Text 1
Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as “all too human”, with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it all too monkey, as well.
The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchin monkeys. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food tardily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males.
Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan's and Dr. de waal's; study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different.
In the world of capuchins grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers) So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the chamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber .Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to reduce resentment in a female capuchin.
The researches suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions, in the wild, they are a co-operative, groupliving species, Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, are not the preserve of people alone, Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems form the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.
21. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by
[A]. posing a contrast.
[B]. justifying an assumption.
[C]. making a comparison.
[D]. explaining a phenomenon.
22. The statement “it is all too monkey” (Last line, paragraph l) implies that
[A]. monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals.
[B]. resenting unfairness is also monkeys' nature.
[C]. monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other.
[D]. no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions.
23. Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research most probably because they are
[A]. more inclined to weigh what they get.
[B]. attentive to researchers' instructions.
[C]. nice in both appearance and temperament.
[D]. more generous than their male companions
24. Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in their study that the monkeys
[A]. prefer grapes to cucumbers.
[B]. can be taught to exchange things.
[C]. will not be co-operative if feeling cheated.
[D]. are unhappy when separated from others.
25. What can we infer from the last paragraph?
[A]. Monkeys can be trained to develop social emotions.
[B]. Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source.
[C]. Animals usually show their feelings openly as humans do.
[D]. Cooperation among monkeys remains stable only in the wild.
重点词汇:
assumption (假定;承担;呈现)是assume的名词形式;见1997年Text 2。.参consumption,2002年Text 3。assumption — the mother of screw-up 臆断——把事情弄糟的根源。underlying assumption 潜在的假定。
grievance /n.委屈,冤情,不平。申诉人提出不满意见交付仲裁者。悲痛,伤心事,不幸,忧伤。因为有冤情而满怀悲痛向申诉人申诉。
tardily adv.缓慢。形容词形式拖拉的。(谐音记忆:他地,工作是他的,所以我可以拖拉)
counterpart (相似或对应的人或物)即counter+part,counter-前缀“对等”,part部分,“对等的部分”。见2000年 Passage 4 。
token n. 表示, 向征, 记号, 代币 adj. 象征的, 表意的。Tears are queer tokens of happiness. 眼泪是快乐的一种奇怪的表示。
reluctant(不愿的,勉强的)即re+luct+ant,re-看作“反复”,luct可看作词根lect“选择”,-ant形容词后缀,人们都不愿反反复复地作选择,所以“反复选择”→不愿的。Suggestion systems can work — don't be reluctant to use them.建议制度是有效的——不要不愿使用它们。见1994 Passage 5 。
indignation n. 愤慨, 义愤。
记忆:in-dig挖(坑)-nation,挖坑藏在里面的民族,能不愤慨吗?比如老萨,呵呵。形容词形式 indignant adj. 愤怒的, 愤慨的。
难句分析:
①Such behaviour is regarded as “all too human”, with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance.
前一分句是句子的主句,其中使用了短语regard…as…的被动形式;with加名词作状语,即“带有潜在的假定”,其中assumption后接有that引导的同位语从句解释说明假定的内容。
翻译:这种行为被看作是“人之长情”,他潜在的假定就是其他动物不可能有这种高度发达的不公平意识。
②when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different.
该句子的主句是their behaviour became markedly different.前面是when引导的时间状语从句,其中包含了so that引导的目的状语从句。
翻译:当两个猴子被安置在隔开但相邻的两个房间里,能够互相看见对方用石头换回来什么东西时,猴子的行为就会变的明显不同。
试题解析:
这篇文章是讲猴子有一种天然的公平意识,文章本身难度不是太大,一开始做了一个类比,讲人的公平意识。然后根据这个类比,文章重点谈猴子们的公平意识。这篇对比性的文章两个方面要理解,第一,人类和猴子之间都有一种近似的表现,当受到不公正待遇的时候,都有义愤填膺的感觉,如果把握这个逻辑,就是类比的逻辑。第二, 最后两段关于选择的实验的对象以及实验的结果。21题,我们应该选择C,考察第一段的写作手法,明显用的是猴和人之间的相似形的比较关系。
22题答案是B,也是在把猴子和人做类比,指出猴子与人一样都抱怨不公平
23题答案选A,这个是事实细节题,答案是根据文章第三段第一句话得到的,雌性的猴子被选择做研究,是因为她们更加注重她们获得的东西。
24题答案选择C,他们最终的发现是什么,篇章最后两段反复重复,如果没有受到公平的话,
25题选择B.这篇文章第一段和最后一段都出现一个词,"假设"为什么猴和人都有这种心理反应,这个问题没有得以解决。
全文翻译:
人人都喜欢大幅加薪,但是当你知道一个同事薪水加得比你还要多的时候,那么加薪带给你的喜悦感就消失的无影无踪了。如果他还以懒散出名的话,你甚至会变得怒不可遏。这种行为被看作是“人之长情”,其潜在的假定其他动物不可能具有如此高度发达的不公平意识。但是由佐治亚州亚特兰大埃里莫大学的Sarah Brosnan 和Frans de Waal进行的一项研究表明,它也是“猴之常情”。这项研究成果刚刚发表在《自然》杂志上。
研究者们对雌性棕色卷尾猴的行为进行了研究。它们看起来很可爱,性格温顺,合作,乐于分享食物。最重要的是,就象女人们一样,它们往往比雄性更关注“商品和服务”价值。这些特性使它们成为Brosnan 和 de Waal理想的研究对象。研究者们花了两年的时间教这些猴子用代币换取食物。正常情况下,猴子很愿意用几块石头换几片黄瓜。但是,当两个猴子被安置在隔开但相邻的两个房间里,能够互相看见对方用石头换回来什么东西时,猴子的行为就会变的明显不同。
在卷尾猴的世界里,葡萄是奢侈品(比黄瓜受欢迎得多)。所以当一只猴子用一个代币换回一颗葡萄时,第二只猴子就不愿意用自己的代币换回一片黄瓜。如果一只猴子根本无需用代币就能够得到一颗葡萄的话,那么另外一只就会将代币掷向研究人员或者扔出房间外,或者拒绝接受那片黄瓜。事实上,只要在另一房间里出现了葡萄(不管有没有猴子吃它),都足以引起雌卷尾猴的怨恨。
研究人员指出,正如人类一样,卷尾猴也受社会情感的影响。在野外,它们是相互合作的群居动物。只有当每只猴子感到自己没有受到欺骗时,这种合作才可能稳定。不公平而引起的愤怒感似乎不是人类的专利。拒绝接受较少的酬劳可以让这些情绪准确无误地传达给其它成员。但是这种公平感是在卷尾猴和人类身上各自独立演化而成,还是来自三千五百万前他们共同的祖先,这还是一个悬而未决的问题。
posted on 2006-08-14 00:07
memory2001 阅读(358)
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