“陌生情境”实验表明：猫并不太依恋主人

What does your cat think of you? Maybe not too much. A new study suggests that cats don’t need their owners to feel secure and safe — the way dogs do — but rely on them mostly as a reliable source of food.

“Animal-human relationships may be built on different priorities(优先事项). For dogs safety and security are clearly important, but this is not the case in cats,” Dr. Daniel Mills, professor of veterinary(兽医的) behavioral medicine at the University of Lincoln in England and lead author of the study, said in an interview. “It seems cats are much more resource focused.”

The study was patterned on a classic psychology experiment known as “strange situation”, so named because in the experiment a baby or child is left in a room to play by the mother or caregiver while a stranger then walks in. The experiment is modeled to help scientists judge how attached children are to their mothers.

Similarly, the researchers placed 20 pet cats in an unfamiliar room and then observed how they responded when they were left alone in the room with a stranger and their owner, or simply by themselves. The researchers selected cats whose owners said they were particularly attached to them.

What did the researchers find? The cats vocalized(发声) slightly more meows when their owners left them in the room with a stranger, but the researchers didn’t notice any other evidence to suggest that the cats were strongly attached to their owners.

“This vocalization might simply be a sign of frustration or learned response, since no other signs of attachment were reliably seen,” Mills said in a written statement. “In strange situations, attached individuals seek to stay close to their career, show signs of distress when they are separated and show pleasure when their attachment figure returns, but these trends weren’t apparent during our research.”

本时文内容由奇速英语国际教育研究院原创编写，禁止复制和任何商业用途，版权所有，侵权必究！

1.According to the study, pet cats _________.

A have a close bond with pet dogs

B care much more about food than dogs

C care more about their safety than dogs

D are less likely to survive without their owners

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据第一段中的“A new study suggests that cats don’t need their owners to feel secure and safe — the way dogs do — but rely on them mostly as a reliable source of food”可知，跟狗相比，猫更在乎食物。故选B。

2.The classic psychology experiment mentioned in Paragraph 3 is meant to _____.

A help children deal with strangers

B help owners learn about their pets

C help parents get along with their children

D learn about the bond between mothers and kids

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“The experiment is modeled to help scientists judge how attached children are to their mothers”可知，这个实验是用来测量小孩有多依恋母亲。故选D。

3.How did the cats react when they were left in the room with strangers?

A They just meowed a bit more.

B They looked for food everywhere.

C They showed obvious signs of distress.

D They became excited and ran here and there.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第五段中的“The cats vocalized slightly more meows”可知，那些猫只是叫得更多了一些。故选A。

4.The new study suggests that _____.

A dogs are the best pets for people

B dogs hate being left alone at home

C cats don't feel much for their owners

D cats pay less attention to strange situations

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据全文内容尤其是第一段的第一二句“What does your cat think of you? Maybe not too much.”可知，研究发现，猫并不太依恋它们的主人，它们更在乎得到食物。故选C。