Mouse和Rat

一直以为mouse就是rat，就好比我们中文里说的老鼠和耗子。直到昨天下午收到LG的email告知，“灭虫公司已上门作了检查，推测在房顶捣乱的应该是rat而不是mouse......”，才发觉敢情两者还有不同。
于是急忙问一边的同事Denise。她说区别大着呢，rat大许多也丑陋地多（说到这还做出起鸡皮疙瘩状），危害当然也更大！还试图画给我看。我怎么听结论还是，都是老鼠，不过一个是小老鼠（mouse），一个是大老鼠（rat）而已。

本着精益求精的学习态度，又到Google作了搜索，得出如下定义：

Definitions of mouse on the Web:
any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails.
A mouse is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents in the genus Mus and various related genera of the family Muridæ (Old World Mice).

Definitions of rat on the Web:
any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse.
A rat is a small nearly omnivorous rodent of the genus Rattus which comprises 56 different species of what is commonly known as the Old World Rats or true rats who originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than their relatives the mice, but seldom weigh over 500 grams. The common term rat is also used in the names of other small mammals which are not true rats.
The rat is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

结论好像没变什么，都属啮齿类哺乳动物，rat>mouse。不过新的收获是知道了十二属相里的那个是rat而不是mouse！