Dodogsunderstandus?

Becarefulwhatyousayaroundyourdog．Itmightunderstandmorethanyouthink．

Abordercollie(苏格兰牧羊犬)namedRicorecognizesthenamesofabout200objectssayresearchersinGermany．Thedogalsoappearstobeabletolearnnewwordsaseasilyasa3-year-oldchild．Itsword-learningskillsareasgoodasthoseofaparrotorchimpanzee(黑猩猩)．

Inoneexperimenttheresearcherstookall200itemsthatRicoissupposedtoknowanddividedtheminto20groupsof10objects．Thentheownertoldthedogtogoandfetchoneoftheitemsandbringitback．InfourtestsRicogot37outof40commandsright．Asthedogcouldn'tseeanyonetogetcluesthescientistsbelieveRicomustunderstandthemeaningsofcertainwords．

InanotherexperimentthescientiststookonetoythatRicohadneverseenbeforeandputitinaroomwithseventoyswhosenamesthedogalreadyknew．TheownerthentoldRicotofetchtheobjectusingawordthedoghadneverheardbefore．

Thecorrectobjectwaschoseninsevenoutofl0testssuggestingthatthedoghadworkedouttheanswerbyprocessofelimination(排除法)．AmonthlaterRicorememberedhalfofthenewnameswhichisevenmoreimpressive．

Ricoisthoughttobesmarterthantheaveragedog．ForonethingRicoisabordercollieabreed(品种)knownforitsmentalabilities．Inadditionthe9-year-olddoghasbeentrainedtofetchtoysbytheirnamessincetheageofninemonths．

It'shardtoknowifalldogsunderstandatleastsomeofthewordswesay．Eveniftheydotheycan'ttalkback．Stillitwouldn'thurttosweet-talkyourdogeverynowandthen．Youmightjustgetabigwetkissinreturn!

A．

animalsareascleverashumanbeings

B．

dogsaresmarterthanparrotsandchimpanzees

C．

chimpanzeeshaveverygoodword-learningskills