8個並非真實的動物「真相」：英語精讀講義

Number eight,

第八個，

let's talk about lemmings.

我們來聊聊旅鼠。

When you hear the word lemmings,

當你聽到「旅鼠」這個詞時，

you might think of two things:

你可能會想到兩件事：

this video game and some sort of small creature that suicidally leaps off cliffs

這個電子遊戲，以及某種會在族群數量過大時

when its population grows too large.

具自殺傾向地跳下懸崖的小型生物。

In case you didn't know, 片語搭配

以防你不知道，

lemmings are real and adorable and not suicidal.

旅鼠是真實存在的，非常可愛，而且不會自殺。

The origin of this myth is a bit unclear,

這個迷思的起源有些模糊，

but the video game Lemmings may have done a lot to convince a younger generation 文法

但電子遊戲《Lemmings》可能很大程度上讓年輕一代相信

that lemmings are willfully suicidal and extremely frustrating to micromanage,

旅鼠是故意自殺的，且微觀管理起來極度令人抓狂，

thus deserving of mass extermination.

因此活該被大批量消滅。

Number seven,

第七個，

daddy longlegs.

盲蛛。

These wispy-looking things have earned the reputation as the most poisonous of any spider,

這些看起來纖弱的小東西被認為是所有蜘蛛中最毒的，

but they're also pretty common,

但牠們也很常見，

so you might wonder why more people don't die of daddy longlegs bites every year.

所以你可能會納悶，為什麼每年沒有更多人死於盲蛛的咬傷。

Like a good conspiracy theory,

就像一個好的陰謀論一樣，

this myth covers its own tracks by saying that their fangs are too small to penetrate human skin. 講解

這個迷思透過聲稱牠們的毒牙太小無法刺透人類皮膚，來掩蓋自己的漏洞。

You could score one for team human except that this misconception is a triple whammy of wrongness. 慣用語

你本可以為人類隊贏下一分，可惜這個誤解是錯上加錯的三重打擊。

One,

第一，

daddy longlegs don't have fangs

盲蛛沒有毒牙；

because two,

因為第二，

they don't produce venom because three,

牠們不產生毒液；因為第三，

they aren't even spiders.

牠們甚至都不是蜘蛛。

Number six,

第六個，

ostriches.

鴕鳥。

Let's review the properties of these flightless birds,

讓我們來回顧一下這些無飛能力鳥類的特點，

shall we? 語氣意圖

好嗎？

They're up to 9 ft tall,

牠們高達9英尺，

up to 340 lb,

重達340磅，

aggressive with sharp beaks and long claws.

具有攻擊性，有著尖銳的喙和長長的爪子。

Essentially,

基本上，

an ostrich is the closest thing to a living raptor you're ever going to see. 文法

鴕鳥是你所能見到的最接近活體猛龍的生物了。

That is, 表達脈絡

也就是說，

until our genetic engineering technology gets better.

直到我們的基因工程技術變得更好之前。

Come on, dino apocalypse.

來吧，恐龍末日。

Anyway, keeping these facts in mind, 片語搭配

總之，記住這些事實，

if you decide to threaten an ostrich,

如果你決定去威脅一隻鴕鳥，

do you really think it's going to stick its head in the sand and wait to die? 慣用語

你真的認為牠會把頭埋進沙子裡等死嗎？

No, of course not.

不，當然不會。

If you're lucky, 文法

如果你走運，

it'll run away at 40 mph and if you're not,

牠會以40英里的時速跑開；如果不走運，

it's fatality time for you.

那就是你的死期了。

Ostriches have no reason to hide and especially not in the stupidest way ever.

鴕鳥沒有理由躲藏，尤其不會用有史以來最蠢的方式。

If they did,

如果牠們真這麼做，

they would have survived about as long as another species of flightless bird. 文法

牠們存活的時間大概只能和另一種不會飛的鳥差不多。

While we're talking about flightless birds, 表達脈絡

既然我們在討論不會飛的鳥，

number five,

第五個，

baby birds.

雛鳥。

A mother bird won't abandon her baby because you've touched it

鳥媽媽不會因為你摸了牠的寶寶就拋棄牠，

any more than a human mother would abandon her baby if a bird touched it. 文法

就像人類媽媽不會因為一隻鳥摸了她的寶寶就拋棄他一樣。

If you find a baby bird and can easily reach its nest,

如果你發現了一隻雛鳥，並且能輕易搆到牠的窩，

it's perfectly fine to put it back. 語氣意圖

把牠放回去是完全可以的。

Number four,

第四個，

goldfish memory.

