养狗暴露了你的性格？是真的！狗的性格会越来越像它的主人
近日，美国密西根州立大学（Michigan State University）的一项最新研究成果表明，狗的性格能够反映出主人是个什么样的人，并且狗的性格会越来越像它的主人。
该成果发表在《个性研究杂志（Journal of Research in Personality）》上，论文标题为“Old dog, new tricks: Age differences in dog personality traits, associations with human personality traits, and links to important outcomes”。
看到old dog, new tricks就想起一句谚语，“You can't teach an old dog new tricks”意思是“年老难学艺；上年纪的人学不了新玩意；本性难移”，英文解释为“said to mean that it is very difficult to teach someone new skills or to change someone's habits or character.”
类似的，有另一个说法叫“Old habits die hard”表示“旧习难改”，对比下两句话的英文解释“used to say that it is difficult to make people change their attitudes or behaviour”
She knew it probably wasn't necessary any more, but old habits die hard.
她知道这也许已经没有必要了，但是旧习难改。
再对比下另外两种完全相反的说法：
“It's never too late to mend”，可以解释为“亡羊补牢,为时不晚”、“过则勿惮改”（One is never too old to change one's ways; learning is always possible.）
以及“You're never too old to learn”“活到老，学到老”这句就比较熟悉了，英文解释为“It is possible to learn new things, at any age; (implied) follow your desires and dreams”。
扯远了，回来继续说狗的性格和主人之间的关系，你养的狗真的会暴露出你的性格吗？我们看看《财富（Fortune）》的介绍：
That Old Adage About Dogs Resembling Their Owners? New Research Suggests It's True
adage
adage /ˈædɪdʒ/ 表示“谚语，格言”，英文解释为“An adage is something that people often say and that expresses a general truth about some aspect of life.”
resemble
resemble一词上周一在克洛斯再次与奥斯卡影后擦肩而过一文中刚出现过，表示“像；与…类似，与…相似”，英文解释为“If one thing or person resembles another, they are similar to each other.”举个🌰：
He grew up to resemble his father.
他长大了，很像他父亲。
It's well known that human personalities change as we age. Now a detailed study of dog personalities indicates that our canine companions often go through remarkably similar changes during their lives—and our own personalities may be a key factor.
canine
canine /ˈkeɪnaɪn/ 可以作名词，也可以作形容词表示“狗（的），犬科动物（的）”，英文解释为“Canine means relating to dogs.”
对比前两天在「星巴克猫爪杯」一文中出现的表示“猫，猫科动物”的词：feline /ˈfiːlaɪn/.
feline同样可以作名词也可以作形容词，表示“猫的；猫科的”（relating to cats or other members of the cat family, such as lions）或者“猫；猫科动物”（a cat or a member of the cat family, such as a tiger）。
Psychologists at Michigan State University published a paper this month in the Journal of Research in Personality that examined dog personalities and found some evidence to support the old adage that dogs resemble their owners. “Dog personality may share similar characteristics to that of human personality,” the study said in summarizing its findings.
“When humans go through big changes in life, their personality traits can change. We found that this also happens with dogs—and to a surprisingly large degree,” William Chopik, a Michigan State professor of psychology and the study's lead author, said on ScienceDaily.
go through
此处表示“遭受，经历，经受”，英文解释为“to experience a difficult or unpleasant situation”举个🌰：
I've been going through a bad patch recently.
近来这一段时间我日子很不好过。
补充：
patch作名词表示“斑点，补丁”，此处的a bad patch表示“一段艰难时期”，类似的用法有：a bad/difficult/sticky/rough patch，英文解释为“a period of time when you are having a lot of difficulty”。
The study surveyed people who owned 1,681 dogs belonging to 50 breeds and aged between a few months and 15 years. The owners were asked to evaluate their dogs' personalities and behavioral history, along with their own personalities.
Chopik found that the “sweet spot” for obedience training came well beyond puppihood, at around six years old, when dogs have outgrown their excitable puppy ways but before old habits settle in. That's also the age when dogs are most likely to show aggressiveness to humans or other animals.
obedience training
什么是obedience training？obedience的意思就是“服从，顺从，遵从”（when someone does what they are told to do, or what a law, rule etc says they must do），按照字面意思就翻译成“服从训练，服从性训练”吗，有养狗的同学对这个应该比较熟悉？金山词霸还给出了个解释叫“口令训练”；
另外，看看Wikipedia的英文介绍，也是提到了一些基本指令的训练：
Obedience training usually refers to the training of a dog and the term is most commonly used in that context. Obedience training ranges from very basic training, such as teaching the dog to reliably respond to basic commands such as "sit," "down," "come," and "stay," to high level competition within clubs such as the American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club, where additional commands, accuracy and performance are scored and judged.
sweet spot
sweet spot有多种含义，在体育运动上，表示“（球拍、球棒等上的）最有效击打点”，英文解释为“the part of a surface that is the best or most effective possible place to hit something”举个🌰：
The new tennis rackets are lighter, stronger, and have a bigger sweet spot.
新网球拍更轻、更结实，而且有效击球区更大。
在声学领域，“最佳听音位置；对于音箱中，平衡、声像、细节、立体感最好的听音位置”等也叫sweet spot.
还可以指“the particular situation, quality, combination of things, etc. that is the best or most effective possible”，此处从上下文来看，可以理解为对狗进行服从性训练（obedience training）的“最佳时期”。
outgrow
表示“长大而不再具有，因长大而不适用”，英文解释为“If you outgrow a particular way of behaving or thinking, you change and become more mature, so that you no longer behave or think in that way.”举个🌰：
The girl may or may not outgrow her interest in fashion.
那个女孩可能会，也可能不会因长大而失去她对时尚的兴趣。
Most children eventually outgrow a tendency toward travel sickness.
大多数儿童长大后就不会再晕车晕船了。
The study also indicated that personality traits that can emerge in dogs over time—excitation, aggression, fear, and anxiety—can be amplified by the behavior of their human companions. Overall, the people who were most satisfied with their dogs were the ones who invested in obedience training and who offered their dogs an active and playful life.
amplify
表示“增强，放大”，英文解释为“To amplify something means to increase its strength or intensity.”举个🌰：
These stories only amplified her fears.
这些故事徒增了她的恐惧感。
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