研究称家猫或能记住自己与朋友名字

近日，一项最新研究表明，家猫或许能记住自己同伴的名字。

无注释原文：

Cats can memorize their friends' names, new study suggests

Live Science

Your cat may not come when she's called, but that doesn't mean she's not listening. (Sorry, she's just ignoring you.)

Recent studies suggest that domestic cats may share some of the same language recognition skills commonly seen in dogs. In a 2019 article in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of Japanese researchers reported they had demonstrated that cats could recognize their own names in a series of spoken words. Now, new research from some of the same scientists suggests that this familiarity may also extend to a house cat's feline friends.

In a paper published April 13 in Scientific Reports, researchers quizzed 48 domestic cats on the names of the fellow felines with whom they cohabitated. Twenty-nine of the cats were residents of Japanese cat cafes — coffee shops where customers can freely interact with kitties while, presumably, fishing hairballs out of their lattes — while the other 19 came from private residences that were home to three or more cats each.

For each cat participant, the researchers played an audio recording of the cat's owner calling another cohabitating cat's name several times in a row. After the fourth call, the researchers showed the participant cat a picture on a laptop monitor; in two of the four trials that followed, the picture showed the face of the cat that the owner had called (this was called the "congruous condition"), while in the remaining trials the picture showed the face of a different cohabitating cat than the one the owner had called (the "incongruous condition").

The researchers found that the house cats, but not the café cats, often stared at the monitor longer when the incongruous picture was on the screen — suggesting that the cats had their expectations violated and were trying to grapple with the fact that their feline friends' names and faces did not line up.

"We demonstrated that cats expect a specific face upon hearing the specific name of a companion," the researchers wrote in their paper. "This study provides evidence that cats link a companion's name and corresponding face without explicit training."

Interestingly, the researchers wrote, the café cats didn't pay much attention to the monitor during the incongruous condition, and paid less attention to the trials overall than the house cats did. This suggests that café cats are likely less familiar with each of their feline friends than the house cats are, and they may hear individual cats' names called less often, the authors wrote.

House cats, on the other hand, are more likely to hear their companions' names called more often — especially during feeding time, when the calling of a cat's name determines which animal gets food and which doesn't, the researchers said. This may give house cats more opportunities and greater incentive to link a companion cat's name with its face.

Of course, any study of house cat behavior must be taken with a grain of catnip, given the challenges of holding a cat's focus. While the house cats in the study did focus on the incongruous image for a longer time, on average, compared with the congruous one, the time difference amounted to only a few dozen frames of footage (just one or two seconds) at most.

And that's when the cats decided to pay attention at all. Several trials had to be excluded from the team's analysis because the cat totally refused to look at the monitor, the team admitted. One cat had to be removed from the study after deciding that this whole science thing just wasn't for her.

That cat "completed only the first trial before escaping from the room and climbing out of reach," the team wrote.

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注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应

含注释全文：

Cats can memorize their friends' names, new study suggests

Live Science

Your cat may not come when she's called, but that doesn't mean she's not listening. (Sorry, she's just ignoring you.)

你的猫被叫时可能不会来，但这并不意味着它没有在听。(对不起，它只是在忽略你）。

Recent studies suggest that domestic cats may share some of the same language recognition skills commonly seen in dogs. In a 2019 article in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of Japanese researchers reported they had demonstrated that cats could recognize their own names in a series of spoken words. Now, new research from some of the same scientists suggests that this familiarity may also extend to a house cat's feline friends.

最近的研究表明，家猫可能具有一些在狗身上常见的语言识别能力。在《科学报告》（Scientific Reports）杂志2019年的一篇文章中，一个日本研究团队称，他们已经证明猫可以在一系列口语中识别自己的名字。现在，同一团队部分科学家的新研究表明，这种熟悉程度也可能延伸到家猫的猫科动物同伴。

share作动词，表示“有同样的感觉（或性质、经历）”，英文解释为“If two or more people or things share a feeling, quality, or experience, they both or all have the same feeling, quality, or experience.”举个🌰：

All hospitals share some common characteristics.

