As the human brain evolved, humans were able to laugh before they could speak, according to a new study.

　　一項最新的研究結果顯示，由于大腦的進化，人類在能夠說話之前就已經學會笑了。

　　But here's the punch line: Laughter and joy are not unique to humans, the study says. Ancestral forms of play and laughter existed in other animals long before humans began cracking up.

　　研究結果同時表明，笑和喜悅并不只是人類所特有的，早在人類會笑之前，其它一些動物就已經擁有原始形態的笑聲了。

　　"Human laughter has robust roots in our animalian past," said Jaak Panksepp, a professor of psychobiology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

　　美國俄亥俄州保令·格林州立大學( Bowling Green State University)的神經生物學家杰克·潘克塞普表示：“人類笑的歷史深深植根于我們的動物史。”

　　Panksepp has studied rats and found that when they "play," they often chirp--a primitive form of laughter, according to the scientist. And he makes the argument that animal laughter is the basis for human joy.

　　潘克塞普曾對老鼠進行了相關研究，他發現，當老鼠“玩耍”的時候，他們經常發出一種唧唧喳喳很尖的聲音，而這則是笑的一種原始形態。潘克塞普在文章中提出的論點是，動物的笑是人類快樂的基礎。

　　In studying laughter, scientists have focused mostly on related issues--humor, personality, health benefits, social theory--rather than laughter itself.

　　在以前的研究中，科學家們曾把工作的重心大部分集中在和笑相關問題上，如幽默感、個性、以及健康的好處等，而非笑本身。

　　New research, however, shows that "circuits" for laughter exist in very ancient regions of the human brain. As humans have incorporated language into play, we may have developed new connections to joyous parts of our brains that evolved before the cerebral cortex, the outer layer associated with thought and memory.

　　而最新的研究結果則顯示，笑的“循環線路”存在于人類大腦非常古老的區域中。當人類把語言與玩耍結合在了一起時，我們或許已經和大腦的快樂部分建立了新的關系，這個部分的進化要早于和人們思考及記憶密切相關的大腦皮層的進化。

　　Researchers say that the capacity to laugh emerges early in child development, as anyone who has tickled a baby knows.

　　對此，研究人員表示，笑的能力在孩子發育階段早早地就顯現出來，這一點是任何一個曾經胳肢過小嬰兒的人都知道的。

         There is ample evidence that many other mammals make play sounds, including tickle-induced panting, which resembles human laughter. Indeed, animals are capable of many emotional feelings, just like humans, some scientists say.

　　有很多證據可以表明，其他一些哺乳動物也可以發出類似笑的聲音，其中包括很類似于人類笑聲的由撓癢癢引起的喘息聲。一些科學家說，事實上，動物和人類一樣是具有多種情感和情緒的。

　　"The recognition by neuroscientists that the brain mechanisms underlying pain, pleasure, fear, and lust are the same in humans and other mammals underscores our similarity to other species and is extremely important," said Tecumseh Fitch, a psychology lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

　　蘇格蘭圣·安德魯斯大學的心理學講師菲奇表示：“神經科學家公認的，人類和其它哺乳動物間支撐痛苦、壓力、恐懼及性的大腦機制都是相同的這一理論強調了人類與其它物種的相似之處，而這一點是非常重要的。”

　　In a 2003 study Panksepp and Bowling Green State University neurobiologist Jeff Burgdorf demonstrated that if rats are tickled in a playful way, they readily chirp. Rats that were tickled bonded with the researchers and became rapidly conditioned to seek tickles. Understanding the chirping of the rats may help scientists better understand human laughter.

　　早在2003年的一項研究中，潘克塞普和保令·格林州立大學的神經生物學家杰夫·伯格多弗就曾證明，如果人們以一種十分有趣的方式胳肢老鼠，它們就會發出一種唧喳的聲音。而弄清老鼠的這種叫聲，則可能會幫助科學家們更好地了解人類笑的歷史。

　　Robert Provine, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, agrees there is an evolutionary continuity of laughter. Its origin is in tickling and rough-and-tumble play, he says.

　　美國馬里蘭大學的心理學教授羅伯特·布魯文贊同笑也具有進化連續性的這一說法。他說，笑的起源來自于撓癢癢以及雜亂無章的游戲。

　　Provine and other scientists have studied chimpanzees and found a link between their laughter-like noises and human laughter. "Laughter is literally the sound of play, with the primal 'pant-pant'--the labored breathing of physical play--becoming the human 'ha-ha,'" Provine said.

　　布魯文教授和其他一些科學家還對黑猩猩進行了相關的研究，他們發現黑猩猩的笑(聲音類似于噪音)與人類的笑存在著某種聯系。他說：“確切地講，笑是一種游戲的聲音，從最初的‘喘氣的呼呼聲’(吃力的呼吸聲)發展到人類的‘哈哈’笑的聲音。”

　　By studying the transition between the panting of chimps and the human ha-ha, scientists discovered that breath control is the key to the emergence of both human laughter and speech.

　　通過研究從大猩猩喘氣的呼呼聲到人類“哈哈”的笑聲兩者之間的轉化，科學家發現，呼吸控制是人類語音和笑聲出現的關鍵所在。