Dr David Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor at Brown University, said that five years of records showed Oscar rarely erring, sometimes proving medical staff at the New England nursing home wrong in their predictions over which patients were close to death.

David Dosa 醫(yī)生是位老年醫(yī)學(xué)專(zhuān)家，也是布朗大學(xué)的助理教授，他說(shuō)根據(jù)五年的記錄，在新英格蘭看護(hù)之家的貓貓奧斯卡很少犯錯(cuò)，有時(shí)候還能證明是醫(yī)護(hù)人員在判定病人是否瀕臨死亡時(shí)犯了錯(cuò)。

The cat, now five and generally unsociable, was adopted as a kitten at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island, which specialises in caring for people with severe dementia.

這只貓今年五歲了，平時(shí)不太愛(ài)和人親近，當(dāng)它還是小貓的時(shí)候就被羅得島這家專(zhuān)門(mén)照顧老年癡呆癥的病人的看護(hù)康復(fù)中心收養(yǎng)了。

Dr Dosa first publicised Oscar's gift in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. Since then, the cat has gone on to double the number of imminent deaths it has sensed and convinced the geriatrician that it is no fluke.

Dosa 第一次公開(kāi)發(fā)表這只貓的天賦是在2007年的《新英格蘭醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》上。從那時(shí)候起，這只貓已經(jīng)把預(yù)知死亡的次數(shù)翻倍了，它向老年醫(yī)學(xué)專(zhuān)家證明了自己不是僥幸的。

The tortoiseshell and white cat spends its days pacing from room to room, rarely spending any time with patients except those with just hours to live.

這只有花紋的白貓通常都會(huì)從一個(gè)房間散步到另一個(gè)房間，很少會(huì)花時(shí)間和病人在一起，除非是那些生命只剩下幾個(gè)小時(shí)了的病人。

If kept outside the room of a dying patient, Oscar will scratch on the door trying to get in.

如果把它關(guān)到一位將死的病人的房間外面，奧斯卡會(huì)一直抓門(mén)想要進(jìn)去。

When nurses once placed the cat on the bed of a patient they thought close to death, Oscar "charged out" and went to sit beside someone in another room. The cat's judgement was better than that of the nurses: the second patient died that evening, while the first lived for two more days.

一次醫(yī)護(hù)人員以為一位病人快要去世了，就把奧斯卡放到這位病人的床上。奧斯卡掙脫了跑去坐在了另一個(gè)房間的一位病人旁邊。這只貓的判斷力比醫(yī)護(hù)人員要好得多：第二位病人當(dāng)天晚上就去世了，第一位病人活了兩天多。

Dr Dosa and other staff are so confident in Oscar's accuracy that they will alert family members when the cat jumps on to a bed and stretches out beside its occupant.

Dosa 醫(yī)生和其他員工對(duì)奧斯卡的準(zhǔn)確率很有信心，只要奧斯卡跳上一位病人的床開(kāi)始伸爪去碰這位病人的時(shí)候，他們就會(huì)通知病人的家屬。

"It's not like he dawdles. He'll slip out for two minutes, grab some kibble and then he's back at the patient's side. It's like he's literally on a vigil," Dr Dosa wrote.

Dosa 醫(yī)生寫(xiě)道，“他不是游手好閑四處亂走的，他會(huì)溜走兩分鐘，找點(diǎn)粗糧什么的然后回來(lái)呆在病人的旁邊，看上去他像在做監(jiān)護(hù)。”

Dr Dosa noted that the nursing home keeps five other cats, but none of the others have ever displayed a similar ability.

Dosa 醫(yī)生注意到這家看護(hù)之家另外還養(yǎng)了五只貓，但是沒(méi)有一只顯示出有和奧斯卡類(lèi)似的能力。

In his book, "Making rounds with Oscar: the extraordinary gift of an ordinary cat", Dr Dosa offers no solid scientific explanation for Oscar's behaviour.

在他《在奧斯卡身邊：一只平凡貓的超凡能力》一書(shū)中，Dosa 醫(yī)生沒(méi)有為奧斯卡的行為提供任何合理的科學(xué)解釋。

He suggests Oscar is able - like dogs, which can reportedly smell cancer - to detect ketones, the distinctly-odoured biochemicals given off by dying cells.

他暗示奧斯卡有能力探測(cè)出正在死亡的細(xì)胞產(chǎn)生的酮——就像報(bào)道過(guò)的那只能聞出癌癥的狗一樣。

Far from recoiling from Oscar's presence, now they know its significance, relatives and friends of patients have been comforted and sometimes praised the cat in newspaper death notices and eulogies, said Dr Dosa.

Dosa 醫(yī)生說(shuō)，就算知道了事情的重要性，病人們的家人和朋友也并沒(méi)有害怕奧斯卡的出現(xiàn)。奧斯卡給他們帶來(lái)了安慰，有時(shí)他們還會(huì)在報(bào)上的訃告和悼詞中表?yè)P(yáng)它。

"People were actually taking great comfort in this idea, that this animal was there and might be there when their loved ones eventually pass. He was there when they couldn't be," he said.

他說(shuō)，“人們認(rèn)為，這只貓?jiān)谒麄儞磹?ài)的人去世的時(shí)候會(huì)陪在這個(gè)人的身邊，或者可能在身邊，這樣的想法會(huì)讓他們很安慰：在自己不能陪在親人身邊的時(shí)候，這只貓?jiān)谂阒！?/div>

滬江小編：由此看來(lái)，奧斯卡應(yīng)該就是豪斯大叔里面那只能預(yù)知老年患者死亡的貓的原型了。根據(jù)豪斯大叔的解釋?zhuān)钦f(shuō)一般老年人到了要撒手人寰的時(shí)候身體都會(huì)特別虛弱，所以醫(yī)護(hù)人員會(huì)給他們用上電熱毯，貓貓的特性之一就是哪里暖和哪里呆著。不過(guò)就本文寫(xiě)出的各種表現(xiàn)來(lái)看，這種解釋還不能說(shuō)明所有的現(xiàn)象。自然界總是有著各種神奇的事情等待著我們?nèi)ヌ剿骱桶l(fā)現(xiàn)。