不知道大家有没有过这样的体验？家里养的汪星人做错事，就用它们水灵灵、圆嘟嘟、眼尾自然往下耷拉的大眼睛看着你，委屈的样子，顿时打消了你惩罚它们的念头。狗狗们不仅在犯错的时候会看着你，平时其实也很渴望人类与它们对视，看向你的眼神就像一个单纯、无辜的小孩。为什么狗狗的眼神这么惹人怜爱？这种特征其实与我们人类有着千丝万缕的关系。究竟是什么样的关系？
# Dogs’ eyes have changed since humans befriended them
Dogs, more so than almost any other domesticated species, are desperate for human eye contact. It’s hard for most people to resist a petulant flash of puppy-dog eyes — and according to a new study, that pull on the heartstrings might be exactly why dogs can give us those looks at all.
在所有被驯化的物种中，狗狗几乎是最渴望与人类进行眼神交流的。大多数人都难以抗拒小狗一闪而过的任性眼神，根据一项新研究，这种触动心弦的感觉，正解释了为什么狗狗用这类眼神看向我们。
Dogs split off from their wolf relatives — specifically, gray wolves — as many as 33,000 years ago. Studying the two animals is a bit like cracking open a four-legged time capsule. A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that dogs’ faces are structured for complex expression in a way that wolves’ aren’t.
早在 3.3 万多年前，狗狗从它们的亲戚，狼（更确切地说，灰狼）中分离出来，研究这两种动物有点像打开一个“四条腿的时间胶囊”。而发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》的一份研究报告表明，狗狗的面部结构使得它们可以拥有复杂的表情，而狼却不具备这个特征。
For the study, a team looked at two muscles that work together to widen and open a dog’s eyes, causing them to appear bigger, droopier, and objectively cuter. But in the four gray wolves the researchers looked at, neither muscle was present.
在这项研究中，研究小组观察了狗狗的两块（眼部）肌肉，这两块肌肉共同作用，帮助狗狗睁大眼睛，从而使眼睛看起来更大、更耷拉着，而且客观上更可爱。而在研究人员观察的四只灰狼中，这两块肌肉完全不存在。
Research has also shown that when dogs work these muscles, humans respond more positively. This isn’t simply a fortuitous love story, in which the eyes of two species just so happen to meet across a crowded planet. Like all the best partnerships, this one is more likely the result of years of evolution and growth.
研究还表明，当狗狗动用这些肌肉时，人类的反应更加积极。 这不仅仅是一个机缘巧合的爱情故事：两个物种的眼神越过一个拥挤的星球上恰好交汇。如同所有最佳伙伴关系，狗狗和人类的这种关系更像是多年进化和成长的结果。
For a species to change quickly, a pretty powerful force must be acting on it. And that’s where humans come in. We connect profoundly with animals capable of exaggerating the size and width of their eyes, which makes them look like our own human babies and “hijacks” our nurturing instincts.
一个物种要迅速进化，背后一定有一股非常强大的力量在起作用，那就是人类的影响。能睁大双眼的动物与人类关系更紧密，因为它们看起来更像是我们人类婴儿，从而“绑架”我们的抚养本能。
“These muscles evolved during domestication,” says Brian Hare, the editor of the paper, “but almost certainly due to an advantage they gave dogs during interactions with humans that we humans have been all but unaware of.”
研究报告的主编莱恩·黑尔说：“这些（眼部）肌肉是在驯养过程中进化出来的，但几乎可以肯定的是，这些肌肉进化是因为，当狗狗与人类互动时，这些肌肉给予了它们一种优势。然而我们人类却差点儿没意识到这一点。”
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