美国科学60秒 SSS 2015-05-14
时间：2015-06-08 07:20:43
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（单词翻译）
The advent1 of smartphones, social media and other technologies have altered the way people interact with each other. Just watch a group of people out for a meal together, on their phones texting people who aren’t there.
Technology may also be
poised2 to change the way we relate to animals, by ruving the living, breathing ones from our homes. The main threat to pets is not social media, per se, but rather robots and virtual farm ville like animals.
These inanimate objects of our affection are certainly easier to care for than the real ones. And they still might someday meet their owners’ needs for companionship, love,
obedience3 and
dependence4. That’s according to University of Melbourne animal behavior researcher Jean Loup Rault, writing in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
The
infiltration6 of fake pets is already happening to a small degree. In Japan, some owners of Sony’s AIBO robotic dog even hold funerals when these devices are beyond repair.
Our concept of a pet gets shaked at an early age. Previous generations born and bred with dogs and cats might dismiss robopets as
mere7 toys. But children of the digital age, raised on touchscreens and online games, might see things differently. One can imagine a future fake dog owner breathosay asking his
vet5 technician, is finall dead, or is it just his battery?
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