所有的医院都有一些共同的特征。

share作名词，表示“股份，股票”，英文解释为“any of the units of equal value into which a company is divided and sold to raise money. People who own shares receive part of the company's profits.”

类似的：

📍stock表示“股份；股票”，英文解释为“part of the ownership of a company that can be bought by members of the public”举个🌰：

Stock prices fell yesterday in heavy trading.

股价昨日放量下跌。

表示“显示；表明”，英文解释为“to show or make make something clear”举个🌰：

These numbers clearly demonstrate the size of the economic problem facing the country.

这些数字清楚表明了该国经济问题的严重程度。

familiarity /fəˌmɪl.iˈær.ə.ti/ 表示“通晓；熟知，熟悉”，英文解释为“a good knowledge of something, or the fact that you know it so well”举个🌰：

His familiarity with pop music is astonishing.

他对流行音乐之精通令人吃惊。

2）表示“友好随便；亲近”，英文解释为“friendly and informal behaviour”举个🌰：

His excessive familiarity offended her.

他过分亲昵的举动冒犯了她。

📍有个说法叫 Familiarity breeds contempt. 表示“亲不敬，熟生蔑。”，英文解释为“used to say that if you know someone very well you stop respecting them because you have seen all of their bad qualities”

féline其实是法语；feline /ˈfiː.laɪn/可以作名词也可以作形容词，表示“猫的；猫科的”（relating to cats or other members of the cat family, such as lions）或者“猫；猫科动物”（a cat or a member of the cat family, such as a tiger）。

下文出现：felinology 猫科动物学

📍Felinology is the study of cats. The term is of Latin-Greek origin and comes from the Latin word felinus (of cats, feline) and the Greek -logos (science). Felinology is concerned with studying the anatomy, genetics, physiology, and breeding of domestic and wild cats.

类似的：

📍canine /ˈkeɪnaɪn/ 可以作名词，也可以作形容词表示“狗（的），犬科动物（的）”，英文解释为“Canine means relating to dogs.”

In a paper published April 13 in Scientific Reports, researchers quizzed 48 domestic cats on the names of the fellow felines with whom they cohabitated. Twenty-nine of the cats were residents of Japanese cat cafes — coffee shops where customers can freely interact with kitties while, presumably, fishing hairballs out of their lattes — while the other 19 came from private residences that were home to three or more cats each.

在4月13日发表在《科学报告》上的一篇论文中，研究人员询问了48只家猫关于与它们共同生活的猫科动物的名字。其中29只猫来自日本猫咪咖啡馆--在这些猫咖里，顾客可以自由地与猫咪互动，并且大概还能从他们的拿铁咖啡里捞出毛团来--而其他19只猫则来自私人住宅，每一家至少有三只猫。

表示“查问，提问”，英文解释为“to ask someone questions about something”举个🌰：

She spent an hour being quizzed by journalists.

她花了1小时时间回答记者的提问。

表示“交流，交往；互相作用，互相影响”，英文解释为“to communicate with or react to”举个🌰：

Her teacher says that she interacts well with the other children.

她的老师说她与别的孩子相处得很好。

presumably /prɪˈzuː.mə.bli/ 表示“据推测，大概，可能”，英文解释为“used to say what you think is the likely situation”举个🌰：

They can presumably afford to buy a bigger apartment.

他们大概买得起一套大一点的公寓。

表示“（从水中）拖出；（从包或口袋中）拿出，取出”，英文解释为“to pull something out of water or take something out of a bag or pocket”举个🌰：

He fished out a coin from his pocket.

