GRE阅读题目解析:鲸和海豚的学习能力

　　P24

　　Some researchers claim that cetaceans—whales and dolphins—have culture, which the researchers define as the ability to learn from one another. Skeptics, however, demand clear evidence that cetaceans can acquire new behaviors through some form of social learning, preferably clear-cut instances of imitation or teaching. But such evidence is difficult to obtain. While few people doubt that captive cetaceans are adept at imitation or that they reproduce behaviors taught by researchers, biologists seeking insight into cetaceans’ behavior in their natural habitats must rely on deduction rather than experiments. If members of a particular group share behaviors that do not result from genetic inheritance or environmental variation, then they have almost certainly learned them by watching, following, or listening to other animals.

　　1. Which of the following best describe the function of the highlighted sentence?

　　A. It identifies a factor that complicates biologists’ ability to draw conclusions about the behavior of cetaceans in their natural environments.

　　B. It illustrates the kind of deduction mentioned in the preceding sentence.

　　C. It explains why skeptics have remained unpersuaded by evidence that has been put forward in support of the claim that cetaceans have culture.

　　D. It introduces a claim that would be dismissed by both supporters and opponents of the view that cetaceans have culture.

　　E. It notes a previously overlooked factor that might shed light on the question of whether cetaceans have culture.

　　2. The passage suggests which of the following about captive cetaceans?

　　A. Whether they are engaged in social learning is a subject of disagreement among biologists.

　　B. Their ability to imitate new behaviors is more extensive than that of noncaptive cetaceans.

　　C. They exhibit few behaviors that have not also been observed in cetaceans in their natural habitats.

　　D. They appear to adopt new behaviors more quickly than noncaptive cetaceans.

　　E. They exhibit tendencies that suggest a capacity for the kind of behavior that qualifies as cultural.

　　P24

　　1

　　Some researchers claim that cetaceans — whales and dolphins — have culture, which the researchers define as the ability to learn from one another.

　　一些研究者认为鲸目动物 —— 鲸和海豚 —— 拥有文化，研究者把它定义为互相学习的能力。

　　【si-'tā-shən】

　　2

　　Skeptics, however, demand clear evidence that cetaceans can acquire new behaviors through some form of social learning, preferably clear-cut instances of imitation or teaching.

　　然而对此持怀疑态度的人，要求给出鲸目动物可以通过某种社交学习的形式，习得新行为的确定证据，最好是清晰无误的模仿或教学的例子。

　　3

　　But such evidence is difficult to obtain.

　　但这种证据不易获得。

　　4

　　While few people doubt that captive cetaceans are adept at imitation or that they reproduce behaviors taught by researchers, biologists seeking insight into cetaceans’ behavior in their natural habitats must rely on deduction rather than experiments.

　　尽管没什么人怀疑，被圈养的鲸目动物擅长模仿，或者说它们复制研究者教给它们的行为，但想要理解自然栖息地的鲸目动物的行为，生物学家必须依赖推演，而不是实验。

　　5

　　If members of a particular group share behaviors that do not result from genetic inheritance or environmental variation, then they have almost certainly learned them by watching, following, or listening to other animals.

　　如果某个群体的成员都具有一些，并非来自于基因遗传或环境改变(造成)的行为，那么几乎可以确定它们是通过观察，跟随或听从其他动物而习得的。

　　1. Which of the following best describe the function of the highlighted sentence?

　　A. It identifies a factor that complicates biologists’ ability to draw conclusions about the behavior of cetaceans in their natural environments.

　　B. It illustrates the kind of deduction mentioned in the preceding sentence.

　　C. It explains why skeptics have remained unpersuaded by evidence that has been put forward in support of the claim that cetaceans have culture.

　　D. It introduces a claim that would be dismissed by both supporters and opponents of the view that cetaceans have culture.

　　E. It notes a previously overlooked factor that might shed light on the question of whether cetaceans have culture.

　　选 B

　　举例说明前一句话中提到的 deduction 。

　　2. The passage suggests which of the following about captive cetaceans?

　　A. Whether they are engaged in social learning is a subject of disagreement among biologists.

　　B. Their ability to imitate new behaviors is more extensive than that of noncaptive cetaceans.

　　C. They exhibit few behaviors that have not also been observed in cetaceans in their natural habitats.

　　D. They appear to adopt new behaviors more quickly than noncaptive cetaceans.

　　E. They exhibit tendencies that suggest a capacity for the kind of behavior that qualifies as cultural.

　　选 E

　　难题，一起看。

　　A

　　强干扰项。关于鲸目动物是否能够社交学习，生物学家意见不同。单看这句话，无比对。但请注意题目问的是 CAPTIVE cetaceans 而不是单纯的 cetaceans，加了 captive 这个限定成分，这句话仍然对，但不如 E 更优。

　　B

　　干扰项。被圈养的鲸目动物模仿新行为的能力，范围比野生的更广。这是一个难以证实的结论，被圈养的海豚的确有非常强的模仿能力，能够遵照人类的指令做很多事，但野生的海豚，你甚至难以确定它有没有模仿能力，它不模仿你很可能只是因为它觉得你傻，不想模仿你，而并非不具备模仿的能力，可你一旦把它抓起来逼它模仿，逼它展示能力，就使它失去了野生动物的设定。陷阱啊同学们。

　　C

　　错在 few 。我觉得任何一个看过海豚表演(哪怕是视频里看过)的人，都知道它们可以学习一些在栖息地野生条件下所不具备的行为，比如我敢打赌野生海豚不会跳出水面钻一个火圈，野生环境里根本就没有火圈给它钻。

　　D

　　错在 more quickly，难以证实，同 B 。

　　E

　　它们展现出一些可能，即具备可以被认为形成某种文化的行为的学习能力。

　　翻译成中文，就不太像人话，我再意译一下。

　　有些生物学家认为鲸目动物可以被认为形成了文化，即它们有通过社交活动，习得新行为的能力。另外一些生物学家说你拿出证据来，谁跟谁学了，学了啥，咋学的，无视频无真相，前者拿不出。

　　接着作者说，这种证据不好找。(因为就算你找到了一个个例，A 跟 B 学了，你也只能证明 A 和 B 之间存在某种形成了文化的可能，而不是整个鲸目动物都形成了学习的文化。)所以作者说，要支持这个结论，需要依赖推演 deduction 而不是实验 experiments 。然后作者还例举了一种 deduction，即句 5 。

　　现在我们理一理线索：

　　1 鲸目动物有模仿人或者说听从人类指令的能力和行为?有。

　　2 鲸目动物互相之间有没有(非基因或环境因素导致)学习行为?没观察到。

　　尽管 2 尚未被证明，但 1 的成立，让有些科学家怀疑，它们已经产生了学习的文化。而让 1 成立的，正是那些 captive cetaceans 。所以说：They exhibit tendencies that suggest a capacity for the kind of behavior that qualifies as cultural.

　　所以选 E。

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