英语听力文摘 English Digest 630 在野外动物会救助其他动物于危难
时间：2018-12-31 作者：英语课 分类：英语听力文摘 English Digest
英语课
Animals Help Others Survive In The Wild
Even without the guidance of organized religion, some animals instinctively 1 know that it’s a good thing to help others.
A Helping 2 Hand
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For example, when a bird spots a predator 3, instead of just flying away, it calls out in alarm and warns everyone in the vicinity.
When a dolphin is injured, other dolphins help it swim up to the surface and get some air.
And in a lab experiment that was set up so that one rat had to sit on a platform or else his rat friends would get an electrical shock when they tried to feed, the rats quickly learned to cooperate and take turns sitting on the platform.
Evolution
You might think that evolution would work against this kind of altruism 4 since, instead of concentrating on their own survival, animals spend time and energy helping others.
But evolutionists suggest that when animals help animals who are their genetic 5 relatives, or who are likely to return the favor later on, they are actually helping their species to survive the process of natural selection.
Some animals will even sacrifice their own lives to insure the survival of the larger group. The worker honeybee, for example, will die defending her hive if necessary.
Selfish Acts
Even acts that seem selfish may end up helping the group in the long run. For instance, when there isn’t enough food to go around, wasps 6 and termites 7 will cannibalize their nest-mates. Gruesome as this may seem, it insures the colony’s survival through tough times.
Although here at A Moment of Science, we don’t condone 8 human cannibalism 9, we still hope that these examples of altruism in animals will give you some food for thought.
adv.本能地
- As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者
- The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
- Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。
n.利他主义，不自私
- An important feature of moral behaviour is altruism.道德行为一个重要特点就是利他主义。
- Altruism is crucial for social cohesion.利他主义对社会的凝聚是至关重要的。
adj.遗传的，遗传学的
- It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
- Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人
- There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
- We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中
n.白蚁( termite的名词复数 )
- Termites are principally tropical in distribution. 白蚁主要分布在热带地区。 来自辞典例句
- This spray will exterminate the termites. 这种喷剂能消灭白蚁。 来自辞典例句
v.宽恕；原谅
- I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
- I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。
n.同类相食；吃人肉
- The war is just like the cannibalism of animals.战争就如同动物之间的互相残。
- They were forced to practise cannibalism in order to survive.他们被迫人吃人以求活下去。