美国科学60秒 SSS 2013-01-03
时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(一)月
英语课
This is Scientific American 60 second Science, I am Sophie Bushwick, Got a minute?
Sharing is one of the hallmarks of human behavior: give me a cookie and I’m more likely to give you one later. But our bonobo cousins have an odd variation on the practice. They share with strangers before friends. The finding is in the journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers tested bonobo sharing in experiments involving fourteen of the apes. All were born in the wild. In the primary experiment, bonobos were placed in a cage with food, and they could choose to admit either a known member of their group, a stranger, or both. In 51 trials, most bonobos shared the feast, but they let the stranger in first.
Why choose an outsider over a friend? In another experiment, the scientists found bonobos only shared when doing so led to a social interaction. Giving up some food to strangers lets these apes expand their social network. This behavior may have evolved to promote social tolerance 1, in contrast with chimps 2' sometimes deadly aggression 3 against strangers. Which means that even when food is offered, there's still no such thing as a free lunch.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific Americans 60 second Science, I am Sophie Bushwick.
Vocabulary.
Hallmarks:
n. 特点;品质证明
vt. 给…盖上品质证明印记;使具有…标志
1 tolerance
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差
- Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
- Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。
2 chimps
(非洲)黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )
- Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少,也太接近于人类,不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
- And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类,就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
3 aggression
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害
- So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结,就不必惧怕外来侵略。
- Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。