金魚的記憶。

Goldfish do have memories longer than 3 seconds or 7 seconds

金魚的記憶確實比3秒或7秒長，

or whatever other made up number always accompanies this fact. 片語動詞

或者任何其他總是伴隨這個事實而捏造出來的數字。

They can actually be trained and will remember what they've learned for months,

牠們其實是可以被訓練的，並且能記住牠們幾個月前學到的東西，

which is more than can be said for many humans. 慣用語

這比許多人類都要強。

On an unrelated note, 表達脈絡

順帶一提一件無關的事，

goldfish are also delicious.

金魚也很美味。

Number three,

第三個，

dog vision.

狗的視覺。

Poor dogs, forever living in their sad monochrome worlds.

可憐的狗狗們，永遠生活在牠們悲慘的黑白世界裡。

Except they don't. 表達脈絡

但其實牠們並非如此。

Dogs do see color, 文法

狗確實能看到顏色，

but not quite like us.

只是跟我們不太一樣。

Most humans see three primary colors,

大多數人類能看到三種原色，

red, blue, and green,

紅、藍、綠，

but dogs are limited to two.

但狗僅限於兩種。

They can see blues,

牠們能看到藍色，

but the rest of the color spectrum they can't tell apart, 片語動詞

但光譜上的其他顏色牠們無法區分，

which they don't mind until you buy them a red toy

牠們本來也不介意，直到你給牠們買了個紅色玩具，

and throw it into the green grass and act like they're stupid for not finding it.

扔進綠草地裡，還因為牠們找不到而覺得牠們蠢。

It's easy for you to see because your ancestors spent several million years foraging for red objects on a green background

你很容易就能看到，因為你的祖先花了幾百萬年時間在綠色背景上尋找紅色物體，

and so got quite good at it,

所以變得相當擅長，

unless they didn't, 文法

除非他們沒練好，

which in that case they died.

在那種情況下，他們就死掉了。

But canine eyes are not monkey eyes and so to your dog,

但犬類的眼睛不是猴子的眼睛，所以對你的狗來說，

if it isn't blue,

如果它不是藍色的，

it's all the same color.

那就全是一樣的顏色。

So next time you're at the pet store,

所以下次去寵物店時，

get Rover a blue toy.

給你的狗狗買個藍色玩具吧。

And while we're talking about vision,

既然我們在討論視覺，

let's talk about bats,

讓我們來聊聊蝙蝠，

which if you've ever looked at one,

如果你曾經看過蝙蝠一眼，

it should be immediately obvious that they're not blind

應該立刻就能明顯地看出牠們不是瞎子，

because they look right back at you with their eyes that they use to see things.

因為牠們會用來視物的眼睛直勾勾地盯著你。

But they do one better by having an additional sense called echolocation 慣用語

但牠們更勝一籌，有一種叫做回聲定位的額外感官，

that allows them to navigate the world in complete darkness, 文法

能讓牠們在完全黑暗中導航，

something you can't do.

這是你做不到的。

So from the bat's perspective, 表達脈絡

所以從蝙蝠的角度來看，

you're the blind one.

你才是那個瞎子。

Number one,

第一個，

you can boil a frog to death if you do it very slowly.

如果你非常緩慢地加熱，你可以把一隻青蛙活活煮死。

This one is true,

這個倒是真的，

sort of. 語氣意圖

某種程度上。

Friedrich Goltz demonstrated that a frog will remain blithely in a pot of water brought to boil

弗里德里希·戈爾茨證明了，一隻青蛙會無憂無慮地待在燒開的水鍋裡，

if the temperature is raised slowly enough.

只要溫度上升得足夠慢。

However, the rather salient fact that is often left out of the retelling 講解

然而，這個在傳聞中經常被遺漏的相當突出的事實是，

is that Goltz cut out the frog's brains before placing them in the pot,

戈爾茨在把青蛙放進鍋子裡之前，把牠們的大腦切除了，

which rather puts the frog at a disadvantage. 片語搭配

這讓青蛙相當處於劣勢。

Goltz also showed that if you don't lobotomize the frog first,

戈爾茨還證明了，如果你不先對青蛙進行腦葉切除術，

then surprise,

那麼驚喜來了，

it jumps out of the pot.

牠會跳出鍋子。

It seems likely,

看起來似乎如此，

but please don't try this at home, 語氣意圖

但請不要在家裡嘗試，

that removing the brain of any animal would rather hinder their instinct of self-preservation 講解

摘除任何動物的大腦都會阻礙牠們的自我保護本能，

and also make them more gullible about common misconceptions. 文法

並且也會讓牠們對普遍的誤解更容易輕信。