【英语时差8,16】猫是“色盲”（上）

 You can look at that quilt your cat is curled up on and see a patchwork¹ of greens, blues², and yellows. Your cat, however, cannot see color variation in the quilt.And here's Why? Both humans and cats depend on the back layer of the eye, which is called the retina, to sense light and to distinguish between colors. The retina is made up, in part, of nerve cells that convert color and light into messages they send to the brain. There are two types of cells: rods and cones³. Rods are very sensitive to light, though they are not used in color vision. Cones on the other hand are not very sensitive to light but can be used in color vision. Because cats have more rods than humans, they use these light-sensitive cells to see in even very dim light. Likewise, because cats have fewer cones than humans, they cannot distinguish between colors the way humans can.

1 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

2 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

3 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句