The history of the world according to rats - Max G. Levy

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: 麗玲 辛

On a grey London day in 1851,

1851 年的一個陰天，在倫敦，

a captivated crowd gathered around a makeshift stage.

一群著迷的群眾聚集在 臨時搭建的舞台周圍。

At the center stood a man adorned in a top hat,

一名男子站在舞台中央, 頭戴高帽、披著皮革肩帶，

leather sash, and a swarm of rats.

提著一窩老鼠。

This showman, Jack Black, had risen to fame

這位表演者是聲名鵲起的 傑克‧布萊克，

claiming to be Queen Victoria’s authorized rat catcher.

他宣稱自己是維多利亞女王 授權的捕鼠人。

And between tricks, he lectured the crowd on his poisons

在表演間的空檔， 他向群眾宣傳他的毒鼠藥

and unique ability to capture hundreds of vermin with just his bare hands.

以及他徒手捕捉 數百隻害鼠的獨門工夫。

This is just one of many junctures in the long entangled history

這只是人類和老鼠漫長的 糾葛歷史中許許多多的片段之一。

of human and rat.

The two most common species of rat, brown and black,

最常見的兩種老鼠是褐鼠和黑鼠，

both scurried onto the scene roughly 1 to 3 million years ago in Asia.

都是在約一百萬年 到三百萬年前在亞洲出現。

There, they craftily survived Earth’s most recent ice age,

牠們在亞洲巧妙地活過了 地球最近一次的冰河時代，

and eventually, began living around and with humans.

最終，開始在人類周圍 和人類一起生活。

Their constant presence even earned them a spot in the Chinese zodiac,

牠們長久的存在，甚至讓牠們 在中國十二生肖中取得了一席之地。

where they symbolize new beginnings.

而且還是象徵新開始的生肖。

Brown and black rats are generalists—

褐鼠和黑鼠是泛適應物種——

a biological badge ascribed to species who can brave diverse climates and diets.

這是個生物名詞，

用來描述可以應對 多樣化氣候和飲食的物種。

So when trade routes opened between East Asia and the West,

因此，當東亞和西方 之間的貿易路線開通時，

rats naturally tagged along.

老鼠很自然也跟去了。

Black rats were the first to venture out,

黑鼠首先踏上冒險之旅，

sneaking aboard ships from India to Egypt an estimated 5,000 years ago.

在估計五千年前， 潛入從印度到埃及的船上。

Some believe that this rodent influx into Egypt

有人認為，鼠患湧入埃及，

fueled their ancient spiritual reverence of cats.

促成了古埃及人對貓的宗教式敬畏。

After all, they were top-of-the-line rat catchers.

畢竟，貓是抓老鼠的高手。

Trade between Egypt and the Romans brought black rats to Europe.

埃及和羅馬人之間的貿易 把黑鼠帶到歐洲。

And by 300 CE,

到了公元 300 年，

these stowaways claimed lands as far as the Anglo-Celtic Isles—

這些偷渡者踩點的土地 遠至盎格魯—凱爾特群島，

earning notoriety along the way.

且在過程中得到了臭名聲。

Beyond pilfering and reproducing like there's no tomorrow,

除了瘋狂竊取和繁殖之外，

black rats brought bacterial and viral infections,

黑鼠還帶來了細菌和病毒感染，

which they spread to humans through their droppings and urine.

透過牠們的糞便和尿液傳播給人類。

In the late 1340s, history's most infamous plague, the Black Death,

1340 年代後期，

歷史上最聲名狼藉的瘟疫「黑死病」

killed tens of millions of people, or around half of Europe’s population.

造成數千萬人死亡，

幾乎是歐洲人口的一半。

To this day, many lay the blame on rats.

至今，許多人仍然怪罪於老鼠。

However, the real story is more complicated.

然而，實情其實更複雜。

Black rats don’t directly spread the plague to humans;

黑鼠不會直接把瘟疫傳播給人類；

though they can carry the fleas that transmit the bacterium responsible.

