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From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
这里是VOA慢速英语《健康和生活方式报道》节目。
Programs using animals to calm patients and reduce tension are called animal therapy.
使用动物来安抚病人和减少焦虑的项目被称为动物疗法。
In the United States, these treatments are popular, although there is a lack of evidence to show that they work.
在美国，这些疗法很受欢迎，尽管缺乏证据证明它们有效。
There are, however, many stories about animal therapy helping people.
然而，有很多关于动物疗法帮助人们的故事。
For example, some children have a fear of injections.
例如，有些孩子害怕打针。
That may make getting the COVID-19 vaccine a difficult experience.
这可能会使接种新冠疫苗变得困难。
So, some hospitals use therapy animals -- like Ollie, a six-year-old therapy dog.
因此，一些医院使用治疗动物——比如奥利，一只6岁的治疗犬。
Ollie is helping children at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, California overcome their fear of vaccine shots.
奥利在加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥的拉迪儿童医院帮助孩子们克服他们对接种疫苗的恐惧。
One of those children is nine-year-old Avery Smith.
其中一个孩子是9岁的艾弗里·史密斯。
At the children's hospital, she cried over her fear of the vaccine.
在该儿童医院，她因为害怕接种疫苗而哭了起来。
Then, Ollie came in and sat at her feet.
然后，奥利走了进来，坐在她的脚边。
Avery told a Reuters reporter about her experience.
艾弗里向路透社记者讲述了她的经历。
"It helped me because I never had a COVID vaccine before," said Avery.
艾弗里说：“这对我很有帮助，因为我以前从未接种过新冠疫苗”。
She added, "I didn't know what it felt like. But when I saw the dog it helped me calm down."
她补充说：“我不知道那是什么感觉。但当我看到那只狗时，它帮助我冷静下来。”
Early in November, children in the United States aged five to 11 were able to get the vaccine.
11月初，美国5至11岁的儿童能够接种新冠疫苗。
Ever since then, Ollie and 14 other dogs have been helping them get vaccinated at the California hospital.
从那时起，奥利和另外14只狗一直在这家加州医院帮助他们接种疫苗。
They are part of a therapy program paid for by a pet supply company.
它们是一个治疗项目的一部分，这个项目由一家宠物用品公司承担费用。
Even before the vaccine, therapy dogs were already being used at the children's hospital.
甚至在接种疫苗之前，该儿童医院就已经开始使用治疗犬了。
Some children at the hospital are fighting cancer or other serious diseases.
医院里的一些孩子正在与癌症或其他严重疾病作斗争。
Kristin Gist is a 75-year-old dog therapy volunteer and a former hospital programs director.
克里斯汀·吉斯特是一名75岁的狗治疗志愿者，曾担任医院项目主任。
She is also Ollie's owner.
她也是奥利的主人。
Gist said parents will sometimes hold the dog and seem to feel better too.
吉斯特说，家长有时会抱着狗，似乎也会感觉好些。
However, some experts say there is a lack of scientific evidence proving that animal therapy improves a patient's medical condition.
然而，一些专家表示，缺乏科学证据证明动物疗法可以改善患者的病情。
One such expert is Hal Herzog.
哈尔·赫尔佐格就是其中一位专家。
He is a professor of psychology at Western Carolina University.
他是西卡罗来纳大学的心理学教授。
He has been studying the relations between humans and animals for more than 20 years.
20多年来，他一直在研究人与动物之间的关系。
Herzog told VOA that an animal can distract a patient.
赫尔佐格告诉美国之音，动物可以分散患者的注意力。
Other things, he added, such a favorite toy might have the same effect.
他补充说，其他东西，这样一个最受欢迎的玩具可能也会有同样的效果。
"Some studies have shown that for short-term preventing pain -- interacting with a dog can put your mind on something else.
“一些研究表明，为了在短期内预防疼痛——与狗互动可以让你的注意力放在其他事情上。
And in that case, I see no harm in doing it.
如果是那样的话，我认为这么做没有什么坏处。
And for some kids it's probably going to be effective."
对一些孩子来说，这可能会很有效。”
However, Herzog criticized the use of animals as a medical treatment, like a drug.
然而，赫尔佐格批评了把动物当作像药物一样的医疗手段的做法。
He said research does not show that animal therapy is effective.
他说，研究没有表明动物疗法是有效的。
"There's been tons of research, but most of it is not very good.
“有大量的研究，但大多数都不是很好。
And some studies have found…some of the better studies have found that therapy dogs did not really have any impact on kids and adults that were put in stressful, experimental situations."
