透過動(dòng)物的眼睛看世界

2009-12-31 00:00:00Ｆｒｏｍｗｅｂｅｃｏｉｓｔ．ｃｏｍ

新東方英語·中學(xué)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(gè)世紀(jì)以來，人類并不清楚其他動(dòng)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(xué)研究已向人們揭示了一個(gè)視覺多樣化的奇妙世界。例如蜻蜓——它的大腦運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)速度快得都讓它認(rèn)為運(yùn)動(dòng)是以慢動(dòng)作進(jìn)行的。又如鴿子——它對(duì)細(xì)微色彩層的探辨能力比最先進(jìn)的計(jì)算機(jī)程序還要準(zhǔn)確。還有蛇——沒有誰能逃過它的熱感視力。要想知道動(dòng)物是如何看世界的，就請(qǐng)繼續(xù)往下讀吧!

Horses 馬:看不到兩眼中間的區(qū)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(jīng)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(shí)別紅色、綠色和藍(lán)色。但是，現(xiàn)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(shí)上，同一家族的猴子中可能存在多達(dá)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(shù)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(shí)還能分辨出黃色和藍(lán)色的不同，而大多數(shù)貓卻只能分辨出一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)色彩，而且貓只擅長(zhǎng)僅在一個(gè)物體上聚焦(為了捕鼠)。但是，貓確實(shí)比人類具有更強(qiáng)的夜視能力。由于它們眼睛的分布，貓和狗都有比人類更強(qiáng)的遠(yuǎn)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(tǒng)。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(diǎn)，可以探測(cè)到熱量，能像紅外探測(cè)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(jì)于事。幸運(yùn)的是，大多數(shù)蛇遇到人類都會(huì)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(shù)百萬種不同的顏色，被認(rèn)為是地球上辨色能力最強(qiáng)的動(dòng)物。鳥兒眼中的視錐細(xì)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?jiǎng)幼?/p>

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(jié)構(gòu)，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(diǎn)狀眼而出名。一些昆蟲的每個(gè)眼球擁有多達(dá)3萬個(gè)晶狀體。昆蟲的確可以看到顏色，但通常不像其他動(dòng)物看到的那么清晰。它們的視力可以幫助它們探測(cè)到運(yùn)動(dòng)。這正是它們?yōu)槭裁慈绱穗y以消滅的原因!

British Man Wins \"Best Job in the World\" 英國(guó)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(hù)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(dòng)力環(huán)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(huán)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(guó)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(shí)光?？吹饺绱撕椭C溫馨的場(chǎng)景，你是不是相信動(dòng)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(shí)地，真正地，不加夸張地

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

5.pick up: 看到，識(shí)別

6.perspective [pE5spektIv] n. 遠(yuǎn)景，景觀

7.depth perception: 深度感知，深度感覺

8.infrared [7InfrE5red] adj. 【物】紅外線的