2017職稱英語理工A翻譯練習(xí)-6

Spacing in Animals

Flight Distance

Any observant person has noticed that a wild animal will allow a man or other potential enemy to approach only up to a given distance before it flees. “Flight distance” is the terms used for this interspecies spacing. As a general rule, there is a positive relationship between the size of an animal and its flight distance—the larger the animal, the greater the distance it must keep between itself and the enemy. An antelope will flee when the enemy is as much as five hundred yards away. The wall lizard’s flight distance, on the other hand is about six feet. Flight is the basic means of survival for mobile creatures.

Critical Distance

Critical distance apparently is present wherever and whenever there is a flight reaction. “Critical distance” includes the narrow zone separating flight distance from attack distance. A lion in a zoo will flee from an approaching man until it meets a barrier that it cannot overcome. If the man continues the approach, he soon penetrates the lion's critical distance, at which point the cornered lion reverses direction and begins slowly to stalk the man.

Social Distance

Social animals need to stay in touch with each other. Loss of contact with the group can be fatal for a variety of reasons including exposure to enemies. Social distance is not simply the distance at which an animal will lose contact with his group—that is, the distance at which it can no longer see, hear, or smell the group—it is rather a psychological distance, one at which the animal apparently begins to feel anxious when he exceeds its limits. We can think of it as a hidden band that contains the group.

Social distance varies from species to species. It is quite short—apparently only a few yards—among some animals, and quite long among others.

Social distance is not always rigidly fixed but is determined in part by the situation. When the young of apes and humans are mobile but not yet under control of the mother's voice, social distance may be the length of her reach. This is readily observed among the baboons in a zoo. When the baby approaches a certain point, the mother reaches out to seize the end of its tail and pull it back to her. When added control is needed because of danger, social distance shrinks. To show this in man, one has only to watch a family with a number of small children holding hands as they cross a busy street.

參考譯文：

動物的空間距離

逃離距離

一些善于觀察的人已經(jīng)注意到一只野生動物只讓人或其他潛在的敵人在特定的距離內(nèi)接近它，然后它便會逃走。“逃離距離”是用來描述這種物種間的空間距離的術(shù)語。一般說來，動物體積與其逃離距離之間成正比關(guān)系~^動物的體積越大，和敵人保特的距寓就越大。當敵人離羚羊500碼遠時，羚羊就會逃離。另一方面,壁虎的逃離距離大約6英尺。逃離是動物生存的基本手段。,關(guān)鍵距離

關(guān)鍵距離顯然與逃離行為的時間和地點有關(guān)。關(guān)鍵距離指的是逃離距離和進攻距離之間的狹窄區(qū)域。動物園的獅子會躲開接近它的人，直到它遇到不可跨過的障礙物才停步。如果那人繼續(xù)朝它走去,他就很快地進入了獅子的關(guān)鍵距離,這時無路可走的獅子會調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)方向，開始慢慢逼近那個人。相聚距離

群居動物需要相互之間保持聯(lián)系。和群體失去聯(lián)系會因為各種原因(包括面臨敵人)而導(dǎo)致不幸。相聚距離不僅僅是動物和群體失去聯(lián)系時的距離——也就是說，在這個距離它不再能看到、聽到或聞到群體——確切地說，它更是一種心理距離，一種當動物超越它的限度后會明顯感到焦慮的距離。我們可以認為它是一條控制群體的隱形帶。

相聚距離會因動物種類不同而有差別。對一些動物而言，相聚距離非常近，僅有幾碼遠。但其他動物的相聚距離會非常遠。

相聚距離不是一成不變的，而是部分地取決于環(huán)境。當無尾猿和人類的幼兒會活動，但還不受母親言語控制時，相聚距離是她手臂夠得著的長度。從動物園的狒狒，我們很容易看到這點。當小狒狒走到某個位置時，狒狒媽媽會伸出手來，抓住小狒狒的尾巴，把它拖回身邊。因為危險而需要加強控制時，相聚距離就會縮小。要在人類身上證明這點，你只要觀察一個有許多孩子的家庭就行了。當孩子們橫過」條繁忙的街道時，他們會互相牽著手。