自从人类存在以来，非洲的大象就一直在跟人打交道了，因为第一批人类就是200万年前在世界的那个地方（非洲）演化而来的。而它们（大象）跟蜜蜂打交道的时间甚至更长了，因为这些同样也演化于非洲的昆虫已经存在了至少3500万年了。人类和蜜蜂或多或少是一头成年大象唯一害怕的动物，所以看看大象对它们（人类和大象）如何反应的细微之处很令人着迷。本周出版的两份论文刚好就是讨论了这个主题。论文展示了大象可以识别出可能对它们产生敌意以及没有（敌意）的民族的语言，而且这些野兽还能够以不同于（相互）警告人的方式来相互警告蜜蜂（的威胁）。
Elephants in Africa have been dealing with people since people existed, for the first humans evolved in that part of the world 2 million years ago. And they have been dealing with honeybees even longer, because these insects, which also evolved in Africa, have been around for at least 35 million years. People and bees are more or less the only animals a full-grown elephant is scared of, so looking at the nuances of how they react to them is intriguing. Two papers published this week do just that. They show that elephants can recognise the languages of ethnic groups that may be hostile to them, and of those which are not. And also the beasts are able to warn each other about bees in a different way from the one they use to warn each other about people.
马赛族这个经常以牧者营生的肯尼亚人，有着漫长的用矛刺杀大象的历史，因为大象跟他们，或者更应该说，跟它们的牧群竞争水坑或者牧草。但是，马赛族的邻居，偏向农业的坎巴族，则鲜少杀害大象。而且大象能够判断出区别。它们（大象）既能通过外貌也能通过味道来识别出马赛和坎巴。由英国苏塞克斯（Sussex）大学的Karen McComb和Graeme Shannon领导的一支团队寻思大象是否也能够区分这两族的语言。
The Masai, Kenyans who often make their livings as herders, have a long a long history of spearing elephants because elephants compete with them, or rather, with their cattle for water holes and grazing. But Masai's neighbours, the agriculturally-inclined Kamba, rarely kill elephants. And elephants can tell the difference. A team led by Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon at the University of Sussex, in Britain, wondered if elephants might also be able to distinguish both groups' languages.
为了弄清楚，McComb和Shannon博士录音了马赛和康巴人平静说出，“看，看那边，一群大象过来了。”
To find out, Dr McComb and Dr Shannon recorded Masai and Kamba men as they calmly said, "Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming."
elephants/the beasts
Africa/that part of the world/Kenyans
deal with/react
people/humans/men
exist/be around
first/evolved
honeybees/these insects/bees
elephant/people/bees/cattle/animals
more or less/only
full-grown/elephants/men
how they react/recognize/distinguish/tell the difference/nuances
intriguing/wonder/find out
paper/publish/show
languages/calmly say
ethnic groups/Masai/Kamba/Kenyans
be scared of/be hostile/spear/kill/calmly
react/warn about
be able to/can
use/in a different way from
make one's living/herders/agriculturally-inclined
compete with/hostile/spear
cattle/water holes/grazing
often/rarely
also/as well/too
