And Tigger spots a strange black cat on a nearby roof.

小虎在附近的屋頂看到一隻不認識的黑貓。

And listen to this.

聽。

Chittering may simply be a sound of frustration but no one's really sure.

這種啁啁聲可能是沮喪的聲音，但沒人真的確定。

Rocky, out for a stroll in the afternoon...

在下午出門散步的小石...

Makes this noise when another cat blocks his way.

當另一隻貓擋住他的路，就發出了這個聲音...

But the story of cat communication is a lot more surprising than this.

但貓咪溝通的故事，可是比這個要驚奇許多。

There's one noise we've hardly heard.

有種叫聲，人類幾乎沒有聽過。

It rarely happens when the cats are out with each other.

當貓咪在外面，很少會發出這個聲音。

Hello.

哈囉。

To understand what's going on...

為了明白這一切...

Do you want some dinner?

想吃飯嗎？

We have to go back to the beginning and the youngest members of the study.

我們得回到最初，找我們最年幼的研究對象。

Biologist Dr John Bradshaw can explain why these one-week-old kittens meow.

生物學家 John Bradshaw 博士可以解釋，為何這些一週大的小貓會喵喵叫。

The meow starts off as a kitten vocalization.

喵叫聲是貓咪說話的聲音。

It's something that kittens use in order to call their mothers over and, as you can see, it's very effective in doing that.

這是小貓用來呼叫媽媽的工具，如同你所見，這非常地有效果。

The mother is very attentive to those meows.

母貓對這些喵喵聲很有反應。

And then, as the kitten grows up, it gradually stops meowing, presumably just because the meow stops working.

當小貓長大，牠們逐漸停止喵喵叫，推測應該就是因為喵喵叫沒用了。

The mother wants to wean the kitten and stops responding.

母貓想要讓小貓斷奶，所以停止回應叫聲。

With a pet cat, which is constantly meowing at its owner, it's a way of getting the owner's attention.

而寵物貓呢，總是不斷對著主人喵喵叫，是一種得到主人注意的方法。

And that's because we are not very vigilant creatures.

那是因為人類不是種時時警戒環境的生物。

We spend a lot of our time with our noses buried in books, or computer screens, or TVs, and a cat... each cat learns independently, we think, that using this piece of kitten behaviour is a good way of getting our attention.

我們花很多時間讀書、盯著電腦螢幕或看電視，而每隻貓就自己學會利用這種小貓的行為，來吸引我們的注意力。

So, meowing is a good way of getting us to look up and find out what it is they want from us.

喵喵叫可以讓我們注意牠們，並去看牠們需要什麼。

There you go, Henry.

Henry，來吃吧。

Come and say hello to Mummy!

來跟媽媽問好！

So, cats have two different languages, one for each other... and one for us.

所以，貓咪有兩種語言，一種對牠們自己，一種則是對我們。

Scientists have found cats make a huge range of meows... and they wondered if there was a universal cat-human language.

科學家發現貓叫聲有許多種，他們好奇說，貓對人的語言有沒有什麼共通性。

Okay.

好。

There's a trill that Jasper does, which is quite...

Jasper 會發出一種顫音，還蠻...

Yeah, that's it.

對，這是這樣。

They make that funny little noise, they go...

牠們會發出一些很好笑的聲音，像...

-That doesn't sound anything like it. - think it does.

-聽起來才不是這樣。 -是吧！

Scientists have discovered that every cat's meows are unique.

科學家發現，每隻貓的叫聲都是獨特的。

Each cat learns which noises work best in certain situations, developing a special language that only their owner will understand.

每隻貓都會學到，哪種叫聲在哪種情況有用，進而發展出一種只有主人會懂的語言。

When they want food, it's a much more prolonged meow.

當牠們肚子餓，喵喵聲會特別長。

Are you hungry?

你餓了嗎？

Miss Piggy's learnt how to say milk, so she does a proper milk meow.

Piggy 小姐學會了怎麼講 milk (牛奶)，所以牠會發出 milk 的喵聲。

She's like milk... like that.

就像 milk。

Come on. Is it nice?

舒服吧？

And when our cats meow, there's one thing that almost every owner in the study said they did.

而當我們的貓咪發出喵喵聲，研究裡幾乎每個人都說他們會這麼做。

Did you go hunting today?

你今天有去打獵嗎？

Talk back.

那就是回應牠們。

Pretty girl. Are you a pretty girl? Are you Momma's pretty girl?

可愛寶貝，你是可愛的寶貝嗎？你是媽媽的可愛寶貝嗎？

Pixie, you lovely girl. Yes!

Pixie 你好可愛！

Talking comes naturally to us and every kitten that spends time with people learns that to communicate with us, they have to make a noise.

對我們而言，講話是在稀鬆平常的事，而對貓咪而言，想跟我們溝通，就得喵一下。