都说猫狗是人类最好的朋友，有宠物相伴不仅能治愈人的心灵。还能给你带来很多意想不到的好处。
01. 宠物让我们更自信、更健康、更开朗
最近，美国的几位心理学家用实验调查了养宠物对人的各种好处。
Recently, psychologists at Miami University and Saint Louis University conducted experiments on the benefits of pet ownership.
研究人员比较了有宠物和无宠物的参与者在身心健康、性格、人际关系等方面的特征。
- Attachment: 依恋
In the first study, 217 people answered questions about their well-being, personality type, and attachment style. A second experiment involved 56 dog owners. Researchers examined pet owners‘ feelings about their pets. In addition, they measured their well-being.
结果表明，宠物主人们不仅幸福感指数更高、身心更健康，还拥有更强的自尊心，行事也更严谨。特别是狗狗，有助于提升主人的归属感和自我价值。
- Self-esteem：自尊
- Conscientious: [.kɒnʃi‘enʃəs] 勤勉认真的，一丝不苟的
- Preoccupied：心事重重的
The studies showed that pet owners had improved well-being in various areas, including the following:
Better self-esteem. More physically fit. Less lonely. More conscientious and lesspreoccupied. More extroverted. Less fearful.
02. 铲屎官更善社交
养宠物可以缓解社交恐惧症。汪奴一定对此深有体会，每次出门遛狗的时候，狗狗总喜欢到处交朋友，不论是对别人家的狗还是对人，它们都会热情地扑上去打招呼。于是，素不相识的汪奴们便开始相互攀谈，有的还会因为狗狗这个共同话题成为密友。
- Counteract：抵制
- Social isolation：社交孤立
Pets relieve social anxiety because they provide a common topic to talk about. Hence, pets counteract social isolation. For example, walking a dog often leads to conversations with other dog owners. As a result, dog owners tend to be more socially connected and less isolated.
除了猫猫狗狗这些常见的宠物外，马也可以成为人类的挚友和心理医生。研究发现，青少年在与马相处中获得的自信和技巧，能够渗入到他们的人际交往当中，帮助他们消除心理障碍。
- Equine：[‘ekwaɪn] 马；马的
- Abiding: [ə‘baɪdɪŋ] 长久的
Equine-Assisted Therapy helps teens build relationship skills. As a result, teens create meaningful and abiding relationships with their horses. Subsequently, the confidence and skills they develop transfer to relationships with family and friends.
03. 向萌宠们学习——活在当下
与人类的多愁善感相比，宠物们能真正做到不念过去，不畏将来。
Pets live in the moment. In other words, they don‘t worry about what happened yesterday. Moreover, they aren‘t worried about what might happen tomorrow.
因而，主人也会不知不觉受其影响，学会专注于当下。另外，遇到烦恼时，汪星人可以帮我们成功转移注意力。经常和狗狗一起玩，可以塑造孩子们的乐天性格。
- Mindful: 注意力集中的
- Playful: 爱玩的
- Carefree：无忧无虑的
As a result, pets can help people become more mindful. Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one‘s attention to the present moment. In addition, pets help distract teens from what‘s bothering them. And spending time with a pet helps teens remember how to be playful and carefree.
04. 猫奴 vs 汪奴
老有网友调侃，和宠物在一起待久了，主人会和它们长得越来越像。也有不少人喜欢拿爱猫人士和爱狗人士的性格、生活习惯作对比，给他们贴标签。
得克萨斯大学的一项调查显示，你可能真的和你的宠物有很多相似之处。猫奴和汪奴也确实呈现出一些不同的性格特点。
A survey done by the University of Texas at Austin found that some common ideas about pet lovers may be true. You may also be a lot more like your furry friend than you ever realized.
特质一：猫奴更加神经质。
爱猫人士更容易神经过敏，感到焦虑、压力大、忧心忡忡。
- Stressed out：紧张的，压力大的
- Neurotic: 神经质的，神经过敏的
If you get stressed out easily, you may be a cat person. Cat people were 12% moreneurotic than dog people. Neurotic people are: easily stressed; anxious; worriers.
特质二：汪奴比猫奴更自律。
与爱猫者比起来，爱狗者更可能表现得严谨、勤勉，责任感强，并且倾向于有计划地做事。
- Rate: 评估
The online survey asked people to rate themselves as “cat people” or “dog people”. Then people answered questions designed to reveal their true personality. Dog people were 11% more conscientious than cat people. What it means: self-disciplined; strong sense of duty; tend to be “planners”.
特质三：猫奴更有创新精神。
“好奇害死猫”，猫咪铲屎官其实也有很强的好奇心，他们对待新鲜事物通常有着开放包容的态度，具有创造力和艺术天赋，善于打破传统。
- Artistic：有艺术天赋的
Are you open to trying new things? Cat people were 11% more likely to be open, according to the survey. Open people tend to be: curious; creative; artistic; nontraditional thinkers.
特质四：汪奴比猫奴更合群。
根据调查结果，爱狗人士往往更好相处。他们容易信任别人，喜欢社交，且乐于助人。
- Agreeable：讨人喜欢的
- Altruistic: [.æltru‘ɪstɪk] 利他的
- Affectionate: 关爱他人的
According to the survey, if you‘re a dog person, you‘re 13% more likely to be agreeablethan a cat person. Agreeable people tend to be: trusting; altruistic; kind; affectionate; sociable.
特质五：汪奴比猫奴更有“男人味”。
狗狗通常调皮狂野，猫咪则总是温柔优雅。养过狗狗的人们，不论是男性还是女性，大都认为自己比猫奴更有阳刚气质。
It has been said many times that all dogs look like males and all cats look like females. Although there are exceptions, dog owners both male and female tend to view themselves as more masculine than cat owners do.
当然了，差异虽有，但并不显著，所以我们也没必要对猫奴和汪奴抱有刻板印象，调侃一下就行啦！
