Leaders
来源于《社论》版块
Pet theories
宠物理论
Reigning cats and dogs
“统治阶级”猫猫狗狗
As pet ownership booms, a troubling question rears its head: who owns whom?
随着宠物拥有量的激增，一个令人不安的问题浮出水面：宠物和人谁是主人?
There is a range of theories about how Homo sapiens came to rule the planet. Opposable thumbs, cranial size, altruism and cooking all played a part, but central to the naked ape’s success was its ability to dominate other species. Bovids, equids and, in particular, canids, were put to work by H. sapiens; felids always took a slightly different view of the matter, but were indulged for their rodent-catching talents.
关于智人如何能成为地球的统治者产生了一系列理论。对生拇指、头颅大小、利他主义以及烹饪都是其中原因，但人类能够成功统治地球的最主要原因是支配其他物种的能力。牛科动物、马科动物，尤其是犬科动物，都是由智人分工的；猫科动物略有不同，但受宠的原因主要是捕捉啮齿类生物的天性。
As humanity has got richer, animals’ roles have changed. People need their services less than before. Fewer wolves and bandits meant less demand for dogs for protection; the internal combustion engine made horses redundant; modern sanitation kept rats in check and made cats less useful. No longer necessities, domestic animals became luxuries. Petkeeping seems to kick in en masse when household incomes rise above roughly $5,000. It is booming.
人类物资越来越丰富，动物角色也随之改变。相比之前，人类对于动物干活的需求变小了。狼和强盗减少意味着不要那么多看家狗了；内燃机的出现使得人们不再需要拉车的马了；现代卫生设施抑制住了老鼠，猫的作用也没那么大了。家畜不再是必需品，而是奢侈品。家庭收入大约超过5000美元时，养宠物似乎是一个普遍选择。宠物业正蓬勃发展。
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The trend is not a new one. Archaeologists have found 10,000-year-old graves in which dogs and people are buried together. Some cultures— such as in Scandinavia, where canines have long been both working dogs and companions— have kept pets for millennia. But these days the pet-keeping urge has spread even to parts of the world which have no tradition of snuggling up on a comfy chair with a furry creature.
这种趋势并不新鲜。考古学家们发现了有10000年历史人狗合葬的坟墓。有些地方的文化几千年来一直盛行养宠物，比如斯堪的纳维亚半岛，那里的狗长期以来既是工作犬又是人类的伙伴。但如今，养宠物的潮流已经蔓延至各地，甚至是本来没有和毛茸茸的宠物窝在沙发上的传统的地方。
In parts of Asia where people used to regard the best place for man’s best friend as not the sofa but the stewing-pot, along with some onions and a pinch of seasoning, and where cats were made into tonics, norms are changing fast. The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has a rescue dog, and the mayor of Seoul has promised to shut down dog butchers. China, where dogs were once rounded up and slaughtered on the ground that keeping pets was bourgeois, has gone mad for cutesy breeds like Pomeranians, whose wolfish ancestors would have swallowed them whole for elevenses. Traditionalists attending the annual dogmeat festival in Guangxi now find themselves under attack by packs of snarling animal-lovers.
在亚洲的一些地区，人们过去认为给人类最好的朋友最好的地方不是沙发，而是炖锅，外加几片洋葱和一撮调料。以前拿猫当做滋补品的地方，规范正在改变。韩国总统文在寅养了一只搜救犬，首尔市长承诺关闭狗肉屠宰店。狗曾经被围捕和屠杀，理由是养宠物是资产阶级的行为，而现在却为博美犬这种可爱的物种陷入疯狂，而狼祖先会将这类犬当做下午茶一样吞掉。参加广西狗肉节的传统主义者现在发现自己受到了一群咆哮的动物爱好者的攻击。
The pet business is growing even faster than pet numbers, because people are spending more and more money on them. No longer are they food-waste-recyclers, fed with the scraps that fall from their masters’ tables. Pet-food shelves groan with delicacies crafted to satisfy a range of appetites, including ice cream for dogs and foods for pets that are old, diabetic or suffer from sensitive digestion; a number of internet services offer bespoke food, tailored to the pet’s individual tastes.
宠物行业的增长速度甚至比宠物数量还快，因为人们在宠物身上花的钱越来越多。宠物不再是食物垃圾的回收者，不再吃主人桌子上掉下来的残羹剩饭。宠物食品货架上摆满了精心制作的美味佳肴，以满足各种各样的食欲，包括为狗狗准备的冰淇淋，以及为年老、患有糖尿病或消化不良的宠物准备的食物；许多互联网服务提供定制的食物，以适应宠物的个人口味。
In the business this is called “pet humanisation”—the tendency of pet owners to treat their pets as part of the family. This is evident in the names given to dogs, which have evolved from Fido, Rex and Spot to—in America—Bella, Lucy and Max. It is evident in the growing market for pet clothing, pet grooming and pet hotels. It is evident in the demand for breeds such as the French bulldog, which, tellingly, looks a bit like a human baby.
在商业领域，这被称为“宠物人类化”——宠物主人倾向于将宠物视为家庭的一部分。从狗的名字就可以看出这一点，在美国，狗的名字从Fido, Rex和Spot变到Bella, Lucy和Max。这在不断增长的宠物服装、宠物美容和宠物旅店市场上是显而易见的。从对法国斗牛犬等品种的需求中就可以明显看出这一点。很明显，法国斗牛犬看起来有点像人类的婴儿。
People still assume that pets must be working for humanity in some way, perhaps making people healthier or less anxious. But the evidence for that is weak. Rather, new research suggests that canines have evolved those irresistible “puppy-dog eyes” precisely to manipulate human emotions. It has worked. The species that once enslaved others now toils to pay for the care of its pets, which lounge on the sofa waiting to be taken to the grooming salon. Sentimental Americans often refer to themselves not as cat-owners but as the cat’s “mommy” or “daddy”. South Koreans go one further, describing themselves as cat “butlers”, pandering to every feline whim. Watch a hapless dog-walker trailing “his” hound, plastic bag in hand to pick up its mess, and you have to wonder: who’s in charge now?
人们仍然认为宠物一定在以某种方式为人类服务，或许是让人们更健康，或许是减轻了焦虑。但这方面的证据并不充分。相反，新的研究表明，狗狗进化出了那些令人难以抗拒的“小狗眼睛”，正是为了控制人类的情绪。这的确奏效了。曾经奴役其他物种的人类现在要辛苦地支付照顾宠物的费用，这些宠物懒洋洋地躺在沙发上，等着被带到美容沙龙。多愁善感的美国人常常称自己为猫的“妈妈”或“爸爸”，而不是猫的主人。韩国人则更甚，他们自称为猫的“管家”，迎合猫的每一个奇想。看着一个倒霉的遛狗人牵着“他的”狗，手里拿着塑料袋捡狗粪，你一定会心生疑问：现在谁是老大？
来源：经济学人
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