11月30日

Monkey Lends a Helping Hand

Paralyzed Florida woman gets assistance from a six-pound monkey

Helping hands

Brown directs Tracey by pointing a laser light at an object and using simple commands. If Brown aims the laser light at the TV remote and says "fetch clicker," Tracey will pick it up off the floor and hand it to Brown.

    "Do sun" tells Tracey to flip on a light switch. "Open" means go into the refrigerator, and "push" is for switching on a CD player.

    "She can pick up the portable (phone) and hand it to me, or she will give me the headset. Or she can turn on the speakerphone," said Brown.

Monkey training

Monkeys like Tracey initially spend six or seven years in foster homes, where they learn how to interact with people, to fetch, be diapered and take baths, said Megan Keppeler, director of placements for Helping Hands. Then they attend the "Monkey College" in Boston, where they are trained to imitate their trainers, Keppeler said. School can last 18 to 24 months.

Choosing the right recipient

Couple that with breeding and placement and each monkey costs the nonprofit agency about $33,000, she said. Brown pays for Tracey's food, medicine and diapers, about $3,500 a year, and will keep Tracey as long as she needs her. If Brown's needs change, Tracey will be placed with another patient, Keppeler said.

    When a monkey is matched to a recipient, a trainer spends about eight days at the recipient's home, teaching that person how to work with and care for the monkey, Keppeler said. Afterwards, the patient and trainer remain in telephone contact.

    "What we look for in our recipients are people who say there is more out there than this and I want to do everything I can," Keppeler said. "Linda is amazing, such a good person with such a great attitude, always positive. What keeps her going is the monkey."

Specialized Terms

Laser light (n) 激光笔 a pen-shaped device that produces a narrow beam of bright red light that appears as a red dot on any surface at which it is aimed

Foster home (n) 寄养家庭 a household in which care and training are provided

Vocabulary Focus

Clicker (n) a device used to control a machine from a distance

Handset (n) 电话听筒

Imitate (v) to copy the actions or behavior of someone

Recipient (n) a person who receives something

Couple (v) to combine or link together

Discussion Question

Here is a video clip about how monkey helpers work. It’s amazing, I think.

Extra Exercise

1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘What we look for in our recipients are people who say there is more out there than this and I want to do everything I can’

2. According to the recording, why is ‘clicker’ called ‘clicker’?

说明：

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