狗的馴化 canine domestication

 狗的馴化 canine domestication

● 字源

「canine」源自拉丁文 caninus，由 canis（狗）而來，可作形容詞「犬類的」，亦可指犬科動物。「domestication」源自拉丁文 domesticus（屬於家的），而它又來自 domus（房屋、家），指把野生動植物養成家養物種。「genome」由 gene（基因）與 -ome（整體）組成，指一個生物的全部遺傳資訊。

● 例句

Only after ancient genomes recovered from Siberian, European and Near Eastern sites, which had lain buried for millennia in permafrost and caves, were compared with those of living wolves did researchers, whose earlier reliance on skeletal morphology, a method that, as critics have long noted, cannot reliably separate early dogs from tame wolves, had produced rival chronologies, begin to suspect that domestication, which unfolded gradually rather than at a single moment, may have involved wolf populations that, whether by scavenging near camps or by being tolerated by hunters, drifted toward human company well before anyone intended to breed them.

（約 99 字）

● 排列為比較容易閱讀的方式

Only after ancient genomes

recovered from Siberian, European and Near Eastern sites,

which had lain buried for millennia in permafrost and caves,

were compared with those of living wolves

did researchers,

whose earlier reliance on skeletal morphology,

a method

that,

as critics have long noted,

cannot reliably separate early dogs from tame wolves,

had produced rival chronologies,

begin to suspect

that domestication,

which unfolded gradually rather than at a single moment,

may have involved wolf populations

that,

whether by scavenging near camps or by being tolerated by hunters,

drifted toward human company

well before anyone intended to breed them.

● 分解為原初的短小句

Researchers began to suspect something only after ancient genomes were compared with those of living wolves.（Only after 引導之副詞子句置於句首，主句隨之倒裝，還原後為 Researchers began to suspect ... only after ...。）

Ancient genomes were recovered from Siberian, European and Near Eastern sites.（recovered from 為過去分詞片語，後置修飾 genomes。）

The sites had lain buried for millennia in permafrost and caves.（which 引導之非限定性關係子句，過去完成式，lie 之過去分詞為 lain。）

Those of living wolves refers to the genomes of living wolves.（those 代替前面出現過的 genomes，避免重複。）

Researchers' earlier reliance on skeletal morphology had produced rival chronologies.（whose 引導之非限定性關係子句，主詞為 reliance。）

Skeletal morphology cannot reliably separate early dogs from tame wolves.（a method 為 skeletal morphology 之同位語，that 作關係子句之主詞。）

Critics have long noted this.（as 引導之插入子句，as 代替整個後面的內容。）

Domestication may have involved wolf populations.（that 後之名詞子句主幹，may have p.p. 表對過去的推測。）

Domestication unfolded gradually rather than at a single moment.（which 引導之非限定性關係子句，A rather than B。）

The wolf populations drifted toward human company well before anyone intended to breed them.（that 引導之限定性關係子句，that 作 drifted 之主詞。）

They drifted whether by scavenging near camps or by being tolerated by hunters.（whether ... or 引導之讓步插入片語，省略主詞與 be 動詞。）

● 文法解析

Only after 倒裝（Only after + 子句 + 助動詞 + 主詞 + 原形動詞）：

Only 加上副詞子句置於句首時，主句必須倒裝。本句中 Only after 子句長達二十餘字，其後的 did researchers 才是真正的主句，讀者須先越過整個子句才能找到主詞。子句內 genomes ... were compared 為被動語態，recovered 片語與 which 子句都插在 genomes 與 were compared 之間。

主詞後之插入（researchers, whose ..., begin to suspect）：

did researchers 與 begin 之間插入 whose 子句，其中主詞為 reliance，動詞為 had produced。倒裝後 did 與 begin 被拆開，閱讀時須記住 did 仍在等待原形動詞。

同位語與 as 插入（reliance on skeletal morphology, a method that, as critics ..., cannot ...）：

a method 為 morphology 之同位語，後面 that 為關係代名詞，作 cannot separate 之主詞。as critics have long noted 插在 that 與 cannot 之間，as 在此為準關係代名詞，指「如批評者早已指出的那樣」。

名詞子句與非限定性關係子句（begin to suspect that domestication, which ..., may have involved ...）：

that 引導 suspect 之受詞子句，子句主詞 domestication 後再插入 which 子句。suspect that + 子句，may have p.p. 表示對過去事件之不確定推測。unfolded gradually rather than at a single moment 中，rather than 連接兩個對比副詞片語。

末端關係子句與讓步插入（populations that, whether by ... or by ..., drifted toward ...）：

that 作 drifted 之主詞，whether ... or 為省略式讓步片語，並列兩個 by + 動名詞結構。其中 being tolerated 為被動動名詞。末尾 well before anyone intended to breed them 中，well 加強 before 之時間差，anyone 在 before 子句中表否定意味。

● 參考譯文

唯有在將發現於西伯利亞、歐洲與近東遺址的古代基因組（它們在永凍土與洞穴中埋藏了數千年）與現生狼的基因組比對之後，研究者（其先前仰賴骨骼形態學的做法，即一種如批評者長期指出，無法可靠區分早期的狗與馴化的狼的方法，曾得出互相衝突的年代序列）才開始懷疑，馴化過程（它是逐步展開，而非發生於單一時刻）可能牽涉到一些狼群，這些狼群不論是靠在營地附近覓食，還是被獵人容忍，都早在人類打算育種之前，便已逐漸靠近人類的生活。

● 補充說明

句型亮點與文法變化：

Only after 倒裝： 前幾篇已用過 Seldom、Little、So ... that、Although、Not only 等結構，本篇改用 Only after 引導長副詞子句，再接 did researchers 倒裝，使句首與主句之間的距離最大。

不使用分號： 全句僅以 which、whose、that、as、whether 等連接詞與關係詞層層推進，單一主幹（did researchers begin to suspect）貫穿到底（中譯為求順暢，才加入括號與逗號）。

多重插入： genomes 與 were compared 之間、did researchers 與 begin 之間、that 與 cannot 之間、domestication 與 may 之間、that 與 drifted 之間，共有五處插入。

同位語與準關係代名詞並用： a method 為 morphology 之同位語，as critics have long noted 則為準關係代名詞插入，兩者位置接近，容易混淆。

核心學術字彙與文法重點總結：

關鍵字詞： Domestication（馴化）、Genome（基因組）、Permafrost（永凍土）、Morphology（形態學）、Chronology（年代序列）、Scavenge（覓食殘餘物）、Tolerate（容忍）、Rather than（而非）、Well before（遠早於）、Intend to（打算）。

文法重點： Only after 倒裝、非限定性與限定性關係子句、同位語、as 準關係代名詞、省略式讓步片語、may have p.p.、被動動名詞。

一點小提醒： 狗的馴化時間、地點與是否多次發生，學界仍有爭論。例句採「可能」的推測語氣，僅作文法示範。例句實際約 99 個英文單字。參考譯文為求順暢，已調整部分分句順序。