时差N小时 为何狗要咆哮(下)

Now, a few tens of thousands of years ago, wolves and people started becoming friendly species.

时至今日，数万年前，狼和人便慢慢演变成进化成为可以友好相处。

You can imagine a person tossing a bone to a friendly wolf from time to time.

你可以想象人们会时不时地向一只温顺的狼扔块骨头。

But “friendly” is the key.

但是“温顺”一词至关重要。

Nobody ever gets close to a hostile wolf.

没人会靠近一只充满敌意的狼。

So over many thousands of years we would have been gradually selecting for certain behavioral traits-playfulness, low hostility¹, the ability to bond.

因此，实际上，成千上万年以来，人类都在渐渐地、有意识地进行着选择，选择具有特定行为特征的狼群。这些特征包括爱嬉戏玩闹，温顺，合群。

Very puppy-like behaviors! See what's happening?

这些行为难道不像小狗吗？

A species that resembles a wolf puppy that never grows up may have slowly evolved in this way.

现在明白这是怎么回事了吗？就像这样，一种类似于狼崽的物种开始慢慢的进化着。

That species would retain its puppy-like behaviors, such as barking, but never grow into growling², howling adult wolves.

这一物种保留了那些幼崽般的行为特征，比如吠叫，它们也不会进化为嚎叫的成年狼。

That species We would now call that species “dogs.”

这一物种便是我们现在把它称之为“狗”的动物。

1 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

2 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。