• 第14篇

A few years ago, at the height of the dotcom boom, it was widely assumed that a publishing revolution, in which the printed word would be supplanted by the computer screen, was just around the corner. It wasn't: for many, there is still little to match the joy of cracking the spine of a good book and settling down for an hour or two of reading. But a recent flurry of activity by big technology companies-including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo!-suggests that the dream of bringing books online is still very much alive.

The digitising of thousands of volumes of print is not without controversy. On Thursday November 3rd, Google, the world's most popular search engine, posted a first instalment of books on Google Print, an initiative first mooted a year ago. This collaborative effort between Google and several of the world's leading research libraries aims to make many thousands of books available to be searched and read online free of charge. Although the books included so far are not covered by copyright, the plan has attracted the ire of publishers.

Five large book firms are suing Google for violating copyright on material that it has scanned and, although out of print, is still protected by law. Google has said that it will only publish short extracts from material under copyright unless given express permission to publish more, but publishers are unconvinced. Ironically, many publishers are collaborating with Google on a separate venture, Google Print Publisher, which aims to give readers an online taste of books that are commercially available. The searchable collection of extracts and book information is intended to tempt readers to buy the complete books online or in print form.

Not to be outdone, Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, has unveiled plans for its own foray into the mass e-book market. The firm, which began ten years ago as an online book retailer, now sells a vast array of goods. No doubt piqued that Google, a relative newcomer, should impinge upon its central territory, Amazon revealed on Thursday that it would introduce two new services. Amazon Pages will allow customers to search for key terms in selected books and then buy and read online whatever part they wish, from individual pages to chapters or complete works. Amazon Upgrade will give customers online access to books they have already purchased as hard copies. Customers are likely to have to pay around five cents a page, with the bulk going to the publisher.

Microsoft, too, has joined the online-book bandwagon. At the end of October, the software giant said it would spend around $200m to digitise texts, starting with 150,000 that are in the public domain, to avoid legal problems. It will do so in collaboration with the Open Content Alliance, a consortium of libraries and universities. (Yahoo! has pledged to make 18,000 books available online in conjunction with the same organisation.) And on Thursday, coincidentally the same day as Google and Amazon announced their initiatives, Microsoft released details of a deal with the British Library, the country's main reference library, to digitise some 25m pages; these will be made available through MSN Book Search, which will be launched next year.

注（1）：本文选自Economist, 11/04/2005

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 1。

1． What is attitude towards online books by big technology companies?

[A] Reserved

[B] Proud

[C] Confident

[D] Indifferent

2． Which of the following is NOT an online book service?

[A] Yahoo Library

[B] MSN Book Search

[C] Google Print

[D] Amazon Pages

3． The expression "just around the corner" (Line 2, Paragraph 1) means that _______.

[A] Something is very close.

[B] There is something in the corner.

[C] Something is impossible to happen.

[D] Something is going to happen soon.

4． What is the publishers' attitude towards the service of onlin book?

[A] Apprehansive

[B] Ambivalent

[C] Respectful

[D] Indifferent

5． What is the weak point of online book service?

[A] It is not easy to use the service to search books.

[B] Users need to pay for reading all book contents.

[C] It cannot provide books of copyright for free.

[D] The books online are not of good quality.

篇章剖析

本文是一篇说明文，主要讨论了当今各大网络技术公司纷纷推出在线图书服务的计划和行动。第一段简单回顾了曾经一度非常流行的一个理念--"印刷革命"，从而引出话题。第二段介绍了Google的在线图书计划；第三段则描写了图书出版上对于在线图书服务的各种矛盾的态度；第四段介绍了亚马逊公司的在线图书计划；而第五段则介绍了微软在同一领域的行动。

