"A yawn is an instinctivebehavior: You don't have to learn to do it, and yawns are even present before birth." says Robert Provine, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

　　"打哈欠是人的本能行为：你不需要去学它，甚至在我们出生之前我们就已经学会打哈欠了。"巴尔缔摩郡的马里兰大学神经与心理学的一位教授如是说。

　　When we see someone else yawn, we don't think to ourselves, "Well, I'll yawn, too." It just happens -- it's instinctive, and it's a very primal aspect of human behavior that goes back to ancient herd mentality.

　　我们如果看到别人打哈欠，想不出来这关自己什么事。"不过我也会打的。"是啊，会这样的－－这是一种本能反应。追根溯源，打哈欠这一行为在远古时期就是人类最早的行为之一。

　　Adelie penguins, for instance, employ yawning as part of their courtshipritual. The happy couples face off amid the ice floes and the males engage in what is described as an "ecstatic display," their beaks open wide and their faces pointed skyward.

　　比如说吧，对大型企鹅来讲，张大嘴打哈欠就是它们求偶仪式中的一部分。一双企鹅在浮冰中面对着面，公企鹅作出"欣喜若狂"的样子，母企鹅也把嘴张得大大的，同时它们的头都高高仰起朝着天空。

　　It may be, therefore, that when your entry upon the scene inspires a round of uncontrollable yawning, you have merely stumbled onto a gaggle of Adelie penguins in disguise, who are signaling their powerful erotic longing for you. A slim hope, admittedly, but any port in a storm.

　　所以，当这样一幅景象闯入你的眼帘：一群围成圈的企鹅在肆无忌惮地打着哈欠，不要奇怪。你是误打误撞进看到了它们为求偶摆出的伪装。它们向你发出色眯眯的信号，诚然希望很渺茫，不过那是它们饥不择食的计策拉。

　　As for the larger question of why yawns are catching, nobody really knows. Fact is, we don't know why people yawn.

　　至于那个更深的问题，为什么打哈欠是传染的，还没有答案呢。事实上，我们不知道为什么人们会打哈欠。

　　It was long believed you yawned when there was too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen in your blood. A part of your brain called the brain stem detected this and triggered the yawn reflex. Your mouth stretched wide and you inhaled deeply, shooting a jolt of oxygen into the lungs and thence to the bloodstream.

　　很长一段时间，人们都相信打哈欠是因为血液里二氧化碳太多而氧气不足，大脑茎干觉察到这点于是触动了打哈欠的神经。打哈欠的时候嘴巴张得大大的，通常深吸一口气，瞬间给肺部补充了氧气继而补给血液中的养分。

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