Animals and Their Languages動物及其語言

Animals， including insects， do not have a language like ours. They do not talk with each other in words and sentences. But if we watch them， we can see that they do have ways of communicating with each other.

Can you see the rabbits tail？ When rabbits see this tail moving up and down， they run. They know that there is danger. The rabbit has told them something. It has given them a signal.

Many other animals use this kind of language. When a cobra is angry， it raises its hood and makes itself look fierce. This warns other animals. When a bee has found some food， it goes back to its home. It cant tell other bees where the food is by speaking to them， but it does a little dance in a special way in the air. This tells the bees where the food is.

包括昆蟲在內的動物沒有跟我們人類一樣的語言。它們似乎不用詞或句交談。但是，如果我們觀察它們，我們會發現它們確實有交流的方式。

你能看到那只兔子的尾巴嗎？當兔子見到那只兔子尾巴上下擺動的時候，它們就會四散跑開。它們知道有危險。那只兔子告訴它們有情況，它給它們發出了信號。

其他許多動物也使用這類語言。當一條眼鏡蛇憤怒的時候，它會昂起脖子，使自己看起來很兇猛，給其他動物以警告；當一只蜜蜂發現某種食物的時候，它會飛回蜂房。它不能通過說話告訴別的蜜蜂食物在哪里，但它會在空中以特定的路線飛舞一陣，這就告訴了其他蜜蜂食物在哪里。

Some animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks， for example， when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs when pleased. Some birds make several different sounds， each with its own meaning. Sometimes we human beings speak in the same way. We make sounds like “Oh” or “Ah” when we are frightened or pleased or when we drop something on our toes.

But we have something that no other animals have—a large number of words which have the meanings of things， actions， feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other all kinds of different information in words and sentences， which no other animals can do. No other animals have so wonderful a language as we have.

有的動物通過發聲來傳遞信息。比方說狗，有陌生人靠近時它會汪汪叫；貓興奮時會發出呼嚕聲；有的鳥會發出不同的聲音，各有各的含義。有時候我們人類也以同樣的方式進行表達。當我們受到驚嚇、感到高興或者把東西掉下去砸了腳趾的時候，我們會發出像“哦”或“啊”的聲音。

但是，我們有一些東西是別的動物所沒有的——大量的詞匯，這些詞匯表達事物、行為、情感和想法的含義。我們能夠用詞和句互相傳遞各種不同的信息，這是別的動物做不到的。沒有什么動物具有我們這種絕妙的語言。

Word Bank

fierce /f??s/ adj. 兇猛的；兇狠的

He suddenly looked fierce.