词汇注释

supplant [sE`plB:nt] v. 取代，代替 unveil [Qn`veil] vi. 显露, 除去面纱

crack [krAk] v. (使)破裂, 裂纹, (使)爆裂 foray [`fCrei] n. 袭击

spine [spain] n. 脊骨, 书脊 mass [mAs] n. 大众

flurry [`flQri] n. 一阵风，一阵 array [E`rei] n. 排列, 大批

instalment [in`stC:lmEnt] n. 连载；连续剧 pique [pi:k] vt. 伤害...自尊心, 使...生气

initiative [i`niFiEtiv] n. 提议，提案 impinge [im`pindV] v. 侵害；侵入

moot [mu:t] vt. 提出...供讨论 bulk [bQlk] n. 大批, 大多数

sue [sju:] v. 提出诉讼, 提出请求 bandwagon [`bAnd9wAgEn] n. 乐队花车, 流行

violate [`vaiEleit] vt. 违犯, 侵犯 consortium [kEn`sC:tjEm] n. 社团, 协会, 联盟

extract [iks`trAkt] n. 摘录, 选粹 conjunction [kEn`dVQNkFEn] n. 联合, 关联

tempt [tempt] vt. 诱惑, 引诱, 吸引 coincidental [kEuinsiEdentl] adj. 一致的, 巧合的

outdo [aut`du:] v. 胜过

难句突破

At the end of October, the software giant said it would spend around $200m to digitise texts, starting with 150,000 that are in the public domain, to avoid legal problems.

主体句式 The software giant said ...

结构分析 这个句子看似复杂，其实结构非常简单。said的后面是微软的声明内容，逗号后面starting 引导的这个短语是用来补充说明微软的计划，而下一个逗号to引导的不定式则是用来补充说明前面的这个短语。

句子译文 10月下旬，这个软件业巨头称将斥资2亿美元用于书籍电子化，首期项目包括15万本属于公共领域的书籍，以避免法律纠纷。

题目分析

1．C. 态度题。文章第一段最后一句话谈到印刷革命的梦想依然充满了活力，而且全文都在谈论各大网络技术公司争先恐后地推出了在线书籍的服务，可见他们的态度还是非常乐观的。

2．A. 细节题。文章各段依次介绍了Google、亚马逊和微软的在线图书服务，但是没有介绍雅虎。

3．D. 语义题。根据该短语所在的上下文意思，可以推出意为印刷革命"很快就要发生"，因此答案为D。

4．B. 态度题。文章第三段中提到，一些图书出版公司反对在线图书的服务，认为该服务侵犯了图书版权。而同时另一些出版商却开始与Google等网络技术公司合作来提供再现图书的服务。这说明出版们对于这个问题的看法也是非常矛盾、摇摆不定的。

5．C. 细节题。纵观全文，各个段落中多次提到这些网络公司为了防止侵犯版权，都只免费提供那些已经不再受版权限制的公共书籍，这说明版权是一个很大的限制问题。因此答案为C。其中B选项错误的原因是在文章第二段中，Google的在线图书服务中读者能够免费下载到一些书的全部内容。D选项错误的原因是，例如在最后一段，微软与大英图书馆联合推出了在线图书服务，这说明这些书籍的质量应该是上佳的。

参考译文

在几年前信息泡沫时代的高潮中，人们普遍认为一场由电脑屏幕代替传统印刷的出版革命即将掀起。但这并没有发生：打开一本好书噼啪地敲书脊、并且专心致志的花一两个小时来看书，这种乐趣是电脑无法相提并论。但最近这些大技术公司－包括Google, Amazon, 微软和雅虎－却表示将书籍带入到互联网的梦想依然充满了活力。

将数以千计的印刷版书籍电子化并不是毫无争议。11月3日星期四的时候，经过了一年的筹划准备，业界最受欢迎的搜索引擎Google在其Google Print上发布了首期书目。Google和几个全球领先的研究性图书馆共同合作，意在使读者能够在互联网上搜索到大量的书籍并且能够免费阅读。虽然目前这相关些书籍不在版权保护的范围内，但该计划依然引起了许多出版商的愤怒。

