猫猫小小的脑袋瓜里，不仅有本喵，主人和朋友，还有大大的智慧哦。
为什么猫猫这么难研究？
You don’t need to understand the ways of a cat to worship it.Sirin Kale and her cat Larry.
你不需要通过了解猫的习性来崇拜它
西林·卡莱和她的猫拉里.
Despite the fact that cats are the most common pet in UK households after dogs, we know relatively little about them. This, says Dr Carlo Siracusa of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, “is partly due to practical problems. Dogs are easy to study: you can take them to a lab and they will be content. But cats are intensely territorial creatures. “The behaviour of a cat is so modified by its environment that if you move it to a laboratory,” says Siracusa, “what you’ll see is not really reflective of what the normal behaviour of the cat is.”
尽管猫是英国家庭中继狗之后最常见的宠物，但我们对它们的了解相对较少。宾夕法尼亚大学兽医学院的卡洛·西拉库萨博士说，"部分原因在于操作性问题。狗很容易研究：你可以把它们带到实验室，它们会很自在。但猫是一种领地性很强的动物。"西拉库萨说："猫的行为极容易受环境所影响，如果你把它移到实验室，你所看到的并不能真正反映猫的正常行为。
There is another reason that cats are under-researched. “There’s a stigma,” says Siracusa. Cats have been unfairly maligned through much of human history. In the middle ages, cats were thought of as the companions of witches, and sometimes tortured and burned.
还有另外一个原因导致对猫的研究不足。西拉库萨说："人们对于猫存在污名化"。在人类历史的大部分时间里，猫一直遭受诋毁，饱尝不公。在中世纪，人们认为猫是女巫的伴侣，有时还会遭受折磨和焚烧。
What we do know about the inner lives of domestic cats is usually determined by scientists running studies in their homes. Unsurprisingly, many of these scientists are cat owners.
我们对家猫内心世界的了解，通常是由科学家在其家中进行的研究决定的。毫不意外，这些科学家中有许多是猫的主人。
Cats are elegant. They approach us. They bump their heads. Then they have some contact with us and walk away.’ (Posed by a model)
猫是优雅的。它们接近我们。用头蹭蹭我们。然后与我们有一些接触，然后走开。（由一名模特摆出姿势拍照）
喵主子&铲屎官
She co-authored a paper, published last month, that found that cats mentally track the locations of their owners by their voice, even when they can’t see them. Cats participating in the study were played audio of their owners calling their names. When the source of their owner’s voice moved, they appeared the most startled. “These findings suggest that cats are quite concerned about their owners,” she says. “They may be watching their owner’s every action carefully, thinking about what will happen next.”
西拉库萨博士与人合著的一篇论文在上个月发表，该论文发现猫头脑里会通过主人的声音追踪其位置，即使它们看不到主人。研究人员给参与研究的猫咪播放了它们主人呼唤它们名字的音频。当主人的声音源移动时，它们显得十分惊讶。"她说："这些发现表明，猫对它们的主人相当关心。"它们可能在仔细观察它们主人的每一个动作，思考下一步会发生什么。
‘As a general rule, cats do not like to be picked up, hugged and kissed.’
'一般来说，猫咪不喜欢被人抱起来，拥抱和亲吻。
“Cats do get attached to people,” says Siracusa. “They get attached to other animals too.” He explains that cats often show affection by proximity, if not physical interaction, “being in the same room as you or physically close to you”. More demonstrative cats will sleep on or near their owners, or other cats.“But as a general rule cats do not like to be picked up, hugged and kissed. The great majority of cats don’t like this.”
西拉库萨说：“猫确实会对人类产生感情。也会对其他动物产生感情。”他解释说，“猫经常通过接近度来表达感情，除了肢体上的互动，还会表现为和你呆在同一个房间或靠近你”。更有表现力的猫会睡在主人身上，或靠近主人或其他猫。“但一般来说，猫不喜欢被抱起来，拥抱和亲吻。绝大多数的猫都不喜欢这样”。
猫猫和朋友们
This misapprehension that cats do not care for their owners typically comes from humans who are disappointed their cats don’t behave like other humans, or at the very least, dogs. This is because they are descended from the African wildcat, a solitary creature. “Cats are not social,” says clinical veterinarian Karen Hiestand of the University of Sussex. “They do not need friends.” Although, in multicat households, cats may choose to exhibit affection by allogrooming – licking each other.
有一类人会误认为猫不关心主人，他们失望于猫的行为不像人类或是狗狗。这是因为猫猫是非洲野猫的后裔，一种独居生物。瑟赛克斯大学的临床兽医凯伦·希斯坦德说：“猫不是社会性动物，他们不需要朋友。”尽管如此，在有多只猫的家庭中，猫可能会选择通过互相理毛即互舔来表达喜爱。
Cats may choose to exhibit affection by allogrooming, or licking, each other.
猫可能会选择通过互相理毛即互舔来表达喜爱。
猫猫自身
Cats can feel depressed, says Hiestand. Just don’t call it depression. The issue when it comes to spotting depressed cats, Hiestand says, “is that cat behaviour is incredibly subtle. We don’t notice when cats are miserable because a miserable cat sits still and doesn’t do much. We think that, if they are miserable, they’ll be hissing and fighting. But that’s an action of last resort for them. There’s a world of misery before then. We just don’t notice.”
