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你是否问过朋友 “你的零食看起来挺好吃，是从哪买的”？一个研究团队发现，蜘蛛猴其实也会互相分享这种 “内部情报”，告诉同伴哪里能找到最好吃的果树。

Researchers from universities in Edinburgh and Mexico spent seven years studying the behaviour of black-handed spider monkeys in the Yucatan Peninsula. They observed that the large groups the primates live in split into smaller subgroups when searching for food. Different combinations of monkeys would split off each time, meaning the same subgroup might never forage together twice.

来自爱丁堡和墨西哥多所大学的研究人员花了七年时间研究尤卡坦半岛上黑掌蜘蛛猴的行为。他们观察到，这类灵长目动物群居的大群体会在寻找食物时分成一个个小分队。每次分出来的小分队成员都不同，这意味着几乎不会出现原班人马第二次一起觅食的情况。

Dr Matthew Silk from the University of Edinburgh says these groups are a clever way of sharing knowledge about the locations of the best fruit trees. Some parts of the forest were known by many monkeys, like a town's favourite restaurant, while others were known by just one or two, like a hidden gem.

爱丁堡大学的马修·西尔克博士称，这种分组方式很聪明，可以有效地分享最好吃的果树位置。森林里的某些地方就像城里最受欢迎的餐厅，很多猴子都知道；而有些地方则像一个鲜为人知的 “宝藏小店”，只有一两只猴子了解。

词汇表

black-handed 黑色手掌的
peninsula 半岛
observed 观察到
primates 灵长目动物
subgroups 子群，子组
split off 分离
forage 觅食
hidden gem 隐藏的宝石，非常美好但鲜为人知的东西

听力练习

一、听第一遍音频，回答问题。

1. Do spider monkeys work together or individually to find food?

二、用一分钟阅读下列问题，然后听第二遍音频并回答问题。

1. Researchers spent seven months studying black-handed spider monkeys.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given

2. Spider monkeys are usually in large groups.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given

3. Spider monkeys always search for food with the same partners.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given

4. Spider monkeys share their knowledge of the best fruit trees…
a. by talking to each other.
b. by working in different groups.
c. by hiding gems.

三、听第三遍音频，将句子补充完整。（提示：可以反复听，直到听清楚每一个词）

1. Different combinations of monkeys would ______________ time, meaning the same subgroup might never forage together twice.

2. Some parts of the forest were known by many monkeys, like a town's favourite restaurant, while others were known by just one or two, like ______________.

答案

一、听第一遍音频，回答问题。

1. Spider monkeys work in groups to find the best fruit trees.

二、用一分钟阅读下列问题，然后听第二遍音频并回答问题。

1. b. False. Researchers from universities in Edinburgh and Mexico spent seven years studying the behaviour of black-handed spider monkeys in the Yucatan Peninsula.

2. a. True. They observed that the large groups the primates live in split into smaller subgroups when searching for food.

3. b. False. Different combinations of monkeys would split off each time, meaning the same subgroup might never forage together twice.

4. b. Dr Matthew Silk from the University of Edinburgh says these groups are a clever way of sharing knowledge about the locations of the best fruit trees.

三、听第三遍音频，将句子补充完整。（提示：可以反复听，直到听清楚每一个词）

1. Different combinations of monkeys would split off each time, meaning the same subgroup might never forage together twice.

2. Some parts of the forest were known by many monkeys, like a town's favourite restaurant, while others were known by just one or two, like a hidden gem.