五大图书出版公司正在控告Google因扫描一些读物而侵犯了版权，尽管这些书籍已停止印刷，但它们仍受到法律的保护。Google声称对于那些受到版权保护书籍只会发布简短的摘录，在取得出版商明确的许可之前不会发布更多的信息，但这并没有说服出版商。有意思的是，现在很多出版商都与Google的一个分公司Google Print Publisher合作，目的在于为用户提供有偿的网上阅读服务。这些可以搜索到的书目摘要和部分信息意在吸引读者购买在线书籍的完整版本或是印刷版。

为了保持领先地位，世界上最大的网上零售商亚马逊（Amazon）已经计划将要进军大众电子书籍市场。这个10年之前诞生的在线书籍零售目前销售的产品种类极其广泛。毫无疑问，由于Google这个后来者进军亚马逊的中心地带，亚马逊不甘落后、于是在星期四宣布将提供两项新的服务。Amazon Pages允许用户在选定的书籍中用关键字进行查询，然后用户还可以选择购买或是在线阅读书中的任何一部分，包括几页内容、几个章节甚至是整本书。Amazon Upgrade 在用户购买印刷版书籍后为其提供该书的电子版。用户可能需要支付每页5美分的费用，这将为出版商带来巨大的收益。

微软也加入了这场在线书籍的流行趋势。10月下旬，这个软件业巨头称将斥资2亿美元用于书籍电子化，首期项目包括15万本属于公共领域的书籍，以避免法律纠纷。微软的合作伙伴是Open Content Aliance，一个由许多大学和图书馆组成的联盟（雅虎也已宣称与这个联盟合作发布了18000册在线书籍）。巧合的是，在Google和亚马逊发布其新计划的同一天，即星期四，微软公布了与英国主要参考书图书馆大英博物馆的详细合作计划。该计划将电子化2500万页相关书籍，到明年用户就可以通过MSN Book Search使用这项服务。

• 第15篇

Usually alternating current (AC) transmission suffers lower losses than direct current (DC), and thus, AC became the industry standard. Some people, however, question that standard because over long distances high-voltage DC lines suffer lower losses than AC. Not only does that make them better in their own right, but employing them would allow electricity grids to be restructured in ways that would make wind power more attractive. That would reduce the need for new conventional (and polluting) power stations.

Wind power has some problems. You don't always get it where you want it and you don't always get it when you want it. The question of where the wind is blowing would no longer matter because it is almost always blowing somewhere. If it were windy in Spain but not in Ireland, current would flow in one direction. Dealing with when the wind blows is a subtler issue. For instance, an important part of Dr Schmid's continental grid is the branch to Norway. It is not that Norway is a huge consumer. Rather, the country is well supplied with hydroelectric plants. These are one of the few ways that energy from transient sources like the wind can be stored in grid-filling quantities. The power is used to pump water up into the reservoirs that feed the hydroelectric turbines. That way it is on tap when needed. The capacity of Norway's reservoirs is so large, according to Dr Schmid, that should the wind drop all over Europe-which does happen on rare occasions-the hydro plants could spring into action and fill in the gap for up to four weeks.

Put like this, a Europe-wide grid seems an obvious idea. That it has not yet been built is because AC power lines would lose too much power over such large distances. Hence the renewed interest in DC. Dr Schmid calculates that a DC grid of the sort he envisages would allow wind to supply at least 30% of the power needed in Europe. Moreover, it could do so reliably-and that means wind power could be used for what is known in the jargon as base-load power supply.

Though wind power has its opponents, too, its environmental virtues might be enough to swing things in its favour if it were also reliable. Indeed, a group of Norwegian companies have already started building high-voltage DC lines between Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany, though these are intended as much to sell the country's power as to accumulate other people's. And Airtricity-an Irish wind-power company-plans even more of them. It proposes what it calls a Supergrid. This would link offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish, North and Baltic seas with customers throughout northern Europe.

