(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.
Researchers in Hungary have now confirmed what many dog owners already knew. Dogs or canines can understand our feelings. Scientists using a Magnetic Resonance Scanner, or MRI, to learn about dog emotions. The research showed that they are quite similar to the emotions of humans.
An MRI uses magnetic fields to produce images of the inside of the body. MRIs are painless, and do not require the patient to be cut open. However, the patient must remain still, and the patient must be awake to record brain activity.
In the past, dogs have not being good MRI patients. They are not usually calm in a laboratory. But researchers at ELTE University in Hungary petted the dogs and gave them food treats. As a result, the scientists were able to capture images of the dogs' brains. Researcher Attila Andics says the study will help explain the relationships between dogs and humans.
"We have known for a long time that dogs and humans share similar social environment, but now our results show that dogs and humans also have similar brain mechanisms to process social information," said Andics.
Researchers trained 11 dogs to stay completely still while images were taken of their brains. The researchers tested the dogs' reactions to about 200 emotional sounds, including crying, playful barking and laughing. Then they compared the dog reactions with reactions from humans in the study. The researchers discovered that the reactions were similar.
The dog brain is also being studied at Duke University, in North Carolina. Evan MacLean is the Co-Director of the school's Canine Cognition Center. He feels the Hungarian results are an important step forward.
"We've known for a long time that dogs have a lot of behavioral similarities compared to humans. But we don't know anything or very little at least about whether some of these behaviors are represented similarly inside the brain of the dog, so this research is providing a first glimpses to whether these behavioral similarities are underlined by similar neural processes," said MacLean.
This findings are not just important to dogs and the people who love them. Mr Andics says that the study establishes a new type of comparative brain science, it expands the possibilities for research.
He says it was not possible to measure the brain activities of a non-primate and a primate in a single experiment until now. And the Hungarian scientists say the study has a message for ordinary dog owners too, treat your dogs as a friend, and not just an animal. Now, there is scientific proof that they do in fact understand what you are feeling.
And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English. I'm Jonathan Evans.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.canine adj. 犬的；犬齿的；犬科的；似犬的 n. 犬；[解剖] 犬齿
The fox is a canine animal.
狐狸是犬科动物。
2.resonance n. [力] 共振；共鸣；反响
His voice had lost its resonance; it was tense and strained.
他的声音失去了原有的洪亮，紧张而做作。
3.glimpse n. 一瞥，一看 vi. 瞥见 vt. 瞥见
Some of the fans had waited 24 hours outside the hotel to catch a glimpse of their heroine.
某些追星族为了一睹女杰的风采已在宾馆外守候了24小时。
4.underline vt. 强调；在…下面划线；预告 n. 下划线；下期节目预告
The report underlined his concern that standards were at risk.
该报告强调了他对于标准被降低的担忧。
内容解析
1.We've known for a long time that dogs have a lot of behavioral similarities compared to humans.
compare to 把...比作，比喻为
Compare to his early work, this is a rather slight novel.
这部小说与他早期作品相比，不甚重要。
You're bit behind compare to everyone else's sales this month.
跟大家这个月的销售业绩相比你有点落后了。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
匈牙利研究者现在证实了许多养狗者已经知道的东西，狗或犬类能理解人类的感觉。科学家使用核磁共振扫描仪(MRI)来了解狗的情感，研究表明狗非常熟悉人类的感情。
MRI使用磁场来声称人体内的图像，MRI无痛，病人也无需开刀。但是病人必须保持平静，必须清醒着记录大脑活动。
在过去，狗类并不是很好的MRI病人，他们通常不会安静地呆在实验室。但匈牙利罗兰大学的研究者轻拍小狗并给它们美食。这样科学家就能捕捉狗类大脑中的图像，研究者Attila Andics说这项研究将帮助解释狗和人类的关系。
“我们很早就知道狗和人类有着相似的社会环境，但现在我们的研究结果表明狗和人类也有处理社会信息的相似大脑机制。”
研究者培训了11条狗，让它们在扫描其大脑时保持静止。研究者测试了狗对200多种感情声音的反映，包括哭叫、好玩的声音和大笑。然后与人类观察对象的反应做对比，研究者发现有反应是相似的。
北卡罗来纳州的杜克大学也研究了狗的心理，该校犬类认知中心副主任埃文·麦克莱恩说匈牙利的结果是很重要的一步。
“很久以来我们知道狗和人类有很多类似的行为，但其中狗的某些行为背后的心理是否也和人类相似，这点我们所知甚少或根本不知道，因此这个实验就提供了一些线索，让我们明白是否这些类似行为是由类似的神经过程控制的。”
这些发现不仅对狗类和喜欢狗的人来说重要，Andics说研究建立了新的比较脑科学，扩展了研究的可能性。
他说这样到目前为止还无法在单一实验中衡量非灵长类和灵长类的大脑活动，匈牙利科学家说该研究对普通养狗者来说，要像对待朋友那样对待你的狗狗。而不是当做动物而已。现在，有科学证据表明狗类事实上是明白人的感受的。
这就是最新的美国之音慢速英语科技报道，我是乔纳森·伊万斯。
