We already know that cats can be as neurotic as their owners are, but just how deep are the personality ties between felines and the humans who look after them?

　　我们已经知道了猫可以和他们的主人一样神经质，但是主人和宠物之间的性格相关度到底多高呢?

　　Pretty deep, according to new research from scientists in the UK, who found that personality traits of cat owners correlated with related behaviours exhibited by their pets – suggesting that, to some extent, your cat might be absorbing and mirroring aspects of your own personality.

　　英国科学家的研究显示，相当高。他们发现猫主人的性格特征与宠物表现出的相关行为是相互关联的，这表明，在某种程度上，你的猫可能在学习和模仿你自己性格的方方面面。

　　"Many owners consider their pets as a family member, forming close social bonds with them," animal welfare researcher Lauren Finka from Nottingham Trent University explained to The Telegraph.

　　诺丁汉特伦特大学的动物福利研究员Lauren Finka向《每日电讯报》解释说：“许多主人把宠物视为家庭成员，与它们形成了密切的社会关系。”

　　"It's therefore very possible that pets could be affected by the way we interact with and manage them, and that both these factors are in turn influenced by our personality differences."

　　“因此，我们与宠物互动和管理的方式很可能会影响到宠物，而这两个因素又反过来受到我们性格差异的影响。”

　　Finka and her team surveyed over 3,000 cat owners, asking a series of questions that measured them on a scale known as the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of personality traits, which assesses people's agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness.

　　Finka和她的团队调查了3000多只猫的主人，提出了一系列的问题，用“大五人格量表”(BIF)来衡量这些问题，评估人们的随和性、严谨性、外向性、神经质和开放性。

　　What they found was a number of correlations that not only predicted the cat's general welfare, but also its own personality.

　　她们发现了一些相关度，不仅事关猫猫的整体生活质量，也事关猫猫自身的性格。

　　For example, higher owner neuroticism was linked with cats cited as having a "behavioural problem", which could be evidenced by aggression, anxiety or fear, or stress-related behaviours – in addition to medical conditions or being overweight.

　　比如说，主人越是神经质，她们的猫猫就往往也有些行为异常，不只是健康状况和过度肥胖，攻击性、焦虑和恐惧、压力行为都能加以佐证。

　　The researchers also found that cat owners who scored higher on extroversion were more likely to have animals that themselves enjoyed more freedom outside, while participants who came across as agreeable reported being more satisfied with their (perhaps more agreeable) felines.

　　研究人员还发现外向性这一栏得分越高的猫主人，她们的猫猫也越是享受户外的自由，还称测出随和的参与者也更满意她们养的(也许也更黏人的)猫猫。