鏟屎官的福音 智能項圈助你聽懂貓語

Cat lovers of the world, rejoice! You finally have the chance to understand what your pet is saying thanks to a smart collar that can interpret feline meows and translate it into human speech. Aptly named "Catterbox", the collar supposedly has a digital sensor that detects meows, and uses a special program to decipher the meaning behind them.

全世界的鏟屎官們，歡呼吧！託智能項圈的福，你們終於有機會聽懂自己的寵物在說什麼了。這款項圈可以把貓語翻譯成人話，叫作“貓語匣子”可謂名副其實，裏面應該裝着一個探測貓叫的數字傳感器，通過特殊程序破譯其中的意義。

Developed by London ad agency adam&eveDDB, for Temptations cat treats, the invention comes preloaded with a dictionary of cat purrs, meows, and several other sounds to make the interpretation as accurate as possible. "We're fascinated by cats, so we set out on a mission to get to know them better," said Pete Simmons, global brand director of Temptations.

這款貓語項圈是由倫敦adam&eveDDB廣告公司給貓零食品牌Temptations研發的，裏面預置了貓語詞典，包括嗚嗚叫、喵喵叫和其它一些語音，使翻譯儘可能準確。Temptations公司全球品牌總監皮特•西蒙斯說：“我們爲貓着迷，所以我們進行此項任務來更好地瞭解它們。”

The promo video for the device claims that Catterbox, the world's first talking cat collar, is designed to finally help humans understand the meaning of meows. "Cats are often perceived as quite hard to get to know, independent pets, so we set up The Temptations Lab to find innovative ways to inject even more fun into a cat and owner's relationship," said Richard Brim, executive creative director of adam&eveDDB.

這個小發明的宣傳視頻稱貓語匣子是世界上第一款會說話的貓項圈，藉助它，人們終於可以理解貓叫的意義。adam&eveDDB公司執行創意總監理查德•布里姆說：“人們通常認爲貓很難懂，而且非常獨立，所以我們設立了The Temptation實驗室，探索創新方法，給貓和主人的關係注入更多樂趣。

"Studies show they only meow in order to communicate with humans," the video adds. "So we set out on a mission to get to know them better. By analysing different cat noises, we've designed a digital sensor that detects a cat's meow and uses a unique program to turn it into a human voice."

視頻中還講，“研究表明，貓爲了和人交流纔會叫。所以我們進行此項任務來更好地瞭解它們。通過分析貓的不同叫聲，我們設計出一個可以探測貓叫的數字傳感器，用特別的程序把貓叫轉化成人聲。”

So by using the collar, owners can speak to their cats and expect a meaningful response – well, about as meaningful as a cat’s meows can get. The sassy responses are delivered in a British accent, in a voice of the owner's choice, selected through a smartphone app paired with the collar. A few sample responses are demonstrated on the company's YouTube channel – they are quite hilarious, but obviously not very convincing.

因此，通過這款項圈，貓奴們可以和喵星人對話，期待着有意義的迴應——嗯，貓叫有多少意義就差不多能傳達出多少意義。這種時髦的應答裝置發出的聲音是英式英語，主人可以通過與項圈連接的智能手機應用自己選擇嗓音。這個公司的YouTube網頁上列着幾個應答的示例，非常搞笑，但顯然並不能令人信服。

In all probability, Catterbox is just a tongue-in-cheek albeit very clever marketing gimmick. If you really want to learn the meaning of cat meows, you're better off keeping an eye on "Meowsic" (short for "Melody in Human-Cat Communication"), a Swedish study carried out over the next five years.

貓語匣子十有八九隻是個唬人的玩意，儘管市場營銷做得非常巧妙。如果你真的想要了解貓語的意義，你最好關注一下Meowsic（“人貓對話旋律”的縮寫），這是瑞典的一項研究，五年之後才能得出結果。