注（1）：本文选自Economist, 07/28/2007

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 3。

1． By saying "make them better in their own right" (Line 3-4, Paragraph 1), the author means _______.

[A] realize the right of DC

[B] make DC suffer lower losses

[C] make DC more useful than AC

[D] make better use of DC to transfer power

2． By "current would flow in one direction" (Line 4, Paragraph 1), the author is actually referring to _______.

[A] current flows from Spain to Ireland

[B] current flows from Ireland to Spain

[C] current flows from Ireland to other places

[D] current flows from Spain to other places

3． How will consumers think of a DC electricity grid?

[A] Useless

[B] Feasible

[C] Troublesome

[D] Comfortable

4． Why does Dr Schmid's continental grid locate in Norway?

[A] To make use of the country's capacity of reservoirs

[B] To make use of the country's rich wind power.

[C] It is simply Dr Schmid's personal preference.

[D] Because traditional power plants in Norway cannot meet cosumers' demand.

5． Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

[A] Wind power has won universal support.

[B] Companies hesitate to invest in wind power.

[C] The prospect of wind power so far seems very positive.

[D] Wind farms on oceans can supply power demand of the whole Europe in the future.

篇章剖析

本文是一篇科技说明文，主要说明了风能发电的优势和可行性。第一段通过比较说明直流电和交流点来引出风能发电的话题；第二段分析了风能发电存在的一些限制及其解决办法；第三段和第四段则说明了在欧洲建设新型电网的前景。

词汇注释

alternating current 交流电 turbine [`tE:bin] n. 涡轮

direct current 直流电 envisage [in`vizidV] v. 正视

voltage [`vEJltidV] n. 电压, 伏特数 jargon [`dVB:gEn] n. 行话

electricity grid 电网 Scandinavia[9skAndi`neivjE]斯堪的纳维亚(半岛)

subtle [`sQtl] adj. 微妙的, 精细 offshore [`CfFC:] adj. 向海面吹的, 离岸的

难句突破

Not only does that make them better in their own right, but employing them would allow electricity grids to be restructured in ways that would make wind power more attractive.

主体句式 Not only does that make them better, but employing them would allow electricity grids to...

结构分析 这个句子是一个相对比较复杂的not only, but also 结构。前半句中的not only 后面跟的句子按照语法规律需要倒装，后半句but also 结构中省略了also这个词，这也语法上也是允许的，且后半句的主句是一个现在分词结构，后面的in ways之后跟的是一个定语从句。

句子译文 这不仅能有利于电流的传送，而且通过使用高压直流电缆，人们可以对电网进行改造，从而更加有利于风能发电。

题目分析

1．D. 语义题。根据文章第一段，由于高压直流电缆损失的电量比交流电缆少，因此通过这个方法能够更加充分地利用直流电来传输电能，因此答案为D。

2．A. 语义题。文章第二段指出风在什么地方吹不是一个大的问题，因此如果西班牙有风而爱尔兰没有风，那么只要把电流从西班牙往爱尔兰方向传送就可以了。

3．B. 推理题。文章第三段指出，建设直流电电网可以节约在传输过程中浪费的电能，因此对于消费者来说这一方案是切实可行的。

4．A. 推理题。文章第二段后半部分描述了史密德博士设计的大陆电网，其中指出选择挪威的原因不是因为这个国家缺乏足够的电能，而是这里有足够多的水库可以用来储存电能。

5．C. 细节题。各个题支的细节均可以在文章最后一段中找到对应信息。其中提到了欧洲多家能源公司已经在计划建设传输风能的直流电缆，充分说明了风能利用的前景非常好。

参考译文

一般来说，交流电传输比直流电传输损失的电量要少，因此，交流电成为了工业上的标准。但是一些人却在质疑这个标准，因为从远距离传输来看，高压直流电缆损失的电量比交流电缆少。这不仅能有利于电流的传送，而且通过使用高压直流电缆，人们可以对电网进行改造，从而更加有利于风能发电。如此一来，对于新建更多传统（也是污染的）发电站的需求就会减少。

