We think dogs are our best friends. A new study showed that maybe it's because dogs can understa

We think dogs are our best friends. A new study showed that maybe it's because dogs can understand our words much better than we thought. It found that dogs understand not only what we say, but also how we say it.

"The results were very exciting and surprising," said the lead researcher(研究者)Attila Andics, from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest.

For the study, the researchers first trained 13 dogs for months. The dogs had to sit quietly inside machines，so that the researchers could check their brain(大脑)activity.

Then the researchers put headphones on the dogs and played people's voices to them. There were four different voices. Some were of positive(积极的)words, such as "well done", or neutral(不带感情色彩的)words like "however". The words were also in different tones(音调).Some were positive and some were neutral.

Brain scans(扫描)showed that the dogs could recognize(认出)words, as well as the tone of words, much like people do. The positive words with a positive tone brought the strongest activity in their brain.

"It shows that for dogs, a nice phrase(短语)can work very well as a reward, but it works best if both words and tones match," said Andics.

They also found that dogs deal with meaningful words with the left side of the brain and tones with the right. Human(人类)brains work in the same way.

It gave us a new understanding of language, said Andics. That is, not only humans understand the meaning in words, other species(种类)do too.

【1】Why do the researchers train dogs to sit quietly inside the machines?

A. In order to check how they deal with human words.

B. In order to teach them understand human words.

C. In order to help them speak human words.

D. In order to change their living habits.

【2】Which side of brain deals with tones, for both dogs and humans?

A. The left side for both dogs and humans.

B. The right side for both dogs and humans.

C. The left side for dogs and the right side for humans.

D. The right side for dogs and the left side for humans.

【3】Which of the following is NOT true according to the research?

A. Dogs can understand our words much better than we thought.

B. The dogs could recognize words just as people do.

C. The researchers played four different people's voices to the dogs.

D. From the study, the researchers checked the dogs' body activity.

【4】What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Dogs are human's best friends. B. Dogs can learn human's language.

C. Dogs can understand the meaning in words. D. Dogs are similar to humans.

【答案】

【1】A

【2】B

【3】D

【4】C

【解析】

短文大意：人们认为狗是人类最好的朋友。一项新的研究表明，狗不仅理解人们说的话，而且理解人们是怎样说的，狗能听懂人类的语言。

【1】根据第四段第一句Then the researchers put headphones on the dogs and played people's voices to them可知，研究人员要训练狗安静地坐在机器内，是为了检查他们如何处理人类语言。故选：A。

【2】根据短文倒数第二段They also found that dogs deal with meaningful words with the left side of the brain and tones with the right. Human(人类)brains work in the same way.可知， 对于狗和人类来说，都是右边大脑处理音调。故选：B。

【3】根据第三段最后一句The dogs had to sit quietly inside machines，so that the researchers could check their brain(大脑)activity.，以及后文都在说明狗的大脑活动情况，所以From the study, the researchers checked the dogs' body activity.是错误的。故选：D。

【4】根据最后一段的综述可知，本文的主旨大意——狗能听懂人类的语言。故选：C。