不過牠們身上可能會帶有 傳播細菌的罪魁禍首，跳蚤。

And brown rats, which hadn't yet set foot in Europe,

那時，褐鼠還沒進入歐洲，

don't have any blood on their paws.

完全是無辜的。

Back in Japan, these brown rats were receiving a warmer welcome

在日本，褐鼠受到比較溫暖的歡迎，

as pet rats grew in popularity.

因為寵物鼠越來越流行。

250-year-old guidebooks detail tips on rodent domestication,

兩百五十年前寫的指南書 就詳述了馴養老鼠的方式，

and how to breed the most affectionate rats

及如何繁殖出最親人的老鼠，

in various coat colors and patterns.

毛皮還有不同的顏色和花樣。

Wild brown rats finally entered Europe

野生褐鼠終於也進入了歐洲，

sometime between the 13th and 18th century,

時間是在十三世紀和十八世紀之間，

by ship and perhaps, sometimes, by treading water.

靠乘船，或者有時靠踩水游過去。

Some say a particularly violent earthquake in 1727 led hordes of brown rats

有人說 1727 年一場特別劇烈的地震

導致大群褐鼠

to swim across the Volga River into Russia.

游過伏爾加河，進入俄羅斯。

Eventually, the larger and more adaptable brown rats displaced the black rats

最終，體型較大且適應力 更強的褐鼠迫使黑鼠離開，

in homes and cities across Europe and North America

進駐歐洲和北美各地的住家和城市，

by outcompeting them for resources.

因為在搶奪資源上，牠們贏過黑鼠。

The Industrial Revolution only bolstered the lives of industrious brown rats.

工業革命只是進一步 促成了勤奮褐鼠的生存。

As cities expanded,

隨著城市擴大，老鼠把下水道當家，

rats thrived by making homes of our sewers and buffets of our trash.

拿人類的垃圾當自助餐，大量繁殖。

They even evolved resistance to our poisons,

牠們甚至演化出對人類毒藥的抗藥性，

to the dismay of exterminators who inherited Jack Black’s mission.

這讓繼承傑克‧布萊克 使命的滅鼠人們很沮喪。

But the human-rat race took a monumental turn in 1906,

但人鼠之爭在 1906 年 發生了重大轉折，

when the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia bred the first standard rat strain

那年，費城的威斯塔研究所

培育出了第一個 科學研究用的標準老鼠品系，

for scientific research.

Rats are unrivaled lab animals.

老鼠是最佳實驗用動物。

Their bodies function and respond to disease similarly to humans,

牠們和人類有相似的 身體運作方式和對疾病的反應，

and we share much of the same genome.

且人類和老鼠有許多相同的基因組。

Plus, they’re smart, which has made them indispensable to neuroscience

此外，老鼠很聰明，

這讓牠們在神經科學和 心理學研究中變得不可或缺。

and psychology research.

In the 1960s, for example,

比如，在 1960 年代，

scientists observed that rats raised with toys and companions

科學家觀察到，成長過程 有玩具和伙伴的老鼠，

had thicker cortical brain tissue than those who didn’t.

皮質大腦組織會比沒有 玩具和伙伴的老鼠更厚。

This helped establish the concept of neuroplasticity,

這個發現協助建立了 神經可塑性的概念，

which explains how our environments and learning shape our minds.

這個概念可以解釋環境 和學習如何形塑我們的大腦。

Today, rats are often regarded as the most successful invasive species

現今，老鼠常被認為 是世界上最成功的入侵物種。

in the world.

And this comes at a price—

而這是有代價的——

they often live at the mercy of human priorities.

牠們的生活通常會 受到人類優先考量的擺佈。

In cities like New York, they’re reviled enough to warrant

在紐約這樣的城市，

人類痛恨牠們到了願意花 數百萬美金去滅鼠的程度。

multi-million-dollar extermination efforts.

But if history is any indication,

但如果歷史可資借鏡，

no amount of money, nor skill of rat catcher,

那就是不論花多少錢、 不論捕鼠人的技巧多高超，

will ever fully rid us of our rodent shadows.

都不可能讓我們永遠擺脫老鼠的陰影。