VOA常速英语2019--狗狗教我们如何健康地变老

Dogs are so attuned¹ to humans that many people think of them as family.

狗和人类是如此的合拍，以至于很多人把它们当成家人。

I can’t imagine, you know, my life without them.

我无法想象，你知道，我的生活没有他们会怎么样。

So, you know, they are just part of my life.

所以，你知道，他们只是我生活的一部分。

According to a pet owner survey, there are some 90 million pet dogs in the U.S..

根据一项宠物主人调查，美国大约有9000万只宠物狗。

The university of Washington is recruiting² 10 thousand of them for a study on aging.

华盛顿大学正在招募1万名老年研究人员。

The goal is to follow dogs for their entire lives.

目标是追踪狗狗的一生。

Young, old, big, small, males, females³, all dogs, all around the U.S. to understand how the biology and the environment shape healthy aging in dogs.

年轻的、年老的、大的、小的、雄的、雌的，在美国各地所有的狗，了解把狗狗健康养到老的生物学和环境。

The university is partnering with Veterinarian Texas A&M University.

这所大学正在与德克萨斯农工大学合作。

By studying the aging in pet dogs living in human environments, we can learn things that will translate to human health as we age in a shorter period of time.

通过研究生活在人类环境中的宠物狗的衰老，我们可以了解到随着人类变老越来越快怎样关注人类健康。

And we also directly benefit companion dogs along the way, which is extremely important to me as a veterinarian.

我们也直接受益于一路上的同伴狗，这对我这个兽医来说是非常重要的。

Dogs and humans aging much the same way.

狗和人的衰老过程大同小异。

They have similar genome, and get similar diseases⁴.

他们有相似的基因，也有相似的疾病。

As pets, they also share our environment.

作为宠物，它们也和我们生活在同样的环境。

Researchers will look for lifestyle factors that also affect human, such as diet, activity level, and where the dog lives, in addition to genetics and medical history.

研究人员将寻找影响人类生活方式的因素，如饮食、活动水平、狗住在哪里，以及遗传和病史。

One of the goals is to find out how to prevent age-related diseases.

其中一个目标是找出如何预防与年龄有关的疾病。

Traditionally, in medicine, we have waited until people are sick.

传统上，在医学上，我们一直等到人们生病。

And we try to do something about it.

才会试着做点什么。

We try to cure their diseases.

我们试图治愈疾病。

We try to at least alleviate⁵ their symptoms.

我们试图至少减轻症状。

The goal here is really to keep dogs and people healthy as long as possible before they get sick.

我们的目标是让狗和人在生病之前尽可能长时间保持健康。

I think this is kind of a really important aspect targeting the biology of aging directly rather than targeting individual diseases as they happen.

我认为这是一个非常重要的方面直接针对老化的生物学而不是针对个别的疾病。

The data would be available to all scientists to encourage research on improving old age for both humans and dogs

这些数据将提供给所有的科学家，以鼓励关于改善人类和狗的老年生活的研究。

1 attuned   

v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音

参考例句：

• She wasn't yet attuned to her baby's needs. 她还没有熟悉她宝宝的需要。
• Women attuned to sensitive men found Vincent Lord attractive. 偏爱敏感男子的女人，觉得文森特·洛德具有魅力。 来自辞典例句

2 recruiting   

招聘( recruit的现在分词 )； 吸收某人为新成员； 动员…（提供帮助）； 雇用

参考例句：

• We are recruiting a sales manager with responsibility for the European market. 我们正在招聘负责欧洲市场的销售经理。
• "Hoist the recruiting flag and hungry men will come. “插起招军旗，就有吃粮人。”

3 females   

n.雌性动物( female的名词复数 )；女人

参考例句：

• The male birds are more colourful than the females. 这种鸟雄性比雌性更加色彩艳丽。
• The males in the herd protect the females and the young. 兽中的雄性动物保护雌性动物和幼崽。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

5 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。