透過動物的眼睛看世界

2009-12-31 00:00:00Ｆｒｏｍｗｅｂｅｃｏｉｓｔ．ｃｏｍ

新東方英語·中學版 2009年8期

For centuries， humans were in the dark1) about what and how other animals see. Recent scientific investigation has revealed an amazing world of vision diversity. Like the dragonfly—its brain works so fast that it sees movements as if in slow motion. Or the pigeon—which is capable of detecting more subtle gradations2) of color than the most advanced computer program. Or the snake—there is no escaping heat vision. Read on to see how animals see the world.

多少個世紀以來，人類并不清楚其他動物眼中的世界到底是什么樣，也不了解它們是如何觀察世界的。最新的科學研究已向人們揭示了一個視覺多樣化的奇妙世界。例如蜻蜓——它的大腦運轉速度快得都讓它認為運動是以慢動作進行的。又如鴿子——它對細微色彩層的探辨能力比最先進的計算機程序還要準確。還有蛇——沒有誰能逃過它的熱感視力。要想知道動物是如何看世界的，就請繼續往下讀吧!

Horses 馬:看不到兩眼中間的區域

Horses have an amazing range of vision—except for what is right in front of them. They literally3) can't spot whatever is between their eyes and therefore directly ahead due to their binocular4) vision. This is why they so often look down as they walk.

馬有著驚人的視野——只是看不到自己正前方的東西。由于“雙眼并用視覺”，馬就是無法看到位于它們兩眼之間，也就是它們正前方的任何東西。這就是為什么它們經常低著頭走路的原因。

Monkeys 猴:視覺基本與人類相同

Old world monkeys and apes mainly see as humans do. They just pick up5) red， green， and blue. But many new world monkeys do not. There is no real pattern among species. In fact， in the same family of monkeys there can be up to six different types of color blindness or vision. As with their human cousins， color blindness is more common in males than in females.

古代的猴和猿眼中的世界和人類眼中的大體相同。它們的眼睛只可識別紅色、綠色和藍色。但是，現在的很多猴子卻不是這樣。猴種之間并沒有固定的視覺模式。事實上，同一家族的猴子中可能存在多達六種不同類型的色盲或色覺。就像它們的近親人類一樣，猴子中雄性色盲的數量比雌性色盲要多。

Cats and Dogs 貓和狗:具有夜視能力

Cats and dogs do not have strong vision. They rely on scent and sound primarily as their sensory detection. Cats in particular have weak vision. They are color blind， and cats are more so than dogs. Dogs can sometimes tell the difference between yellow and blue， for example. Most cats can only detect a little color， and are best at focusing on one object narrowly (for hunting). But they do have better night vision than humans. Both dogs and cats have better perspective6) and depth perception7)， due to the placement of their eyes， than human beings do.

貓和狗的視力都不是很好。它們主要依靠嗅覺和聽覺來感知外界。貓的視力尤為弱。它們是色盲，而且比狗的色盲程度還要深。比如狗有時還能分辨出黃色和藍色的不同，而大多數貓卻只能分辨出一點點色彩，而且貓只擅長僅在一個物體上聚焦(為了捕鼠)。但是，貓確實比人類具有更強的夜視能力。由于它們眼睛的分布，貓和狗都有比人類更強的遠景視力及深度感知能力。

Snakes 蛇:紅外感知

Snakes have two sets of eyes. One set is the normal eyes that you see， and they detect color quite well. But they also have vision pits that detect heat and \"see\" living creatures like an infrared8) detector. There is no getting away from a snake once you're spotted. That closed door won't help. Luckily most snakes are more likely to retreat than attack when they spot us.

蛇有兩套視覺系統。一套是你看到的正常蛇眼，它們可以很清晰地辨別色彩。但它們還有視覺點，可以探測到熱量，能像紅外探測儀一樣“看到”活著的生物。一旦你被蛇盯上就別想甩掉它，房門緊閉也無濟于事。幸運的是，大多數蛇遇到人類都會選擇逃走而不是攻擊。

Birds 鳥:至少可看到五種光譜帶

Many birds can see differently. Pigeons， for example， can see literally millions of different hues9) and are thought to be among the best at color detection ability of any animal on earth. They have many more cones10) than humans in their eyes， thus accounting for11) the ability to see at least five spectral bands12).

