英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)力文摘 貓薄荷
Catnip
貓薄荷是一種草本植物，聞上去非常清涼，是一種可以讓貓咪瘋狂和開(kāi)心的植物，所以被廣大貓友戲稱為“貓毒品”。貓薄荷，Nepeta cataria，為唇形科荊芥屬的植物，莖直立多分枝，莖葉有白色絨毛，穗狀花?；ㄆ谙募?。在醫(yī)學(xué)上，該植物有興奮的作用，并含有鐵，硒，鉀，錳，鉻等礦物質(zhì)和維生素。貓對(duì)該植物的反應(yīng)特別強(qiáng)烈，當(dāng)貓聞吸了貓薄荷之后，會(huì)興奮不已，上竄下跳，產(chǎn)生許多古怪的行為，貓薄荷因此得名。貓薄荷對(duì)貓的健康對(duì)貓的健康有實(shí)際幫助嗎?貓薄荷的作用很短暫，既不會(huì)令貓咪上癮，也不會(huì)有副作用。貓食用后會(huì)產(chǎn)生暫時(shí)性(5-15分鐘)的行為變化，例如會(huì)打噴嚏、咀嚼、摩擦、翻滾、喵喵叫、發(fā)譫語(yǔ)等。有些貓吃了貓薄荷之后會(huì)追逐幻想中的老鼠、有些則呆坐著空茫地瞪著眼，這些行為并不會(huì)造成任何危害，也不具成癮性。在貓食欲和精神不振時(shí)，讓其聞聞貓薄荷有利于貓恢復(fù)健康;但不可頻繁地給貓使用。
It induces euphoria, and excites the sexual regions of the brain. It is quite possibly hallucinogenic. What is it? Find out on this Moment of Science.
It induces euphoria, and excites the sexual regions of the brain. It is quite possibly hallucinogenic. It leads to strange, unpredictable, and unproductive behavior in those who use it. What’s more, it grows wild, much as a weed. Is this the latest menace to society? No, it’s catnip.
The catnip plant is actually an herb, and a relatively common member of the mint family. If kitties ever decided to have a war on drugs, catnip would be outlawed because of a chemical called “nepetalactone(荊芥內(nèi)酯).”
Lactones(內(nèi)酯) carry chemical messages inside a body, and nepetalactone carries it’s message straight to the pleasure center of a cat’s brain, where it can randomly excite the cat’s neural circuits associated with sex, playing, hunting, and feeding.
Although a cat may try to eat catnip or a catnip toy, it is only the smell of catnip that transfers the drug to a cat’s brain, not the actual ingestion. This is why a small amount of catnip inside a toy can make a cat happy again and again. It’s also why a cat will sometimes be more interested in the cardboard box that a catnip toy came in than the actual toy–the cardboard might carry more of the smell.
If your cat seems unaffected by catnip, don’t worry. A cat’s sensitivity to catnip is genetically determined, and some don’t respond at all.
譯文：
貓薄荷
它能引起快感，刺激大腦的性區(qū)域，引起幻覺(jué)。使用它的人可能產(chǎn)生奇怪，出乎意料的，不明智的舉動(dòng)。更重要的是它和雜草一樣是野生的。這是對(duì)社會(huì)的最新威脅嗎?不，它是貓薄荷。
貓薄荷實(shí)際上是一種藥草，是薄荷家族中常見(jiàn)的一員。如果貓咪們決定來(lái)一次反毒品大戰(zhàn)，那么貓薄荷將會(huì)被認(rèn)定為非法藥物，因?yàn)樗幸环N叫做荊芥內(nèi)酯的化學(xué)物質(zhì)。
內(nèi)酯在身體內(nèi)傳送化學(xué)信息，荊芥內(nèi)酯則直接將信息傳入貓腦的“快樂(lè)中樞”，在那里可以隨意刺激貓與性欲，玩耍，捕獵以及喂養(yǎng)有關(guān)的神經(jīng)環(huán)路。
盡管貓會(huì)嘗試吃掉貓薄荷或者貓薄荷玩具，但這僅僅是貓薄荷的氣味將藥物傳輸至貓的大腦中，并不是實(shí)際的攝取。這就是為什么玩具里的一小點(diǎn)貓薄荷就能讓貓不停地興奮。這也是為什么貓有時(shí)會(huì)對(duì)裝貓薄荷玩具的箱子而不是貓薄荷玩具更感興趣，因?yàn)橄渥涌赡苡懈嗟臍馕丁?/p>
如果你的貓不受貓薄荷的影響，不用擔(dān)心。貓對(duì)貓薄荷的敏感度是由其基因決定的，有些根本毫無(wú)反應(yīng)。
Notes:
hallucinogenic [h?,lu:sin?'d?enik] adj.引起幻覺(jué)的;迷幻藥的
Hashish: Hallucinogenic drug preparation derived from resin from the flowers of hemp plants.
哈希什：從大麻植物的花提取的樹脂，再?gòu)闹刑崛〕龅拿曰盟帯?/p>
