Kimiko Fukuda, a Japanese girl, always wondered what her dog was trying to
say. Whenever she put on makeup, it would pull at her sleeve.
{{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}When the dog barks, she glances at a
small electronic gadget (装置). The following human translation appears on its
screen: "Please take me with you. I realized that's how he was feeling," said
Fukuda. The gadget is called Bowlingual, and it translates dog
barks into feelings. People laughed when the Japanese toymaker Takara Company
made the world's first dog-human translation machine in 2002. But 300,000
Japanese dog owners bought it. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}}
{{/U}} "Nobody else had thought about it," said Masahiko Kajita,
who works for Takara. "We spend so much time training dogs to understand our
orders; what would it be like if we could understand dogs?" Bowlingual has two
parts. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}The translation is done in the
gadget using a database (资料库) containing every kind of bark.
Based on animal behavior research, these noises are divided into six categories:
happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, declaration and desire. {{U}}
{{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}In this way, the database scientifically
matches a bark to an emotion, which is then translated into one of 200
phrases. When a visitor went to Fukuda's house recently, the
dog barked a loud "bow wow". This translated as "Don't come this way". {{U}}
{{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}} The product will be available
in U.S. pet stores this summer for about US $120. It can store up to 100 barks,
even recording the dog's emotions when the owner is away. A．A
wireless microphone is attached to the dog's collar, which sends information to
the gadget held by the owner. B．Nobody really knows how a dog
feels. C．It was followed by "I'm stronger than you" as the dog
growled (嗥叫) and sniffed (嗅) at the visitor. D．More customers
are expected when the English version is launched this summer.
E．Now, the Japanese girl thinks she knows. F．Each one of these
emotions is then linked to a phrase like "Let's play" "Look at me", or "Spend
more time with me".