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 300000
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 "bowwow".
This translated as "Don't come this way." {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}}
{{/U}} The product will be available in US 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".