新奇事件簿 算狗狗年龄的方法（在线收听）

For decades, dog lovers have been incorrectly calculating the age of their pet pooches.

几十年来，爱狗人士计算宠物狗年龄的方法都是错误的。

People have traditionally worked out their dog's age in "human years" by multiplying by seven.

人们通常用狗的年龄乘以7来计算它们相当于人的年龄。

However, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in the USA have come up with a new formula.

但美国加州大学圣地亚哥医学院的研究人员提出了一种新的公式。

They say it more precisely determines canine age. Their new method requires a little more than simple mental arithmetic to work out a dog's age.

他们表示，这种公式能够更准确地计算狗狗的年龄。他们的新方法需要比简单的心算稍微复杂一点的方法来计算狗狗的年龄。

It involves a comparison of the genomes of dogs and humans. Scientists had to analyse how DNA changes as humans and dogs age.

其中涉及对狗和人类基因组的比较。科学家需要分析DNA是如何随着人类和狗的年龄变化的。

The scientists regard such DNA analysis as the best way to measure the ageing speed of mammals.

科学家把这种DNA分析当做是估算哺乳动物衰老速度的最佳方法。

The researchers analysed blood samples from 105 Labrador retrievers.

研究人员分析了105只拉布拉多寻回犬的血液样本。

After a bit of number crunching, they created a graph to show the different rates at which canines and humans age.

经过一番数字运算后，他们绘制了一张图表以显示犬科动物和人类衰老的不同速度。

They said a one-year-old dog is similar to a 30-year-old human, while a four-year-old hound is comparable to a 52-year-old person.

他们表示一岁的狗狗相当于30岁的人，而四岁的猎犬相当于52岁的人。

Researcher Trey Ideker said by the time a dog reaches seven years old, its ageing slows.

研究员Trey Ideker表示，狗狗达到七岁时，其衰老速度就会减慢。

He said: "This makes sense. When you think about it, a nine-month-old dog can have puppies,

他说道：“这也是说得通的。你仔细想想，一只九个月大的狗就能生小狗仔，

so we already knew that the 1:7 ratio wasn't an accurate measure of age."

所以我们已经知道1:7的比例并不是一个准确的衡量年龄的标准。”

The researchers said their new formula doesn't fully address the fact that different breeds of dog age at different speeds.

研究人员表示，他们的新公式并没有完全解决不同品种的狗衰老速度不同的问题。