算是老狗。所以总 的来说，过了头两年，对小型犬和中型犬来说，我们的一年约等于它们的 五年;对大型犬和巨型犬来说，我们的一年相当于它们的六至七年。 Myth 传 闻2 Chameleons change color to match their environment. 变色龙变色是为了与周围环境颜色一致。 Chameleons don't change color to match their environment. Rather， they change color as a response to mood， temperature， health， communication， and light. In fact， not all kinds of chameleons have the ability to change color and some only have limited ability for color changing; for instance， many types of chameleons can only turn green， brown， or gray. Others have the ability to change to a variety of different colors including: pink， blue， red， orange， green， black， brown， yellow， turquoise5)， and so on. Of the ones that can change color， they'll often change to darker shades when they are cold and will lie out in the sun during this time. Likewise， if they are hot， they can change to lighter colors which will reflect the sun better， helping to cool themselves off. Most color changes though are simply due to mood changes or for communication purposes. Some types of male chameleons will also change to mixed bright colors when they are trying to attract a nearby female chameleon. 变色龙变色并不是为了与周围环境颜色一致，而是因情绪变化、环境 温度、健康状况、交流需要和光线变化而做出的一种反应。 事实上，并非所有品种的变色龙都能变色，有的变色龙的变色能力十 分有限。比如，许多品种的变色龙只能变成绿色、棕色或者灰色。其他品 种的变色龙则可以变成包括粉红色、蓝色、红色、橙色、绿色、黑色、棕 色、黄色、青绿色等多种不同的颜色。那些会变色的变色龙在它们感觉冷 的时候通常会变成较深的颜色，躺在洞穴外面晒太阳。同样地，如果它们 觉得热了就会变成较浅的颜色，这样可以更好地反射太阳光，有助于降低 自己的体温。 变色龙变色大多数仅仅是因为情绪的变化或者是为了传递信息。有些 品种的雄性变色龙在设法吸引附近的某只雌性变色龙时，也会变成“混搭” 的鲜艳颜色。 Myth 传 闻3 Handling a baby bird will cause the parent birds to reject it. 触摸一只幼鸟会使它遭受父母的抛弃。 You'll often hear this myth stated that if you touch a baby bird， the parents will completely abandon it and it will die. In fact， most birds have a very poor sense of smell， so in most cases are unable to even notice human scent on baby birds. Not only that， but most types of birds aren't so quick to abandon their young when they sense danger. Some types will even do their best to defend their young when they are directly threatened， if they can. In fact， the very few known cases where parent birds sometimes temporarily abandoned their nests from something handling their young， come from something handling the young and the parents noticing it by sight， not smell. When this happens， the parent birds usually won't care， other than to be a little more cautious than normal. Occasionally， they may temporarily abandon the nest in order to better observe whether whatever disturbed their nest comes back. But this is all as a result of seeing something， not smelling. Indeed， in most cases， even if the nest is destroyed by wind or something to that effect6)， you could create a new one and put all the baby birds back in it and the parents wouldn't care that when they left their baby birds were in a different nest than so long as you put the new nest near where when they came back， the old one was so they can find it. 你经常会听到这样的传闻:如果你触摸了一只幼鸟，这只幼鸟的父母 就会彻底抛弃它，然后它就会死去。事实上，大多数鸟类的嗅觉非常迟钝， 所以多数情况下它们甚至都无法察觉到人类留在幼鸟身上的气味。不仅如 此，大多数鸟类感觉有危险时，并不会马上就抛弃幼鸟。当直面危险时， 一些种类的鸟甚至会尽全力保护它们的幼鸟，如果它们可以的话。 事实上，在已知的极少数例子中，鸟爸鸟妈有时因其幼鸟被触摸而暂 时放弃鸟巢，这只是因为幼鸟被什么东西动过，并且这被鸟爸鸟妈看到了， 而不是因为它们闻到了什么。当这种情况发生时，鸟爸鸟妈通常并不会在 意，而只是会比平时的警惕性更高些。有时为了更好地观察那个骚扰它们 巢穴的东西是否会卷土重来，它们可能会暂时放弃它们的鸟巢。但这都是 因为它们看到了什么，而不是闻到了什么。事实上，在多数情况下，即使鸟巢被风或其他什么破坏了，你也可以造一个新的鸟巢，然后把所有的幼鸟都放进去。只要你把新巢放在离旧巢不远的地方，好让鸟爸鸟妈可以找得到，它们是不会在意幼鸟在它们离开的时候和在它们回来的时候在不同的鸟巢里。 1. old wives' tale: 迷信;无稽之谈，荒诞故事 2. ratio [?re??i??] n. 比例 3. breed [bri?d] n. 种;种类 4. translate [tr?ns?le?t] vt. 使转变，使变化 5. turquoise [?t??kw??z] n. 绿松石色，青绿色 6. to that effect: 大意是;意思是