Animals and Their Languages动物及其语言

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.

包括昆蟲在内的动物没有跟我们人类一样的语言。它们似乎不用词或句交谈。但是，如果我们观察它们，我们会发现它们确实有交流的方式。

你能看到那只兔子的尾巴吗？当兔子见到那只兔子尾巴上下摆动的时候，它们就会四散跑开。它们知道有危险。那只兔子告诉它们有情况，它给它们发出了信号。

其他许多动物也使用这类语言。当一条眼镜蛇愤怒的时候，它会昂起脖子，使自己看起来很凶猛，给其他动物以警告；当一只蜜蜂发现某种食物的时候，它会飞回蜂房。它不能通过说话告诉别的蜜蜂食物在哪里，但它会在空中以特定的路线飞舞一阵，这就告诉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.

有的动物通过发声来传递信息。比方说狗，有陌生人靠近时它会汪汪叫；猫兴奋时会发出呼噜声；有的鸟会发出不同的声音，各有各的含义。有时候我们人类也以同样的方式进行表达。当我们受到惊吓、感到高兴或者把东西掉下去砸了脚趾的时候，我们会发出像“哦”或“啊”的声音。

但是，我们有一些东西是别的动物所没有的——大量的词汇，这些词汇表达事物、行为、情感和想法的含义。我们能够用词和句互相传递各种不同的信息，这是别的动物做不到的。没有什么动物具有我们这种绝妙的语言。

Word Bank

fierce /f??s/ adj. 凶猛的；凶狠的

He suddenly looked fierce.