How do cats try to protect themselves when falling from great heights?
猫从高处坠落时如何保护自己？
Cats never fail to fascinate human beings.
猫永远不会让人类着迷。
They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans,
他们可以对人类友好和深情,
but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well.
但他们也过着自己神秘的生活。
They never become submissive like dogs and horses.
他们从不像狗和马那样顺从.
As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.
因此，人类学会了尊重猫科动物的独立性。
Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives.
大多数猫一生都对人类持怀疑态度。
One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief
猫最让我们着迷的一件事是人们普遍认为的
that they have nine lives.
他们有九条命。
Apparently,there is a good deal of truth in this idea.
显然，这个想法有很多道理。
A cat's ability to survive falls is based on fact.
猫的生存能力跌倒是基于事实。
Recently the New York Animal Medical Centre
最近纽约动物医疗中心
made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months.
在五个月的时间里对132只猫进行了研究。
All these cats had one experience in common: they had fallen off high buildings,
所有这些猫都有一个共同点：它们从高楼大厦上掉下来,
yet only eight of them died from shock or injuries.
但其中只有八人死于休克或受伤。
Of course,New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study,
当然，纽约是这样一个有趣的研究的理想场所,
because there is no shortage of tall buildings.
因为不乏高楼。
There are plenty of high-rise windowsills to fall from!
有很多高层窗台可以从那里掉下来!
One cat,Sabrina, fell 32 storeys,yet only suffered from a broken tooth.
一只猫，萨布丽娜，下跌32层，但只从一个破碎的牙齿遭受。
'Cats behave like well-trained paratroopers,'a doctor said.
一名医生说，猫的行为就像训练有素的伞兵。
It seems that the further cats fall,the less they are likely to injure themselves.
看来，进一步的猫下降，他们越有可能伤害自己。
In a long drop,they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more.
在长时间的下降中，它们达到每小时60英里的速度以及更多。
At high speeds, falling cats have time to relax.
在高速下，下降的猫有时间放松。
They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels.
它们像飞松鼠一样伸展双腿.
This increases their air-resistance
这增加了它们的空气阻力
and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground.
并减少了撞击地面时的冲击。
