【英语时差8,16】好玩的猫咪游戏潜藏致命性

 If you have a cat, it's likely that at some point you've seen it do this: while playing with your foot it suddenly dropped to its side, latched¹ on with its front claws and began a coordinated² kicking motion with both back legs.  

 

The cat probably gave you a good four or five swats before letting go. From a human point of view this looks like great fun--a real rough-and-tumble kind of game. But where does it come from?

 

Before giving an answer, let's think for a second about the kind of thing we can learn even from so commonplace an event. Housepets are not toys; although they are domesticated³ and, in the instance of cats, much smaller than their wild counterparts, it's a mistake to regard them as fundamentally different from wild animals. They share millions of years of evolutionary⁴ history, and their behaviors--even playful ones--are in many cases behavior that was very useful in the wild.

 

So, think again about that front-claw grab connected with a back-claw kick that your cat does from time to time. You may see it in a new light when you realize that the cat is executing a very effective device for killing⁵ prey⁶ or enemies: hold the other animal's stomach in place while you disembowel it.

 

Of course, that doesn't mean your cat is really trying to hurt you; but it does show us that playful behavior in animals --and, oftentimes, in humans--is not simply nonsense. In many cases it is a practice run for learning more useful skills--even deadly ones.   

 

1 latched   

v.理解( latch的过去式和过去分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• The government have latched onto environmental issues to win votes. 政府已开始大谈环境问题以争取选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He latched onto us and we couldn't get rid of him. 他缠着我们，甩也甩不掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 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》

4 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。