Pet owners have long been encouraged to think that they are happier, healthier and live longer than people without pets, but a new US study claims they might be barking up the wrong tree.
Howard Herzog, a professor of psychology at Western Carolina University, says studies conducted in the past to determine whether having a pet improves health and longevity have “produced a mishmash of conflicting results.”
“While pets are undoubtedly good for some people, there is presently insufficient evidence to support the contention that pet owners are healthier or happier or that they live longer” than people without pets, Herzog wrote in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
“While some researchers have reported that positive effects accrue from interacting with animals, others have found that the health and happiness of pet owners is no better, and in some cases worse, than that of non-pet owners.”
Herzog cites several studies purportedly showing the benefits of having a pet, including one from 1980 which showed that heart attack victims who had a pet were around four times more likely than petless victims to survive for a year after the crisis, but said more gloomy studies had been ignored.
“While the media abounds with stories extolling the health benefits of pets, studies in which pet ownership has been found to have no impact or even negative effects on human physical or mental health rarely make headlines,” he said.
He cited another study which found no difference in blood pressure between older pet-owners and the petless. In fact, the pet owners in that study exercised less than the non-owners and were more likely to be overweight.
Moreover, he said pets — which can be found in two-thirds of US households — bring with them a cornucopia of health problems that can be transmitted to humans such as giardia, salmonella poisoning, skin mites and worms.
(AFP)
寵物飼主長期被洗腦，自認應比沒養寵物者，更快樂、更健康，並且活得更久；但美國一項新研究指出，這些飼主可能只是自我感覺良好。
西卡羅萊納大學心理學教授霍華德‧賀佐格表示，過去針對養寵物是否能促進健康與延年益壽的研究，卻「產生混合的衝突性結果」。
賀佐格在八月號的《心理科學最新指南》中寫道：「無庸置疑，飼養寵物對一些人有益，但目前對於寵物飼主較無寵物者更健康、快樂或長壽的論述，則是佐證不足。」
他說：「當一些研究員指出，與動物互動產生正向影響，但其他研究員則發現飼主的健康與快樂程度，不見得比沒養寵物者好，有時甚至比沒寵物者更糟。」
賀佐格引用多項據稱養寵物有好處的研究，包含一項一九八零年的研究顯示，心臟病患者在發病後，有寵物者多存活一年的機率，比沒有寵物者大四倍；但他說，一些對於飼主較不利的研究，則被忽略。
他說：「媒體充斥讚揚養寵物對健康有益的報導，至於發現養寵物對身心無益，甚至會有負面影響的研究，則鮮少受媒體關注。」
他引用另一項研究，該研究發現養寵物與無寵物的年長者，血壓值並無差異。但事實上，在該研究中養寵物者的運動量比無寵物者的運動量少，並且前者也更可能體重過重。
此外，他說寵物─存在於美國三分之二的家庭─可能將大量人畜共通傳染病等健康問題，傳染給飼主，舉凡梨形鞭毛蟲、沙門氏桿菌中毒症、毛囊蠕型?與寄生蟲。
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
1. barking up the wrong tree
idiom
自我感覺良好；找錯人了
(zi4 wo2 gan3 jue2 liang2 hao3; zhao3 cuo4 ren2 le5)
例: If you think she’ll help you, I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree.
(若你認為她將會幫助你，很遺憾，你可能找錯人了。)
2. mishmash n.
混合 (hun4 he2)
例: The salad was a mishmash of nuts, fruits, vegetables, eggs and half a dozen dressings.
(沙拉是混合堅果、水果、蔬菜、蛋，以及六種醬料。)
3. cornucopia n.
大量 (da4 liang4)
例: There is a cornucopia of viruses spreading throughout that region of the country right now, so be sure to get vaccinated before traveling there.
(大量病毒目前正蔓延在該國家的這個地區，因此到當地旅遊前，務必要先打預防針。)
A: Are there any other organisms facing extinction? B: Reportedly, over 40 percent of amphibians, 25 percent of mammals and 13 percent of birds could face extinction. A: These are really frightening statistics. B: If humans do not look after the animal kingdom, one day we too might become extinct. A: 那其他生物會不會也面臨絕種危機啊？ B: 據說百分之四十的兩棲動物、百分之二十五的哺乳動物、百分之十三的鳥類都可能滅絕。 A: 這些數字看起來好驚人。 B: 如果人類再不保護動物，總有一天自己也會滅絕。 （Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩） Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
Tourists will benefit as yen falls 日本6月將開放觀光！日圓「貶值」學換匯英文 自疫情爆發至今已超過兩年，全球逐漸邁向與疫情共存的方式，日本政府也將陸續鬆綁邊境管制，最快有機會六月就開放外國觀光客以團體旅遊方式入境。加上日圓近期狂貶，來到二十年來新低點，專家預估，日本將迎來新一波的旅遊熱潮。今天我們就從國外報導的日圓貶值現象，提前為旅日做好準備吧！ yen weakness 日圓疲軟 Yet economists see building pressure for a shift if persistent yen weakness exacerbates inflation by raising import costs, particularly for energy, and reckon that 125 is a key level. （然而，若是日圓持續疲軟而提高進口成本，尤其在能源上，將加重通貨膨脹，經濟學家認為政策轉變的壓力很大，並預估貶破125是關鍵點。） yen weakness是「日圓疲軟，weak (a.)意思是「虛弱的、疲弱的，加上「-ness」名詞字尾，代表「疲軟的概念；加上「-en」動詞變化則有「弱化、削弱」的意思。 The bill would seriously weaken environmental protections. （這項法案將嚴重削弱對環境的保護。） exacerbate (v.)「惡化、加劇、加重，英文的定義為to make something that is already bad even worse（使某件已經很糟的事情更糟）。文章中提到通膨（inflation）加劇，將會對經濟造成負面的影響，因此可以看出作者的態度是不樂觀的。 This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.（這次襲擊將令兩個原本已經處於緊張狀態的團體關係更加惡化。） 提高成本raise、rise怎麼用？ raise import cost是「提高進口成本，討論數據「上升、下降時，經常使用raise和rise這兩個動詞，但是特別注意兩者使用方式有所不同。raise是及物動詞(vt)，後方必須要接一個受詞（名詞），如raise your hand、raise the eyebrows；然而，rise是不及物動詞(vi)，不能直接加上受詞，而是要在中間穿插一個介系詞作為連結功能的用途，如常見的go (to) school、listen (to) music等，因此rise的用法就是inflation rises，常見的the sun rises in the east就是如此。 The government plans to raise taxes. （政府計畫增稅。） Inflation is rising by 2.1 percent a month. （通貨膨脹一個月增長百分之二‧一。） 升值、貶值怎麼說？ Japanese yen depreciation is a big problem for the Japanese economy, because
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