Any cat lover will tell you that even though their furry friend doesn’t care too much about pleasing the likes of her human companions, she can be sweet when she wants to be.
愛貓人士一定會這么對你說，即使他們毛茸茸的貓咪對討好人類小伙伴不怎么上心，但貓貓溫柔起來你也擋不住。

Meanwhile those on team dog go as far as insisting cats are untrustworthy, even flat-out wild. Well, a new study suggests they’re both partly right.
同時，愛狗人士會堅持說貓靠不住，甚至會發(fā)狂。當然，有個新研究稱，兩方人士都只說對了一部分。

To reach their findings, researchers analyzed the genome of an Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon and compared it to that of humans, dogs, cows and other cat species like tigers and birman, another breed of domestic cat.
為得出研究結論，研究者對一只名為辛納蒙的阿比西尼亞貓做了基因組的研究，并且和人類、狗、奶牛還有其他貓科動物（如老虎、伯曼貓這一品種的家貓）做了比對。

While they found (unsurprisingly) that domestic cats have retained most of the same genetic traits as their wild ancestors—hence your kitty’s persistent hunting despite a full bowl of kibble—researchers also made note of a few changes to the genes associated with brain regions involved in reward and pleasure, which were likely caused by human influence.
研究發(fā)覺，家貓也同樣保留了他們的野貓先祖大部分基因特點（這其實也不足為怪）。所以，即便你的貓貓眼前已經(jīng)有滿滿一盆貓糧，它還是會持之以恒地覓食。研究人員也注意到與大腦區(qū)域相關、涉及獎賞和享樂的基因有了些許變化，應該也是受人類影響所致。

The theory is that humans first started keeping cats to get rid of pests around 9,000 years ago, which lead humans to selectively breed the most docile, friendly cats (i.e. the ones who responded the most to food rewards and petting). This lead to changes seen in the brains of today’s cats, which makes them not only unafraid of humans but interested in a good scratch behind the ear every now and then.
理論是這么說的，大約九千年前，人們最初開始養(yǎng)貓是為了驅趕害蟲，這致使了人們選擇性地養(yǎng)殖最溫順最友善的貓（諸如那些對食物和愛撫回饋最多的）。這就導致了如今貓大腦的變化，貓不但不畏懼人類，還頗喜歡時不時在人耳后撓癢癢。

Part of the reason cats have made less genetic progress than say dogs, is that humans didn’t really start breeding cats in earnest until a little over 200 years ago, and to this day interbreeding between tamed and wild cat species continues, lead study author Wes Warren, PhD, explained to the Los Angeles Times.
和狗相比貓的基因演變緩慢，其中的一部分原因是，人類也就是兩百多年前才開始正兒八經(jīng)地養(yǎng)殖貓類，野貓和馴服的家貓間的雜交至今仍在進行中。

This may not explain why your cat insists on knocking things over or why she keeps pointing his rear end at your face, but it certainly sheds some light on other behaviors—namely, why your cat can be a vicious killer one minute, and a sweet little angel the next.
或許這并不足以解釋為何你的貓貓偏偏喜歡把東西撞翻、熱衷于把屁股對著你的臉，但也絕對解釋了其他的一些行為，即，緣何你的貓貓前一分鐘還邪惡得要命，后一分鐘就搖身一變?yōu)樘鹈鄣男√焓埂?/div>