很多鳥類的視力不盡相同。比如說鴿子，它們可以分辨數百萬種不同的顏色，被認為是地球上辨色能力最強的動物。鳥兒眼中的視錐細胞比人類的多許多，所以它們能看到至少五種光譜帶。

Insects 昆蟲:借助視覺感知動作

Because of segmented13) eye structure， many insects see objects very differently from what humans perceive. Insects are famous for their dot-like eyes， known as ommatidia14). Some have as many as 30，000 lenses per eyeball. Insects do see color， but not usually as clearly as other animals. Their vision assists them in detecting movement. That's why they're so hard to kill!

由于眼睛的分割結構，很多昆蟲看到的物體與人類看到的大相徑庭。昆蟲因它們被稱作“小眼”的點狀眼而出名。一些昆蟲的每個眼球擁有多達3萬個晶狀體。昆蟲的確可以看到顏色，但通常不像其他動物看到的那么清晰。它們的視力可以幫助它們探測到運動。這正是它們為什么如此難以消滅的原因!

British Man Wins \"Best Job in the World\" 英國小伙贏得“世界最好工作”

Queensland Tourism (昆士蘭旅游局) has announced the winner of \"the Best Job in the World\" competition. Ben Southall， 34， from UK has won the Island Caretaker (看護人) job of the Great Barrier Reef (大堡礁) out of over 34，000 applicants.

The Island Caretaker will live at Blue Pearl， a beautiful three-bedroom home on Hamilton Island (哈密爾頓島) and enjoy the private plunge pool/spa， sun lounges (閑逛)， and the traditional Aussie (澳大利亞) barbeque. Living above the Great Barrier Reef for six months， he will get a huge salary package of AUD$150，000 for the six-month contract. The job profile involves leisure blogging， snapping photos， feeding the fish....

Bedol Water-Powered Alarm Clock水動力環保鬧鐘

Take your alarm clock with you anywhere and don't worry about whether there's a power source—you can just use the leftover water in your glass on the nightstand (床頭). The Eco-Friendly Water-Powered Clock by Bedol runs on water and lemon. You just fill up the tank with water and squeeze (榨汁) in some lemon juice， which makes it run more efficiently. The clock even has a memory function that saves the time while you're switching out (把……從電路斷開) the water， so you don't have to reset it.

這款環保鬧鐘只需一杯水或檸檬汁就能有效地工作，有了它，你便可以和那些高污染的水銀電池說“拜拜”了。

An Orangutan and a Stray Dog Became Best Friends 猩猩與流浪狗成為好朋友

Suryia， an orangutan (猩猩)， and Roscoe， a Blue Tick hound (布魯泰克獵犬) became friends when they crossed paths at a South Carolina sanctuary (避難所) for endangered animals. Now they swim together， play together and Suryia even takes the dog for his walks. Such is their bond that the pair drew the attention of National Geographic magazine and Oprah Winfrey (奧普拉·溫弗瑞，美國著名主持人) who featured them in a special show called

Amazing Animal Friendship.

這只可愛的猩猩Suryia堪稱“友善大使”，陪伴流浪狗Roscoe度過了很多美好時光。看到如此和諧溫馨的場景，你是不是相信動物之間也存在真摯的友誼?

Vocabulary

1.in the dark: 不知，蒙在鼓里

2.gradation [^rE5deIFEn] n. 顏色等的層次

3.literally [5lItErElI] adv. 確實地，真正地，不加夸張地

4.binocular [baI5nCkjulE(r)] adj. 同時用雙目的，雙目并用的

5.pick up: 看到，識別

6.perspective [pE5spektIv] n. 遠景，景觀

7.depth perception: 深度感知，深度感覺

8.infrared [7InfrE5red] adj. 【物】紅外線的