读者文摘:宠物们在想什么(3)（在线收听）

13 I dream bigger if I'm a large dog.

大狗做梦更大。

Little dogs have shorter, more frequent dreams than big dogs. You can see it happening if you watch dogs sleep:

小狗与大狗相比做梦更短，更频繁。看狗睡觉时你就可以发现。

"When they start to dream, their breathing becomes irregular and you can see their eyes moving back and forth under their closed lids," Coren says.

科伦说，“当狗开始做梦时，他们的呼吸变得不规则，你可以看到它们的眼睛在紧闭的眼皮下来回移动。”

A pug might have five or six one-minute dreams every 90 minutes, but a Saint Bernard is more likely to have a four-minute dream every 45 minutes.

一只哈巴狗每九十分钟可能会做五六个一分钟的梦，但是一只圣伯纳德狗更可能每45分钟做一个4分钟的梦。

Researchers know because they can scan dogs' brains just as they can ours.

研究人员知道，因为他们可以扫描狗类的大脑，就像他们扫描人类的大脑一样。

14 I can detect cancer. Several studies have shown that dogs can detect whether a person has certain types of cancer,

狗可以侦测癌症。几个研究表明，狗可以侦测一个人是否患有某种癌症，

including breast, colorectal, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin cancer. How? By sniffing a person's breath, urine, or blood.

包括包括乳腺癌、结肠癌、肺癌、卵巢癌、前列腺癌和皮肤癌。如何做到的？通过闻一个人的呼吸、尿液或血液。

Given a dog's acute sense of smell, scientists think canines can pick up on volatile organic compounds that cancer cells give off.

鉴于狗狗敏锐的嗅觉，科学家们认为，犬科动物可以闻到癌细胞释放的挥发性有机物。

Unfortunately, dogs have not proved to be reliable diagnosticians; they get bored and lose interest in sniffing samples after a short while.

不幸的是，狗还没有被证明是可靠的诊断专家；闻样本时，过一会儿他们就会感到无聊，失去兴趣。

Now we turn to cat. 15 I'm not sure whether you're a cat or a human.

现在我们来说说猫。我不确定你是一只猫或者一个人。

While dogs play with humans differently than they do with fellow canines, cats don't adjust their social behavior much for us.

尽管狗和人类相处的方式与他们的同类不同，但是猫不怎么会为人类调整他们的社会行为。

"Putting their tails up in the air, rubbing around our legs, and sitting beside us and grooming us are exactly what cats do to each other,"

猫会把尾巴竖起来，在我们的腿上蹭来蹭去，坐在我们身边给我们梳洗，这就是猫对待彼此的方式。”

John Bradshaw, a University of Bristol anthrozoologist and the author of Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet, told National Geographic.

布里斯托尔大学的人类动物学家、《猫的常识：新的猫科动物科学如何让你成为宠物更好的朋友》的作者约翰·布拉德肖告诉《国家地理》杂志。

16 I like spending time with you. They don't always show it, but cats like us— they really, really like us.

我喜欢和你待在一块。他们并不总是会表现出来，但是猫喜欢我们，他们真的很喜欢我们。

"Cats can be incredibly social," Udell says.

尤德尔说，“猫的社交能力非常强。”

"In fact, in recent tests of cat preferences, the majority of pet and shelter cats preferred human interaction over toys, food, and even catnip."

“实际上，最近的有关猫的偏好的实验发现，相比于玩具，食物，甚至是猫薄荷，大多数的宠物和收容猫更喜欢和人类互动。

17 And I don't like being ignored.

我不喜欢被忽略。

"Cats will more frequently approach and play with a person who is attentive to them compared to a person who is ignoring them,"

“相比忽略猫的人们，猫会更经常靠近关心它们的人，和这些人玩耍。”

says Kristyn Vitale, PhD, a researcher in the Human-Animal Interaction Lab at Oregon State University.

俄勒冈州立大学人与动物互动实验室的研究员克里斯廷·瓦伊塔尔博士说。

Then again, she says, sometimes cats want to be left alone.

她还说，有时猫想要自己待着。

Vitale says if a cat is showing signs of aggression (dilated pupils, a fast-twitching tail, fur standing on end, hissing, or growling), just walk away.

瓦伊塔尔说，如果一只猫表现出攻击的迹象(瞳孔放大、尾巴快速抽动、毛发竖起、发出嘶嘶声或咆哮)，那就走开。

"It's better to end the interaction before an incident occurs that may lead to a strain in the relationship," she says.

她说，“当冲突发生之前，最好是结束互动，否则可能会导致关系紧张。”

18 Yes, I'm talking to you. Bradshaw says the feral cats he's studied rarely meow.

是的，我在和你说话。布拉德肖说，他研究的野猫很少喵喵叫。

Domesticated cats, on the other hand, meow all the time—to get the attention of humans.

另一方面，家养的猫则经常叫-为了得到人类的注意。