风能发电存在一些问题。风能不是随处都在、也非随时可得。但是现在风向问题现在已经得到解决，因为风总是在向着某个方向吹。如果现在西班牙多风而爱尔兰却无风，那么电流就会朝一个方向传送。但是，风在什么时候吹则是一个更加微妙的问题。比如说，史密德博士设计的大陆电网的重要一部分就位于挪威。但这并不是因为挪威消费很多的电能。相反，原因是这个国家到处都是水电站。利用水电站是可以把如风能等稍纵即逝的资源大量储存起来的方式之一。通过使用这些风能，人们可以把水往上抽到水库中推动水电涡轮。水电站以这个方式就可以随时把水抽上来。史密德博士认为挪威水库容量如此之大，以至于如果欧洲所有的地方都不刮风了-这种现象确实偶尔会发生-挪威的水电站仍然可以继续运转并供应整个欧洲的用电量达四周之久。

如果情况真是这样的话，那么建设一个跨欧洲的电网是势在必行的了。此前没有进行该项目建设是因为交流电缆在进行如此远距离传输的时候会损失大量的电能。而现在人们开始在思考用直流电缆来实现这一设想。史密德博士估计，他设想的这种直流电缆能够使风能满足全欧洲至少30%的用电需求。此外，这样做也非常可靠-这意味着从术语上说，风能可以被称为是基本负荷型电能供应。

尽管对于风力发电也有反对者，但是如果风能可靠的话，那么其清洁环保的特点足以赢得广泛的支持。实际上，一些挪威的公司已经开始在斯堪的纳维亚、荷兰和德国之间建设高压直流电缆，尽管他们的目的在于通过销售本国的能源来赚钱。此外，一家爱尔兰风能公司Airtricity则计划比挪威的公司们做的更多。该公司提出了一个所谓的超级电网的概念，该电网能够将大西洋、爱尔兰海、北海和波罗的海上的风能电厂与整个北欧的消费者们连接起来。

• 第16篇

In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physicallyincapable of speech.

They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.

Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.

The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions ("silent bared teeth", "relaxed open mouth", "pant hoot" and so on) almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures ("hard touch", "reach outside", "slap ground" etc) did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.

It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other.

注（1）：本文选自Economist, 03/03/2007

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2002年真题Text 4。

1． From the first paragraph, we learn that _______.

[A] chimpanzees have no sense of language at all.

[B] the Gardners found a new idea to develop the chimpanzee experiment.

[C] previous experiments failed because they didn't have clever cimpanzees.

[D] chimpanzees can use gestures like blind people

2． Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

[A] Washoes failed to use signs and gestures.

[B] The vocabulary Washoe learnt is not similar to human language.

[C] The Washoe experiment has enlighted further research.

[D] The Gardners found that Washoe naturally knew how to use gestures.

3． According to the author, gestures are different from facial and vocal expressions in that _______.

[A] gestures are more complicated

[B] gestures are limited to a certain type of species

[C] facial and vocal experessions are more complicated

[D] there is no difference

4． Which of the following best defines the word "hard-wired" (Line 3, Paragraph 3)?

[A] fixed

[B] changed

[C] taught

[D] made

5． The Pollick and de Waa research probably indicates that _______.

