动物的眼泪代表的是什么?

All animals with mobile eyes are equipped with a tearing system that keeps their eyes lubricated, protecting their eyes from the elements and so on.

所有眼球会动的动物都有泪腺。泪腺可以保持眼部的润滑，还能防止恶劣天气损伤眼睛，等等。

People tell tales of animals such as elephants and dogs weeping when punished. However, even if such an animal does shed tears, there is no scientific evidence that the animal is expressing emotion in doing so.

诸如大象和狗在受到人类的惩罚时会哭的故事总被人们挂在嘴边。不过，即使动物真的流泪了，也没有科学依据证明它们这样做是在表达某种情感。

But what about when a baby chimp or ape whimpers and screams as it’s being separated from its mother, couldn’t we say with some certainty that the animal is crying?

不过，当与其母亲分开时，幼年的黑猩猩和猿会啜泣和尖叫，难道我们不能带点把握地说，它们是在哭泣吗？

While this display does elicit caregiving from the mother, prompting her to feed or protect the baby, it is less clear that what the baby is feeling is similar to what a human feels when he or she cries.

幼崽这么做确实是能够博得母亲的关心，来给它们喂食并保护它们。不过至于这些幼崽当时的感受与人在哭时的感受有没有相似之处，还不是很明确。

In fact, it’s not clear that crying and other emotional displays mean exactly the same thing to all humans. For instance, there is a wide range of emotions that prompt people to cry, and some bouts of weeping, such as crying at a stranger’s wedding, seem to be culturally programmed responses.

事实上，对人类来说，哭和其他的情感宣泄方式所表达的内容也不尽相同。比如，就哭来说，有太多的理由能催人泪下了。比如，在一个某些地方的婚礼上，阵阵的哭泣便是一种固定的文化礼节。

In addition, autistic people are said to be less emotionally expressive, but research has shown that it’s more that their expressions and their reactions to the emotional expressions of others are unusual,different. But does that mean that their sadness is different somehow?

此外，自闭的人被公认为不善于表达情感。但有研究表明，这是因为，对于他人的情感表达，他们所做出的反馈是不同于一般人的。但这能说明他们内心所感到的悲伤也和其他人不同吗？

So even if apes can be said with some certainty to be feeling emotions, then there is the problem of figuring out to what extent what they feel resembles what humans feel.

因此，就算我们能够带点把握地说猿是有情感的动物，但他们的情感在多大程度上与人类相似，这还是一个有待于进一步考证的问题。