What can we learn by watching sleeping dogs? 观察熟睡的狗给我们什么启示？

鲁淑珍

英语谚语“Let sleeping dogs lie.” 意思是不要自找麻烦。然而，匈牙利科学家发现了另一个让狗继续沉睡的理由——狗睡觉的时候也在学习。

There is an English proverb that says， “Let sleeping dogs lie.” It means not to bring up an old problem. Researchers in Hungary have found another reason to let dogs keep on sleeping. It seems that the animals are learning while they sleep.

The scientists placed wires on the dogs heads to measure electrical activity in their brains. The brain activity， called sleep spindles， takes place in human beings， and has been linked with learning.

The Hungarian scientists hope to understand how the dogs ability to learn and remember changes as they get older. The study may help researchers understand how human brains change as we age. Ivaylo Iotchey is a neuroscience researcher. He says that this is the first time dogs sleep spindles have been measured， and related to the dogs learning new things.

“From studies with humans and rodents （啮齿动物）， we know that they are not only extremely useful markers of memory and cognition but also of aging and activity. In the dog， sleep spindles have only been described， they were never quantified， they were never related to function. This is the first time we were able to show that sleep spindles predict learning in the dog.”

The scientists found differences between male and female dogs. Iotchey says the females appeared much better at learning new things. “Female dogs have approximately， on average， twice as many spindles per minute as male dogs，and they also happen to be the better learners; they memorize the task much better.”

“But it was harder for all the older dogs to remember things， especially when several things were happening at the same time. Also， the older dogs were easily tricked. If we first hide the reward into one pot， then in another and in an?other， they get confused after a while. So their performance is declining， and they are getting less effective in solving novel problems and shifting from one task to another.”

Researchers hope the study will not only help understand the cognitive ability and memory changes in dogs， but also the aging process in humans.

[Reading][Check]

1. Why is the proverb about sleeping dogs mentioned in the first paragraph？

A. To warn people to stay away from sleeping dogs.

B. To lead in the topic of the text.

C. To show why dogs keep on sleeping.

D. To prove that the proverb is correct.

2. Why are wires placed on the dogs heads？

A. To help the dogs learn.

B. To help the dogs sleep well.

C. To measure their brain activity.

D. To diagnose the dogs diseases.

3. Which of the following is true about sleep spindles？

A. They predict learning in the dog.

B. They are mainly markers of memory and cognition.

C. They are mainly markers of aging and activity.

D. They are linked with sleep quality.

4. Studies show that           .

A. male dogs appear much better at learning new things

B. male dogs have more spindles per minute than female dogs

C. male dogs are the better learners

D. old dogs are more likely to be cheated

[Language][Study]

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence

He says that this is the first time dogs sleep spindles have been measured， and related to the dogs learning new things. 他表示，这是人类第一次测量狗的睡眠梭状波，并把它和狗学习新知识联系起来。

【点石成金】这是一个主从复合句。 He says是主句，that this is the first time dogs sleep spindles have been measured， and related to the dogs learning new things是宾语从句，that只起连接主句和从句的作用，在从句中不充当任何成分，也没意义，可以省略。宾语从句中的the first time引导时间状语从句，时态多用完成时。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

bring up 养育;提出;呕吐

keep on doing sth 繼续做某事

be linked with 与……相连接/关联

the ability to do sth 做某事的能力

be related to 和……有关联

the differences between A and B A与B之间的差异

on average 平均

happen to do sth 碰巧/恰好做某事

the aging process 老化过程