雅思阅读练习题：＂狗医生＂的力量

　　新东方在线雅思网特为大家准备了雅思阅读练习题：＂狗医生＂的力量，供大家学习参考。雅思阅读备考阶段，同学们需要通过适量的练习题来检测自己的备考效果。希望以下内容能够对大家的雅思备考有所帮助!

　　雅思阅读精选：“狗医生”的力量 纽敦小学受惊学生接受宠物心理治疗

　　Therapy Dogs Helping Newtown Heal

　　"A Lot of Times, Kids Talk Directly to the Dog"

　　The Healing Power of Dogs

　　Canines bring comfort to Newtown survivorsand others in crisis.

　　Libby, one of several golden retriever therapy dogs, visits with 2-year-old LilyWillinger of Newtown, Conn.

　　Photograph by David Goldman, AP

　　One boy confided in the gentle-faced golden retriever about exactly whathappened in his classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School that day—which hisparents said was more than he'd been able to share with them. A little girl who hadn'tspoken since the shootings finally started talking to her mother again after petting oneof the "comfort dogs." Groups of teenagers began to open up and discuss their fearand grief with each other as they sat on the floor together, all stroking the sameanimal.

　　The dogs are therapy dogs—professional comforters that were brought to Newtown,Connecticut, almost immediately after the horrific shootings on December 14 that left 20young children and 6 staff members dead.

　　Tim Hetzner, leader of the Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) K9 Comfort Dogsteam, traveledto Newtown with nine specially trained golden retrievers and their volunteer handlers from theAddison, Illinois-based group.

　　Using a local Lutheran church as their base, the K9 teams have spent the past few daysvisiting schools, churches, activity centers, and private homes in the community. They only gowhere they're invited and are careful to let people approach the dogs instead of vice versa, incase anyone is afraid of or allergic to the animals.

　　Counselors With Fur

　　The response to the dogs has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Hetzner.

　　"A lot of times, kids talk directly to the dog," he said. "They're kind of like counselors withfur. They have excellent listening skills, and they demonstrate unconditional love. They don'tjudge you or talk back."

　　The dogs are also used to reassure victims of natural disasters—most recently,Superstorm Sandy—and to brighten the days of nursing home patients. Hetzner said he gotthe idea after seeing how well students responded to therapy dogs in the wake of a 2008school shooting at Northern Illinois University. Now, in addition to the core of 15 that make upLCC's K9 Comfort Dogs team, the group has deployed about 20 other dogs to be based inschools and churches that apply for them.

　　The human volunteers' main job is to make sure the dogs don't get burned out, whichmeans taking a break to play ball or nap after about two hours of work. Although somehandlers have a background in counseling or pastoral care, "the biggest part of their training isjust learning to be quiet," Hetzner said.

　　"I think that's a common mistake people make in crisis situations—feeling obligated to givesome sort of answer or advice, when really, those who are hurting just need to expressthemselves."

　　The Human-Canine Bond

　　Why does petting a dog make us feel better? It'snot just because they're cute, says Brian Hare,director of Duke University's Canine CognitionCenter.

　　The human-canine bond goes back thousandsof years. Dogs descend from wolves and have beenattracted to humans ever since we began living insettlements—a source of tasty garbage. Thatcreated an advantage for wolves to live nearhumans, and since it tended to be the lessaggressive wolves that could do this more effectively, they essentially self-domesticatedover time, according to Hare.

　　(Read more about the evolutionary history of dogs in the February 2012 NationalGeographic magazine cover story, "How To Build a Dog.")

　　Part of what makes dogs special is that they are one of the only species that does notgenerally exhibit xenophobia, meaning fear of strangers, says Hare.

　　"We've done research on this, and what we've found is that not only are most dogs totallynot xenophobic, they're actually xenophilic—they love strangers!" Hare said. "That's one way inwhich you could say dogs are 'better' than people. We're not always that welcoming."

　　People also benefit from interacting with canines. Simply petting a dog can decrease levelsof stress hormones, regulate breathing, and lower blood pressure. Research also has shownthat petting releases oxytocin, a hormone associated with bonding and affection, in both thedog and the human.

　　Do Dogs Have Empathy?

　　In situations like the Newtown shootings, it makes a lot of sense that dogs would be aneffective form of comfort, says psychologist Debbie Custance of Goldsmiths College,University of London.

　　"Dogs are social creatures that respond to us quite sensitively, and they seem torespond to our emotions," she said.

　　Custance recently led a study to see whether dogs demonstrated empathy. She askedvolunteers to either pretend to cry, or just "hum in a weird way." Would the dogs notice thedifference?

　　"The response was extraordinary," she said. Nearly all of the dogs came over to nuzzle orlick the crying person, whether it was the owner or a stranger, while they paid little attentionwhen people were merely humming.

　　"We're not saying this is definitive evidence that dogs have empathy—but I can certainlyunderstand why people would think they do, at least," Custance said.

　　Other animals can also be useful in what's known as "animal-assisted therapy." Thenational organization Pet Partners has 11,000 registered teams of volunteer handlers andanimals that visit nursing homes, hospitals, schools, and victims of tragedy and disaster.Although most of the teams use dogs, some involve horses, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds,and even barnyard animals like pigs and chickens.

　　The presence of an animal can help facilitate a discussion with human counselors or simplyprovide wordless emotional release, said Rachel Wright, director of Pet Partners' therapyanimal program. The group plans to deploy several teams of therapy dogs to Newtown in thenear future, working closely with agencies that are already present in the community, she said.

　　To some, the idea of sending a dog to a grieving person might seem too simplistic. ButCustance says that very simplicity is part of what makes the connection between humans andcanines so powerful.

　　"When humans show us affection, it's quite a complicated thing that involvesexpectations and judgments," she said. "But with a dog, it's a very uncomplicated,nonchallenging interaction with no consequences. And if you've been through a hard time, it'slovely to have that."