Unit 5 Animal World新编大学英语第二版第一册课文翻译.pdfVIP

Unit5AnimalWorld

DoAnimalsHaveACulture?

byJohnFried

[1]Lately,socialscientistshavebeguntoaskifcultureisfoundjustinhumans,orif

someanimalshaveaculturetoo.Whenwespeakofculture,wemeanawayoflifeagroup

ofpeoplehaveincommon.Cultureincludesthebeliefsandattitudeswelearn.Itisthe

patternsofbehaviorthathelppeopletolivetogether.Itisalsothepatternsofbehavior

thatmakeonegroupdifferentfromanothergroup.

[2]Ourcultureletsusmakeupforhavinglostourstrength,claws,longteeth,and

otherdefenses.Instead,weusetools,cooperatewithoneanother,andcommunicatewith

language.Buttheseaspectsofhumanbehavior,or“culture”,canalsobefoundinthelives

ofcertainanimals.

[3]Weusedtothinkthattheabilitytousetoolswasthedividinglinebetween

humanbeingsandotheranimals.Lately,however,wehavefoundthatthisisnotthecase.

Chimpanzeescannotonlyusetoolsbutactuallymaketoolsthemselves.Thisisamajor

stepupfromsimplypickingupahandyobjectandusingit.Forexample,chimpanzees

havebeenseenstrippingtheleavesoffabranch,thenputtingitintoatermitenest.When

thetermitesbiteatthestick,thechimpanzeeremovesitandeatsthemofftheend—like

ouruseofafork.

[4]Forsometimewethoughtthatalthoughhumanbeingslearnedtheirculture,

animalscouldnotbetaughtsuchbehavior.Oreveniftheycouldlearn,theywouldnot

teachoneanotherinthewayhumansdo.This,too,hasproventobeuntrue.Agroupof

JapanesemonkeyswasstudiedattheKyotoUniversityMonkeyCenterinJapan.They

weregivensweetpotatoesbyscientistswhowantedtoattractthemtotheshoreofan

island.Onedayayoungfemalebeganto