2014考研英語閱讀理解試題及名師解析(23)_跨考網(wǎng)

　　Everybody loves afat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleaguehas been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, youmight even be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as “all toohuman”，with the underlying assumption that other animals would not becapable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by SarahBrosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which hasjust been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well。

　　The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchinmonkeys. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-cooperative creatures, andthey share their food readily. Above all, like their female human counterparts,they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “good andservices” than males。

　　Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan’s and Dr. deWaal’s study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys toexchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchangepieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed inseparate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other wasgetting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different。

　　In the world of capuchins, grapes are luxury goods (and muchpreferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange forher token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber.And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange atall, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of thechamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber. Indeed, the mere presenceof a grape in the other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enoughto induce resentment in a female capuchin。

　　The researchers suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, areguided by social emotions. In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-livingspecies. Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feelsit is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, are notthe preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes thesefeelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether sucha sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whetherit stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago,is, as yet, an unanswered question。

　　21. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by

　　[A] posing a contrast。

　　[B] justifying an assumption。

　　[C]making a comparison。

　　[D]explaining a phenomenon。

　　22. The statement “it is all too monkey” (Paragraph 1) implies that

　　[A] monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals。

　　[B] resenting unfairness is also monkeys’ nature。

　　[C]monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other。

　　[D] no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions。

　　23. Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research mostprobably because they are

　　[A]more inclined to weigh what they get。

　　[B]attentive to researchers’ instructions。

　　[C]nice in both appearance and temperament。

　　[D]more generous than their male companions。

　　24. Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in theirstudy that the monkeys

　　[A]prefer grapes to cucumbers。

　　[B]can be taught to exchange things。

　　[C]will not be co-operative if feeling cheated。

　　[D]are unhappy when separated from others。

　　25. When can we infer from the last paragraph?

　　[A]Monkeys can be trained to develop social emotions。

　　[B]Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source。

　　[C]Animals usually show their feelings openly as human do。

　　[D]Cooperation among monkeys remains stable only in the wild。