一些研究发现……一些更好的研究发现，治疗犬对处于有压力的实验环境中的儿童和成年人没有任何影响。”
Herzog said the poor research methods come in many forms.
赫尔佐格说，糟糕的研究方法有多种形式。
Many studies do not use a control group.
许多研究没有使用对照组。
A control group helps scientists understand if an experimental treatment has any effect.
对照组帮助科学家了解实验性治疗是否有任何效果。
Some studies do not consider the effects of the dog handlers.
一些研究没有考虑训犬员的影响。
They are often nice people and could also be helping the patient.
他们通常都是好人，也可能是在帮助患者。
People involved in animal therapy research, Herzog said, often believe in it.
赫尔佐格说，参与动物疗法研究的人往往会相信这一点。
So, their personal opinions may affect the research.
因此，他们的个人观点可能会影响研究。
Herzog also talked about something called the "file drawer" problem.
赫尔佐格还谈到了“文件抽屉”问题。
This is when a researcher does not get the results they want and put the findings into a "file drawer," or a place they do not look often.
这是指研究人员没有得到他们想要的结果，并把这些研究结果放在“文件抽屉”里，即他们不经常查看的地方。
Sometimes, he said, there is a conflict of interest.
他说，有时会有利益冲突。
Many studies on the healthy impacts of pet ownership and animal therapy are paid for by the pet industry.
许多关于养宠物和动物治疗的健康影响的研究都是由宠物行业出资进行的。
However, Herzog said even when those studies find a lack of proof, some in the media still report on the findings in a good way.
然而，赫尔佐格说，即使这些研究发现缺乏证据，一些媒体仍然以一种好的方式报道了这些发现。
Herzog said the media often reports on such studies incorrectly.
赫尔佐格说，媒体经常错误地报道这类研究。
Herzog wrote about one of the best studies on dog therapy.
赫尔佐格就狗治疗的最好的研究之一写了一篇文章。
He explained that the study was carried out at five big American hospitals.
他解释说，这项研究是在美国五家大医院进行的。
It looked at the effects of therapy dogs on children with cancer.
它研究了治疗犬对患癌症儿童的影响。
The study found no clear benefit from the therapy dogs.
这项研究发现，治疗犬并没有明显的益处。
The media, however, reported that the study did find benefits.
然而，媒体报道称，这项研究确实发现了益处。
As a result, people might think animal therapy affects long-term human health more than it does.
因此，人们可能会认为动物疗法对人类长期健康的影响要比它更大。
Herzog has published reports on this subject in the magazine Psychology Today.
赫尔佐格在《今日心理学》杂志上发表了有关这一主题的报告。
Herzog said he is not against the use of animals in therapy.
赫尔佐格说，他并不反对在治疗中使用动物。
He shares a story of his own son, a nurse in a hospital's critical care area.
他分享了自己儿子的故事，他的儿子是一家医院重症监护室的护士。
That hospital also brings in animals to help, not the patients, but the hospital workers.
那家医院也引进了动物来帮忙，但帮的不是患者，而是医院的工作人员。
His son says everyone loves the visits.
他的儿子说，每个人都喜欢这项服务。
However, Herzog thinks differently about the long-term effects of using animals as a medical treatment.
然而，赫尔佐格对使用动物作为一种药物治疗的长期影响有不同的看法。
"It seems to me that if we're going to push dogs, animals as medicine that we should hold them to the same standard as we do drugs."
“在我看来，如果我们要把狗，动物当作药物来使用，我们就应该用与对待药物一样的标准来对待它们。”
For some people, even if there is not proof, the smiles and happy distraction may be enough.
对于一些人来说，即使没有证据，微笑和快乐的消遣可能就足够了。
Last year, when hospitals put COVID-19 restrictions in place, the dog visits at Rady Children's Hospital stopped.
去年，当医院实施新冠疫情限制措施时，拉迪儿童医院停止了狗治疗服务。
They restarted in August 2021.
他们于2021年8月重新启动。
"There was nothing. It was silent. The kids were bored," said Carlos Delgado, a spokesperson for the hospital.
医院发言人卡洛斯·德尔加多说，“什么都没有。里面一片寂静。孩子们感到很无聊。”
"So, thank God," he told Reuters, "We were able to start bringing the program back."
“所以，谢天谢地，”他告诉路透社，“我们能够开始恢复这个项目。”
Delgado added that even a short three-minute visit with a dog makes a difference in the day of a patient.
德尔加多补充说，即使是进行短短三分钟的狗治疗服务也会对患者的一天产生影响。
And that's the Health & Lifestyle report. I'm Anna Matteo.
以上是本期《健康和生活方式报道》节目的全部内容。我是安娜·马特奥。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
