学位英语

Young Female Chimps Outlearn Their Brothers

Young female chimps are faster and better learners than young male chimps, suggests a new study, echoing learning differences seen in human girls and boys.

While young male chimps pass their time playing. Young female chimps carefully study their mothers. As a result, they learn how to fish for tasty termite snacks over two years before the boys.

Elizabeth Lonsdorf, now at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, US, and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul spent four years watching how young chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park in Tanzania learned “cultural behavior”.

The sex differences in learning behavior were “consistent and strikingly apparent”, says the team. The researchers point out that similar differences are seen in human children with regard to skills such as writing. “A sex-based learning differences may therefore date back at least to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.” they write in the journal Nature.

Chimps make flexible tools from vegetation and then insert them into termite mounds, extract them and then munch the termites clinging onto the tool. The researchers used video cameras to record this feeding behavior and found that each chimp mother had her own technique, such as how she used tools of different lengths.

Analysis of the six infants whose ages were known showed that girl chimps were an average of 31 months old when they succeeded in fishing out their termites, where the boy chimps were aged 58 months on average. Females were also more skillful at getting out more termites with every dip and used techniques similar to their mothers while males did not.

Instead of studying their mothers, the boy chimps spent a significantly greater amount of time frolicking around the termite mound. Behaviors such as playing or swinging might help the male infants later in life when typically male activities like hunting or fighting for dominance become important, suggest the researchers.

Lonsdorf adds that there just two main sources of animal protein for chimps — the termites or colobus monkeys. “Mature males often hunt monkeys up trees, but females are almost always either pregnant or burdened with a clinging infant. This makes hunting difficult,” she says .“Adult females spend more time fishing for termites than males.” So becoming proficient at termite fishing could mean adult females eat better, “They can watch their offspring at the same time. The young of both sexes seen to pursue activities related to their adult sex roles{10} at a very young age.”

练习:

1. Why do young female chimps learn faster than young male chimps at fishing for termites? A Because young female chimps don’t play with their brothers. B Because young female chimps begin to study their mothers earlier. C Because young male chimps never learn to fish for termites. D Because young male chimps are not interested in termites.

2. What are the tools with which chimps fish for termites? A Tree branches. B Vegetation. C Fruits. D Grass.

3. Which of the Following is true about chimps fishing for termites according to paragraph 6? A Males often compete with females in fishing for termites. B Males could get out more termites with every dip. C Females could get out more termites with every dip. D Males are good at mastering technique for fishing for termites.

4. How did the researchers explain the fact that boy chimps spent more time on playing? A They like hunting. B They enjoy fighting. C It helps them to stay fit. D It will make them good fighters and hunters in the future.

5. According to the last paragrnph, which of the following is NOT true? A Adult chimps hunt monkeys while young chimps fish for termites. B The main source of animal protein for male chimps is colobus monkeys. C The main source of animal protein for female chimps is termites. D Female chimps fish for termites while watching their children.

答案与题解 :

1. B 根据第二段的内容，雄性小猩猩将时间用来玩要，而雌性小猩猩则研究她们母亲的行为，因此，她们比雄性小猩猩早两年学会捕食白蚁。 A、D文中没有提到， C与问题没有关系。

2. B第五段的第一个句子告诉我们，猩猩用植物作成方便的工具，用来捕食白蚁。 A、C和 D均是错误的。

3. C 该段告诉我们，对六只小猩猩的分析表明，雌性小猩狠不但较早学会捕食白蚁 .而且能比雄性小猩猩更为熟练地捕食到更多的白蚁。所以， B和 D都不是正确选项。 A项内容文中没有提到。

4. D A、B和 C都是错误的，因为文中没有捉到雄性小猩猩喜欢猎食和打斗，也没有提及玩耍能使他们更健康。D是正确答案。第七段昀后一句说，他们喜欢玩耍的行为有助于他们长大后的生活，因为，到那时，他们要猎食和争权夺位。

5. A 根据昀后一段的内容，成年雄猩猩主要猎食生活在树上的一种叫做 colobus(疣猴)的猴子，而雌性猩猩捕食白蚁。所以 A是正确选项。 B、C和 D的内容均可在该段中找到。

译文：

第十篇 年轻雌猩猩学习优于她们的弟兄

一项新的研究显示，与年轻雄性相比，年轻雌黑猩猩是更快更好的学习者，这与人类的两性学习差异相仿。

在小雄猩猩玩乐嬉闹时候，雌猩猩却在悉心向母亲学习。结果她们比“男孩们”提早两年学会捕获美味小吃——白蚁。

美国芝加哥林肯公司动物园的Elizabeth Lonsdorf 和她在圣保罗市明尼苏达大学的同事们用了4年时间观察坦桑尼亚Gombe 自然公园的年轻黑猩猩学习它们的“文化行为”。

学习行为的性别差异是“一贯和惊人显著的”，观察小组报告说。研究人员指出，类似的差别也存在于人类儿童写作等技巧的学习过程。他们在《自然》杂志中写道，“基于性别的学习差异因而可以上溯到人类和黑猩猩最近的共同始祖。”

黑猩猩用植物制造灵巧的工具，将它们插入蚁丘把白蚁驱赶出来，再津津有味地享用粘在工具上的白蚁。研究人员用摄像机记录下这种捕食行为，发现每位猩猩母亲在诸如怎样使用不同长度的工具等方面都有她们自己的诀窍。

分析研究六只已知年龄的幼猩猩显示，雌猩猩在平均31个月大时就能成功捕获白蚁，而雄猩猩则需要到58个月时才能学会。雌性每次都能熟练地收获更多的白蚁，并能采用与母亲相似的技巧，而雄性却做不到。

“男孩们”不向母亲学习，却花费大量时间在蚁丘周围嬉戏。研究人员认为玩耍、摇荡等活动或许对公幼兽后来的诸如捕猎、争夺领导权等典型的雄性活动大有裨益。

Lonsdorf 补充说，黑猩猩食物中动物蛋白的主要来源有两个——白蚁和疣猴。“成熟雄性常在树间抓捕疣猴，而雌性则总是因为怀孕或身上吊着小猩猩而难以捕猎，”她说，“成年雌性比雄性花更多的时间捕食白蚁。”因此娴熟地捕获白蚁意味着雌性比雄性吃得更好，“并且可以同时看护后代。雌雄两性似乎都是在十分年幼的时候就开始了与成年后性别角色有关的活动。”

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