希斯坦德说，“猫会感到沮丧，但这不叫抑郁症。抑郁的猫的行为是极其微妙的。我们不会注意到猫的痛苦，因为当一只猫痛苦时，它只坐着不动，而不是发出什么动静。我们以为如果猫感到痛苦，就会发出嘶嘶声和打架。但这是它们最后才会采取的手段。在那之前，它们会处在一个痛苦的世界里。但我们就是注意不到。“
Changes in behaviour can be a sign of cat distress: when Siracusa started working from home due to the pandemic, his cat, Elsa, was disoriented and upset by the unexpected change in his behaviour. (Look out for changes in their toilet habits, or food consumption.) Fascinatingly, when Siracusa put Elsa on probiotics, this appeared to improve her mood. “Behavioural disorders are influenced by the immune system, and the immune system is influenced by the gut,” he says.
行为的改变可能是猫咪痛苦的迹象：当席拉库萨因流感而开始在家工作时，他的猫咪艾莎因其行为的意外改变而迷惑和不安。（注意他们上厕所习惯或食物消耗的变化。）幸好，席拉库萨给艾莎服用益生菌后，她的情绪似乎得到了改善。席拉库萨说：“行为障碍受免疫系统的影响，而免疫系统受肠道的影响。”
‘We don’t notice when cats are miserable because a miserable cat sits still and doesn’t do much.’
我们不会注意到猫的痛苦，因为当一只猫痛苦时，它只坐着不动，而不是发出什么动静。
Cats also retain memories: “Memories related to emotions,” explains Siracusa, “and memories that cause a negative feeling are particularly good for our survival. Cats learn from experience and retain information that will keep them away from trouble or help them to get an advantage.”
席拉库萨解释道：“猫也会保留与情绪有关的记忆，而引起负面情绪的记忆对我们的生存特别有益。猫从经验中学习并保留信息，这些信息使它们远离麻烦或帮助它们获得优势。”
Cats retain more prosaic memories too.They found that the cats could recall if they had previously searched a given bowl when looking for a particular treat and the circumstances under which this had occurred. “This showed that it was a one-time experience that could be used and retrieved later,” says Takagi. “This type of memory is called episodic memory, and it is equivalent to memories in humans.”
猫咪也保留了更多平淡无奇的记忆。他们发现，如果猫咪曾在寻求特别照料时找到主人给予的食盆，并且曾处于这种情形下，那么猫就可以进行回忆，高木说：“这表明，一次性的经历可以在以后被使用和追忆，而这种类型的记忆被称为情节性记忆，且它相当于人类的记忆。”
They even dream. “In practice,” says Hiestand, “there are some anaesthetic agents we use when operating on cats that are hallucinogenic. I always think, what is the cat hallucinating? Is it giant mice? Sometimes, you see their feet pedalling, as if they are running in their dreams.”
猫咪甚至也会做梦。希斯坦德说：“在实践中，我们在对猫进行致幻手术时使用了一些麻醉剂。我总是在想，猫会产生什么幻觉？又肥又大的老鼠吗？有时，你会看到它们的脚在做踩踏板的动作，好像正在梦中奔跑。”
我还有话要说！
What cats cannot do, however, is project into the future, because their frontal lobes are not developed.
So what is going on in those catty little brains? Siracusa says. “I think most of their thoughts are about how to stay safe. Stay away from predators. Do cool stuff, such as eat a juicy mouse. Because they live in a human world, they most likely have thoughts related to us.
然而，猫不能推演未来的走向，因为它们的前额叶没有发育完全。那么，那些小小的头脑在想什么呢？锡拉库扎说：“我认为他们的大部分想法都是关于如何保持安全。远离捕食者。做一些很棒的事情，比如啃食一只肥美多汁的老鼠。因为他们生活在人类的世界里，他们很可能产生与我们有关的想法。”
Most cats do not long for their absent owners any more than they will fetch a ball on command, or embrace veganism. They are cats. They do what they want, all the time.
大多猫咪并不亟需不在场的主人，就像它们既不喜欢听从命令抓球玩，也不喜欢吃素。它们是猫，它们一直我行我素。
In other words, we should stop trying to project human attributes on to these inscrutable creatures. “Cats are cats and humans are humans and we can’t become cats,” Gray says. “I think the question should really be, can we learn anything from them that is beneficial to us? I think we can. By looking at something so different to us, that lives alongside us, we can shake the more harmful habits that go with being human. Such as worrying about the future and not living enough in the present, or being content with the life we have.”
换句话说，我们应该停止试图将人类的特质投射到这些难以捉摸的生物身上。格雷说：“猫就是猫，人类就是人，我们不能变成猫。真正的问题应该是，我们能从他们身上学到有益的东西吗？我认为可以。通过观察与我们一起生活却截然不同的生物，我们可以摆脱更多人类特有的坏习惯，比如担心未来，不愿活在当下，也不满足于现已拥有的生活。”
词汇：
1.retrieve
v. 找回，收回；检索；挽回；回忆，追忆
n. （尤指中枪猎物的）找回
例句：There was absolutely no way that we were going to be able to retrieve it.
2.hallucinogenic
adj. 引起幻觉的；迷幻药的
例句：Others have proposed lack of oxygen or hallucinogenic drugs as a trigger.
原文链接：
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/08/the-inner-lives-of-cats-what-our-feline-friends-really-think-about-hugs-happiness-and-humans
编译｜金灵依 姚汤嘉 赵梦赟 王凯璐
排版｜王瑞菁
