陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Chimpanzee)

Chimpanzee

The most striking singlefact about chimpanzees is the flexibility of their

social life, the lack ofany rigid form of organization. It represents

about as far a departurefrom the baboon type of organization  asone can

find among   the higher primates, and serves to  emphasize the  great

variety of primateadaptations. Chimpanzees are more human           thanbaboons, or

rather they jibe betterwith  the way we like to  picture ourselves, as

free-wheeling individuals   who tend to  be unpredictable, do not take

readily to any form ofregimentation,  and  are frequently  charming.

(Charm is relatively rareamong baboons.) Two researchers have described

what they found duringmore than eight months spent among chimpanzees in

their    natural habitat the forest:"We werequite surprised to observe that

there is no singledistinct social unit in    chimpanzeesociety. Not only is

there no 'family' or'harem' organization; neither is there a 'troop'        

organization - that is tosay, no  particular chimpanzees keep  permanently

together. On the  contrary, individuals   move about at will, alone or in

small groups bestdescribed as bands, which sometimes form into large

aggregations.

They leave theirassociates if they want to, and join up with new ones

without conflict. "The general  practice  is  best   described  as "easy

come, easy   go",   although there  are  certain group-forming    

tendencies. As a rulechimpanzees move about in one of four types of band:

adult males only; mothersand offspring and occasionally a few other

females; adults andadolescents of both sexes, but no mothers with young

and     representatives of all categories mixedtogether. The  composition  of  

bands  may change  a  number of  times  during the    course  of a  day

as individuals wander off and groups split orcombine with other groups.

On the other hand,certain individuals prefer one another's company. One of

the researchers observedthat four males often roamed together    over  a

four-month  period, and  mothers  often associated  with  their older

offsprings.

黑猩猩

黑猩猩最突出的一個特徵是它們社會生活的靈活性，即缺乏固定的組織形式。  它的這 一特徵與狒狒的那種組織形態間的差別，在靈長動物中最為突出。

由此可見靈長類動物中 適應性變化的多樣性。  黑猩猩比狒狒更接近人類，或者說它與我們心願的自我形象更為接

近：自由自在，不落窠臼，不喜歡任何形式的約束並且往往魅力十足(在狒狒中魅力比較罕 見)。 通過在黑猩猩的自然棲息地森林中對它們進行了 8

個月的觀察，兩名研究人員得出這

樣結論："我們注意到在黑猩猩的社會中似乎沒有任何一種獨立的社會基本單位，這一點令 我們很吃驚。  

它們不僅沒有'家庭'或'妻妾'組織，也沒有'團隊'組織，也就是說黑猩猩沒有固 定地生活在一起。  

相反，每只黑猩猩隨意流動，或是獨自一人，或是作為最好稱之為團夥 的一員。 團夥有時會與其它團夥合併成大的聚合體。 它們可以隨意離開同伴，並與其它黑

猩猩組成新的團夥而不會產生任何糾紛。"把黑猩猩這一總的特性稱之為"來得容易去得快" 是最恰當不過了。  但它們也有一定的群體傾向性。  

通常，黑猩猩群的構成有以下 4 種：僅 有成年雄性； 母猩猩及其子女而且偶爾有幾隻其它的雌性猩猩； 雄性和雌性的成年和未成

年黑猩猩但不包括有子女的雌性黑猩猩； 以及各種類型混雜在一起。 一天之中一個團夥的

組成可能變化好幾次，因為有的成員可能離開，而且群體可能會與其它群體合併。  另一方 面，有些黑猩猩有自己喜歡的夥伴。  

一名研究人員發現四隻雄性黑猩猩在 4 個月中常常共 同遊蕩，還有母親們常與她們較年長的子女們在一起。