Breeds of Dogs

Breeds of Dogs, written by Kathy Lester.

《狗狗品种》，凯西·莱斯特 著

Introduction. Did you ever notice how many different kinds of dogs there are? There are big dogs, small dogs, long dogs, short dogs, hairy dogs, and even hairless dogs. There are dogs with big ears, little ears, big noses, little noses, long legs, short legs, long tails, and no tails at all.

引言 你有没有发现，狗狗的种类居然这么多呀？ 有大狗、小狗、长身狗、短身狗、毛茸茸的狗狗，甚至还有没毛的狗狗。 有些狗狗长大耳朵，有些长小耳朵；有大鼻子，也有小鼻子；有长腿、短腿、长尾巴，还有根本没有尾巴的狗狗。

Why are there so many kinds of dogs? The reason is because there are lots of breeds of dogs. Breeds are kinds of dogs that are kept separate from other breeds during mating time. If each breed of dog only mates with its own kind, the puppies will be that same kind of dog too. These dogs are purebred, which means that since their parents are the same, they will be the same too. A male and female bulldog will have pups that are bulldogs. Other dogs are called mixed breed dogs. They are a mix of two or more kinds of dogs. Mixed breed dogs are sometimes called mutts.

为什么会有这么多种狗狗呢？ 原因就是狗狗本来就分很多不同的品种呀。 品种就是交配繁殖时，会和其他品种分开配种的狗狗类群。 如果同一品种的狗狗只和同品种交配，生下的狗宝宝也会是同一个品种。 这种狗狗叫纯种犬，意思就是爸爸妈妈是同一品种，它们也会和爸爸妈妈是同一个品种。 公斗牛犬和母斗牛犬生下的狗宝宝，也一定是斗牛犬。 还有一类狗狗叫做混血犬。 它们是两种或者更多品种狗狗的混合后代。 混血犬有时候也被叫做串串。

How do different kinds of dogs come to exist? Long ago, there were no dogs, there were only wolves. When people first began living in villages, their garbage became a food source for wolves. Over time, some of the wolves eating human garbage became tamer. These wolves slowly changed to be better at living close to people and began to look and act more like modern dogs.

不同种类的狗狗是怎么出现的呢？ 很久很久以前，世界上没有狗狗，只有狼。 人类刚开始定居村落的时候，人类的垃圾成了狼的食物来源。 久而久之，一些吃人类垃圾的狼变得越来越温顺。 这些狼慢慢发生改变，越来越适应和人类一起生活，外形和行为也越来越像现在的狗狗。

People saw that some of these early dogs were better at running, other dogs were better at hunting, and others were better at digging. Some people wanted a dog who was even better at one of those tasks, so they started only letting good runners mate with good runners, and they only let good diggers mate with good diggers. Over many thousands of years, the dogs people kept as pets changed into the breeds of dogs we know today. Of course, the wild wolves stayed wild and are still wild today. There are seven groups of dogs, and each one has many breeds. Let's learn about these groups and some of their members.

人们发现，这些早期狗狗里，有的更擅长奔跑，有的更擅长打猎，还有的更擅长挖洞。 人们想要得到更擅长某项工作的狗狗，于是只让擅长奔跑的和擅长奔跑的交配，让擅长挖洞的和擅长挖洞的交配。 经过成千上万年的演变，人类饲养的狗狗慢慢变成了我们现在熟悉的这些品种。 当然，野外的狼一直保持野性，到今天还是野狼。 狗狗一共分为七个组别，每个组别都有很多品种。 接下来我们就一起认识这些组别，还有它们的成员吧。

Sporting dogs were bred to help hunters. Some sporting dogs help a hunter find the game, the animal that is being hunted. Other sporting dogs find game that has been shot and bring it back to the hunter. The pointer is a sporting dog that was bred to see and point at game. A pointer freezes in place with one front leg up and points with its nose.

运动犬是培育出来帮助猎人打猎的。 有些运动犬帮猎人找到猎物，也就是被追捕的动物。 还有些运动犬会找到被击中的猎物，把它送回猎人身边。 指示犬是一种运动犬，生来就会发现猎物并指示位置。 指示犬会一动不动定在原地，抬起一条前腿，用鼻子指向猎物方向。