他从口袋里摸出一枚硬币。

表示“（猫、 幼羚等胃内积攒的）毛团”，英文解释为“a compact mass of hair that forms in the stomach of cats, calves, etc, as a result of licking and swallowing the fur, and causes vomiting, coughing, bloat, weight loss, and depression”

latte /ˈlæteɪ/ 表示“热牛奶咖啡；拿铁咖啡”，英文解释为“a hot drink made from espresso (= strong coffee) and warm milk”

For each cat participant, the researchers played an audio recording of the cat's owner calling another cohabitating cat's name several times in a row. After the fourth call, the researchers showed the participant cat a picture on a laptop monitor; in two of the four trials that followed, the picture showed the face of the cat that the owner had called (this was called the "congruous condition"), while in the remaining trials the picture showed the face of a different cohabitating cat than the one the owner had called (the "incongruous condition").

对于每只被试猫，研究人员播放了猫的主人连续数次呼唤另一只共同生活的猫的名字录音。在第四次呼唤后，研究人员在笔记本电脑显示器上向被试猫展示了一张图片；在随后的四次试验中，有两次图片显示的是主人所呼唤的猫的脸（这被称为“一致条件”），而在其余的试验中，图片显示的是不同于主人所呼唤的共同生活的猫的脸（“不一致条件”）。

表示“接连地；连续地”，英文解释为“one after another without a break”举个🌰：

She's been voted Best Actress three years in a row.

她已经连续3年当选为最佳女演员。

congruous /ˈkɒŋ.ɡru.əs/ 表示“一致的；符合的”，英文解释为“the same as, or in agreement with, other facts or principles”举个🌰：

His conclusion is congruous with one previously drawn by her.

他的结论与以前她得出的一致。

The researchers found that the house cats, but not the café cats, often stared at the monitor longer when the incongruous picture was on the screen — suggesting that the cats had their expectations violated and were trying to grapple with the fact that their feline friends' names and faces did not line up.

研究人员发现，当不一致的图片出现在屏幕上时，家猫，而不是猫咖的猫，往往会盯着显示器更久--这表明违背了猫的期望，并试图应对这一的事实，即它们的猫同伴名字和面孔不一致。

1）表示“扭打；搏斗”，英文解释为“to take a firm hold of sb/sth and struggle with them”举个🌰：

Passers-by grappled with the man after the attack.

袭击之后过路人便与这男人扭打起来。

2）表示“努力设法解决；尽力解决；设法对付；尽量克服”，英文解释为“to try hard to find a solution to a problem”举个🌰：

The government has yet to grapple with the problem of air pollution.

政府还需尽力解决空气污染问题。

🎬电影《钢铁侠3》（Iron Man 3）中的台词提到：trying to grapple with something from some hard-crypt data files 希望能在一些加密的数据文件里找到线索

"We demonstrated that cats expect a specific face upon hearing the specific name of a companion," the researchers wrote in their paper. "This study provides evidence that cats link a companion's name and corresponding face without explicit training."

“我们表明，猫在听到同伴的具体名字时，会期待一张特定的脸。”研究人员在论文中写道，“这项研究提供了证据，证明猫在没有明确训练的情况下将同伴的名字和相应的脸联系起来。”

1）表示“清楚明白的；明确的；不含糊的”，英文解释为“clear and exact”举个🌰：

I gave her very explicit directions how to get here.

我明确地告诉她来这儿怎么走。

2）表示“（描绘性或暴力）赤裸裸的，露骨的”，英文解释为“showing or talking about sex or violence in a very detailed way”，如：a sexually explicit movie 有露骨性爱场面的电影。

Interestingly, the researchers wrote, the café cats didn't pay much attention to the monitor during the incongruous condition, and paid less attention to the trials overall than the house cats did. This suggests that café cats are likely less familiar with each of their feline friends than the house cats are, and they may hear individual cats' names called less often, the authors wrote.

