073 夜行生物

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The sun sets

太阳落山了。

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Wolves howl at the rising moon

狼群朝着升起的月亮嚎叫。

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Owls' hoots echo through the night

猫头鹰的叫声在夜空中回荡。

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Bats swoop through the darkness on silent wings

蝙蝠用无声的翅膀在黑暗中俯冲飞行。

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These creatures of the night are the stuff of spooky

legends—and scary movies.

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But is there any truth to the legends surrounding these animals?

但是，围绕这些动物的传说有任何真实性吗？

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Long ago it was frightening to hear wolves howling at night

很久以前，在夜晚听到狼嚎是很吓人的。

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Wolves were seen as dangerous beasts, and people who did horrible

things were thought of as beasts.

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So legends arose of werewolves — people who turned into wolf-like

beasts during a full moon.

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These werewolves had sharp fangs and claws and hairy bodies

这些狼人有锋利的尖牙、爪子和毛茸茸的身体。

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They remained vicious beasts until the sun rose, when they returned

to their human forms and personalities.

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Today we know that werewolves aren't real

今天我们知道，狼人并非真实存在。

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We also know that wolves don't howl at night to be scary

我们也知道，狼在夜里嚎叫并不是为了吓人。

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Wolves are nocturnal, so they're awake at night

狼是夜行性动物，所以它们在夜间活动。

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They howl to communicate with their pack or stake out territory

它们嚎叫是为了与狼群沟通，或是划定领地。

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Pointing their noses toward the sky helps their sounds carry

for a long distance—9 to 16 kilometers.

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Despite the legends, wolves don't howl more during full moons

尽管有那些传说，狼在满月时并不会叫得更多。

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People were just more likely to see wolves under the light of a full moon!

人们只是更容易在满月的月光下看到狼而已！

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The hoot of the owl also struck terror in people long ago

很久以前，猫头鹰的叫声也曾让人们感到恐惧。

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As with wolves, spooky legends arose about these

mysterious nighttime creatures.

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In some legends witches turned into owls at night

在一些传说中，女巫会在夜间变成猫头鹰。

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Many cultures saw owls as a symbol of death

许多文化将猫头鹰视为死亡的象征。

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In Europe, for example, people believed that an owl nearby

meant someone would die.

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When they heard the owl hoot, they hoped its big shiny

eyes were not watching them!

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Luckily owls don't hoot at night as messengers of doom

幸好，猫头鹰在夜间鸣叫，并不是传递死亡讯息的使者。

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Owls, like wolves, are nocturnal

猫头鹰和狼一样，都是夜行性动物。

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They hoot to communicate with other owls

它们鸣叫是为了与其他猫头鹰沟通。

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They may hoot to claim territory or talk to a mate or their chicks

它们可能通过鸣叫来宣示领地，或与配偶、幼鸟交流。

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Sometimes their hoots are warnings

有时，它们的叫声是一种警告。

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But these aren't warnings of death

但这些警告并非关于死亡。

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These warning hoots let other owls know there are people nearby!

这些警告的叫声让其他猫头鹰知道附近有人！

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Why do owls have such large eyes that glow in the darkness?

为什么猫头鹰有这么大的眼睛，在黑暗中闪闪发光？

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Since owls hunt at night, their eyes help them see

因为猫头鹰在夜间捕猎，所以它们的眼睛能帮助它们看清东西。

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Owls can also turn their necks so they can see backwards

猫头鹰还能转动脖子，这样它们就能看到身后了。

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This helps them silently track their prey

这有助于它们悄无声息地追踪猎物。

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Another creature of legend is the vampire bat — the strange

flying mammal that sucks blood.

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Surprisingly, legends about vampires didn't come from vampire bats

令人惊讶的是，关于吸血鬼的传说并非源自吸血蝙蝠。

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People from Ancient Egypt, Tibet, and Rome had stories

about vampires who sucked blood.

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Much later, European explorers discovered bats in Mexico

and Central America that lived off blood.

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They named these bats vampire bats after the legendary creatures

他们根据传说中的生物，将这些蝙蝠命名为吸血蝙蝠。

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The legend about human vampires turning into vampire

bats began even later.

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That legend is from Dracula, the famous horror novel

那个传说出自著名的恐怖小说《德古拉》。

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The character Dracula could turn into a bat and fly through the night

德古拉这个角色能变成蝙蝠，在夜空中飞翔。

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But unlike vampires from legends, vampire bats

don't really suck blood.

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Vampire bats usually approach their targets from the ground

吸血蝙蝠通常从地面接近目标。

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They use their sharp teeth to pierce the skin of their prey

它们用锋利的牙齿刺穿猎物的皮肤。

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Then they drink the flowing blood using their tongues

然后它们用舌头舔食流出的鲜血。

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They don't kill their victims — or turn them into vampires!

它们不会杀死受害者——也不会把他们变成吸血鬼！

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And vampire bats rarely prey on humans

而且吸血蝙蝠很少以人类为食。

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They usually feed on cattle and horses

它们通常以牛和马为食。

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People have always tried to explain the unknown

人们总是试图解释未知的事物。

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Legends help to explain mysterious things that people encounter

传说有助于解释人们遇到的神秘事物。

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Now we know that some legends aren't true, but people

still enjoy a good scary story.

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When the moon rises, filling the night with shadows

it's fun to pretend legends are real!