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. (46) 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. (47)
"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"
Bowtingual has two parts. (48) The translation is done
in the gadget using a database (资料库) containing every kind of bark.
Based on animal behaviour research, these noises are divided into six
categories: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, declaration and desire.
(49) 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 is translated as "Don’t come this way". (50)
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".