中英對照讀新聞》Study finds pooches get sad when they lose a friend研究發現狗狗失去同伴會傷心

◎陳成良

Dogs may need a little help from their human friends to get over the death of another dog, according to a new study.

一項新的研究表明，狗兒可能需要人類朋友的一點幫助，才能克服另一隻狗的離世。

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A survey of dog owners in Italy reported that 86 percent of them saw negative changes in the behavior of a surviving dog after the death of a companion dog in the same household — among other things, the surviving dog typically sought more attention, ate less and played less for several months after the event.

義大利一項針對狗主人的調查報告指出，86％的飼主在同一個家庭中的伴侶犬死亡後，發現倖存的狗行為出現負面變化—先不提別的，倖存的狗通常會尋求更多的關注、吃得更少，事情發生後幾個月裡也較少玩耍。

But their owners can ease the grieving process by maintaining any routines dogs are used to and staying close to their surviving pets, said Dr. Federica Pirrone, a veterinary physiologist at the University of Milan and the lead author of the study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

不過，飼主可以透過保持狗習慣的任何常規，並與倖存的寵物保持親密關係，來緩解這種悲傷過程，這項週四發表在《科學報告》期刊的研究的主要作者、米蘭大學的獸醫生理學家皮羅內博士說。

新聞辭典

get over sth/sb：片語，從（疾病或令人不快的事）中恢復過來。例句：He have get over the language barrier.（他已克服語言障礙。）

be used to + V-ing（動名詞）/ N.（名詞）：指人習慣於某樣東西或某件事，這裡的to是介系詞，後面要加動名詞或名詞。例句：Tom is used to noise. （湯姆習慣於噪音。）至於used to，則是用來表示過去經常做的行為，但現在不再發生，其中的to是不定詞，而不是介系詞，因此後面只能接動詞原型。例句：He used to smoke.（他過去常抽菸。）