文◎Adriana Heguy 譯◎Bluray 繪◎馬豆子

我的狗狗真的愛我嗎

DOES MY DOG REALLYLOVE ME

文◎Adriana Heguy 譯◎Bluray 繪◎馬豆子

Think about this： if your dog is stolen by a family that feeds her and gives her shelter， she would still miss you， at least for a certain period of time. She would likely remember you for a number of years. The happiness of dogs when they reunited with their human family after years of separation①separation 英 ［sep?'re??（?）n］ 美 ［，s?p?'re??n］ n. 分離，分開；間隔，距離because the dog got lost， or the person traveled， or was at war， has been documented②document 英 ［'d?kj?m（?）nt］ 美 ［dɑkj?m?nt］ n. 文件，公文 vt. 用文件證明. You can search You Tube for this type of joyful reunions.

Dogs are social animals， just like humans， and they have strong attachment③attachment 英 ［?'t?t?m（?）nt］ 美 ［?'t?t?m?nt］ n. 附件；依戀；連接物；扣押財(cái)產(chǎn)to their pack， which in the case of domestic dogs， is the human family. The only reason not to call this strong bond "love" is if you think that "love" should be a word reserved for a human feeling and not an animal's feelings. I personally think that if the behavior is similar， the evolutionary④evolutionary 英 ［，i?v?'lu???n?r?］ 美 ［，iv?'lu??n?ri］adj. 進(jìn)化的；發(fā)展的；漸進(jìn)的bases for the behavior are common， and the neural⑤neural 英 ［'nj??r（?）l］ 美 ［'n?r?l］ adj. 神經(jīng)的；神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的；背的；神經(jīng)中樞的/endocrine⑥endocrine 英 ［'end?（?）kra?n； -kr?n］ 美 ［'?nd?kr?n］ n.內(nèi)分泌；激素；內(nèi)分泌物 adj. 內(nèi)分泌的；激素的correlates⑦correlate 英 ［'k?r?le?t； -r?-］ 美 ［'k?r?let］ vi. 關(guān)聯(lián)vt.使有相互關(guān)系；互相有關(guān)系n. 相關(guān)物；相關(guān)聯(lián)的人 adj. 關(guān)聯(lián)的are also common， it's totally fi ne to call it love.

I love my dogs and they love me and the rest of our family. They love my sons to pieces even though they almost never feed them or walk them. But they do cuddle⑧cuddle 英 ［'k?d（?）l］ 美 ［'k?dl］ vi. 擁抱；偎依；舒服地貼著身睡vt. 擁抱；親熱地?fù)ё?；撫愛地?fù)肀. 摟抱，擁抱with them， and now that my sons are adults， they go berserk whenever they come back home！ There， I did it， I used the word "love".

想想這種情況：如果你的狗狗被某家人偷走了，而那家人為你的狗狗提供吃住，你的狗狗仍然會(huì)想你，至少在某一段時(shí)間內(nèi)會(huì)。很可能在許多年以后依然記得你。那些曾經(jīng)因走失、主人遠(yuǎn)行或戰(zhàn)爭而與主人分離的狗狗，多年以后與主人家相聚時(shí)，依舊表現(xiàn)出喜悅，這都被記錄下來了。你可以搜索YouTube 找到這類久別重逢的視頻。

同人一樣，狗也是群居動(dòng)物。狗對(duì)團(tuán)體有著強(qiáng)烈的依戀。對(duì)于家犬，這個(gè)團(tuán)體就是人類家庭。之所以不把這種深厚的情感稱作愛，你認(rèn)為是因?yàn)椤皭邸边@個(gè)字，專屬于人類情感，而不是用來描述動(dòng)物情感的。但我個(gè)人覺得，如果行為相似，行為進(jìn)化的基礎(chǔ)相同，并且與行為相關(guān)的神經(jīng)或激素的反應(yīng)也相同，那么完全可以把它稱作“愛”。

我愛我的狗狗們，它們也愛我和其他家庭成員。它們很愛我兒子，即使我兒子幾乎從未喂過它們或者去遛過它們。但他們會(huì)摟抱這些狗，即使我兒子現(xiàn)在成年了，只要回到家里，他們和狗狗仍會(huì)打成一片！所以，在這里，我用“愛”這個(gè)字眼。