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.

　　爱猫人士一定会这么对你说，即使他们毛茸茸的猫咪对讨好人类小伙伴不怎么上心，但猫猫温柔起来你也挡不住。

　　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.

　　同时，爱狗人士会坚持说猫靠不住，甚至会发狂。当然，有个新研究称，两方人士都只说对了一部分。

　　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.

　　为得出研究结论，研究者对一只名为辛纳蒙的阿比西尼亚猫做了基因组的研究，并且和人类、狗、奶牛还有其他猫科动物(如老虎、伯曼猫这一品种的家猫)做了比对。

　　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.

　　研究发觉，家猫也同样保留了他们的野猫先祖大部分基因特点(这其实也不足为怪)。所以，即便你的猫猫眼前已经有满满一盆猫粮，它还是会持之以恒地觅食。研究人员也注意到与大脑区域相关、涉及奖赏和享乐的基因有了些许变化，应该也是受人类影响所致。

　　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.

　　理论是这么说的，大约九千年前，人们最初开始养猫是为了驱赶害虫，这致使了人们选择性地养殖最温顺最友善的猫(诸如那些对食物和爱抚回馈最多的)。这就导致了如今猫大脑的变化，猫不但不畏惧人类，还颇喜欢时不时在人耳后挠痒痒。

　　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.

　　和狗相比猫的基因演变缓慢，其中的一部分原因是，人类也就是两百多年前才开始正儿八经地养殖猫类，野猫和驯服的家猫间的杂交至今仍在进行中。

　　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.

　　或许这并不足以解释为何你的猫猫偏偏喜欢把东西撞翻、热衷于把屁股对着你的脸，但也绝对解释了其他的一些行为，即，缘何你的猫猫前一分钟还邪恶得要命，后一分钟就摇身一变为甜蜜的小天使。

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（责任编辑：何莹莹）