有趣的是，研究人员写道，在不一致的情况下，猫咖的猫并没有太注意显示器，而且对试验的注意程度总体上比家猫要低。作者写道，这表明猫咖的猫可能没有家猫那么熟悉它们的每个猫同伴，而且它们可能较少听到个别猫的名字。

House cats, on the other hand, are more likely to hear their companions' names called more often — especially during feeding time, when the calling of a cat's name determines which animal gets food and which doesn't, the researchers said. This may give house cats more opportunities and greater incentive to link a companion cat's name with its face.

研究人员说，另一方面，家猫更有可能经常听到它们同伴的名字被呼唤--特别是在喂食时间，呼唤猫的名字决定了哪只动物能得到食物，哪只不能。这可能使家猫有更多的机会和更大的动力把同伴的名字和它的脸联系起来。

表示“激励；刺激；鼓励”，英文解释为“something that encourages you to do sth”举个🌰：

There is no incentive for people to save fuel.

没有使人们节约燃料的鼓励办法。

Of course, any study of house cat behavior must be taken with a grain of catnip, given the challenges of holding a cat's focus. While the house cats in the study did focus on the incongruous image for a longer time, on average, compared with the congruous one, the time difference amounted to only a few dozen frames of footage (just one or two seconds) at most.

当然，任何关于家猫行为的研究都必须带着猫薄荷，因为要吸引猫的注意力是很困难的。虽然研究中的家猫确实专注于不一致的图像的时间较长，但平均而言，与一致的图像相比，时间上的差异最多只有几十帧录像（仅一或两秒钟）。

1）表示“（尤指像稻谷、小麦等像草一样的植物的）谷粒，颖果，谷（物）”，英文解释为“a seed or seeds from a plant, especially a plant like a grass such as rice or wheat”如：grains of wheat/rice 麦/米粒。

2）表示“细粒，颗粒”，英文解释为“a very small piece of a hard substance”如：grains of sand 沙粒。

3）表示“一点儿；微量，少量”，英文解释为“a very small amount of a particular quality”举个🌰：

There wasn't a grain of truth in anything she said.

她无论说什么都没有半句实话在里面。

catnip /ˈkæt.nɪp/ 表示“假荆芥，樟脑草（因其香气吸引猫，而被称为猫草）”，英文解释为“a herb whose smell is very attractive to cats”

表示“等于；意味着；达到；总计”，英文解释为“to be the same as something, or to have the same effect as something”举个🌰：

His behaviour amounted to serious professional misconduct.

他的行为相当于严重失职。

表示“帧；（摄影胶片的）画格；（电视或电影的）画面，镜头”，英文解释为“one of the pictures on a strip of photographic film, or one of the single pictures that together form a television or cinema film”

And that's when the cats decided to pay attention at all. Several trials had to be excluded from the team's analysis because the cat totally refused to look at the monitor, the team admitted. One cat had to be removed from the study after deciding that this whole science thing just wasn't for her.

而那才是猫会全神贯注的时刻。该团队承认，有几项试验不得不从该团队的分析中排除，因为猫完全拒绝看显示器。在决定这个搞研究的事不适合它之后，有只猫不得不从研究中被移出。

1）表示“排除…；不考虑…；认为…不可能”，英文解释为“to decide that something is not true or possible”举个🌰：

We can't exclude the possibility that he is dead.

我们不能排除他已经死亡的可能性。

2）表示“阻止…进入；把…排斥在外”，英文解释为“to prevent someone or something from entering a place or taking part in an activity”举个🌰：

Microbes must, as far as possible, be excluded from the room during an operation.

在手术过程中，要尽可能防止细菌进入手术室。

🎬电影《简·爱》（Jane Eyre）中的台词提到：Children, I exhort you to shun her, exclude her, shut her out from this day forth. 孩子们，奉劝你们离她远点，排斥她，从今天起与她隔绝。

That cat "completed only the first trial before escaping from the room and climbing out of reach," the team wrote.

该团队写道：“那只猫只完成了第一个试验，然后就从房间里逃了出来，爬到了够不着的地方。”

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