[A] the apes are the closest species to human being

[B] normal people do not really need the help of gestures

[C] the great apes naturally have the ability to use gestures

[D] human language may develop from signs and gestures

篇章剖析

本文是一片关于大猩猩语言能力研究的说明文。第一、二段介绍了卡德勒夫妇的研究成果并引出后两位学者对倭黑猩猩的研究；第三段和第四段分别介绍了研究的假设和结果；最后一段进一步阐述了手势对于人类脑力思考进化的影响。

词汇注释

psychologist [psai`kClEdVist] n.心理学家 bonobo [`bEunE9bEu] n. 倭黑猩猩

chimpanzee [`tFimpEn`zi:] n. 黑猩猩 ubiquitous [ju:`bikwitEs] adj.到处存在,普遍

attribute [E`tribjut] n. 属性, 品质, 特征 primate [`praimit] n. 灵长类的动物

sophistication [sE9fisti`keiFEn] n. 复杂，精致 hard-wired adj. 天生的

anatomy [E`nAtEmi] n. 分解，解剖 pant [pAnt] n. 气喘

larynx [`lAriNks] n.[解] 喉 hoot [hu:t] vi. 大声叫嚣, 鸣响

adept [E`dept] adj. 熟练的, 拿手的 render [`rendE] vt. 致使

successor [sEk`sesE] n. 继承者, 接任者

难句突破

The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary.



主体句式 The researchers' hypothesis was that...

结构分析 这个句子的难点在于that之后的这个宾语从句。从句以whereas为界可以分为两个部分，其中后半个句子由whereas引导与前半个句子为并列结构，此外at least to some extent是一个插入语，一定程度上干扰和混淆了is learnt 和is arbitrary这两个结构的并列关系。

句子译文 研究者的假设是，表情的意义在长期的进化过程中已经成为一种天生的能力，而手势的意义是后天学成的，至少在一定程度上是任意的。

题目分析

1．B. 细节题。文章第一段的主要内容就是讲述卡德勒夫妇对于黑猩猩语言能力试验的新想法，因此答案显而易见。

2．C. 细节题。文章第二段中指出，Washoe的成就使科学家们提出了新的问题，并进行了进一步的研究，因此C选项正确。

3．B. 细节题。文章第三段第一句话指出，"通过表情和声音来发送信号的现象在灵长类动物中是普遍存在的。但只有大猩猩才能用手势发送信号"，并不存在两者那个更加复杂的说法。

4．A. 语义题。从该词所在句子的上下文中，可以推出表情具有固定的意义，成为了动物一种天生的能力。

5．D. 推理题。文章最后一段的最后一句话指出，人类祖先在使用手势的时候很可能促使了脑部的发展，从而渐渐产生了语言能力，因此答案为D。

参考译文

1966年，内华达大学雷诺分校的两名心理学家阿伦与比特里斯•卡德勒夫妇产生了一个聪明的想法。他们对于大猩猩的说话和语言的进化能力非常感兴趣。前人研究曾试图教黑猩猩如何说话，但那些努力最终都以失败告终，很多人认为这个领域已经没有什么可以研究的了。但是卡德勒夫妇意识到说话和语言并不是一件事情。比如说，许多聋哑人不能说话，但是他们却能够用手势进行充分的交流，这些手势都包含了人类语言的那些特点和精细度。由于人类和黑猩猩喉咙的结构不同，卡德勒夫妇认为前人研究的失败是因为黑猩猩生理上就无法说话。

因此，他们决定试着教一只黑猩猩如何使用聋哑人的手势。他们选择的研究对象是一个名为Washoe的雌性黑猩猩，研究地点就在该大学的校园里，实验将她培养成了一个能熟练使用手势的学生。尽管人们仍在争论Washoe学会的到底能不能算人类语言，但是毫无疑问她学会了很多词汇。她现在的词汇量约为200个单词。所有这些都使人们提出了第二个问题。如果Washoe和她的继任者们能够从人类那里学会复杂和任意的词汇，那么他们是不是天生就拥有这些词汇呢？为了验证这种可能性，亚特兰大埃默里大学的爱米•波利克和弗朗斯•德瓦尔对一些黑猩猩和他们的近亲倭黑猩猩的手势和表情进行了研究。

通过表情和声音来发送信号的现象在灵长类动物中是普遍存在的。但只有大猩猩才能用手势发送信号。研究者的假设是，表情的意义在长期的进化过程中已经成为一种天生的能力，而手势的意义是后天学成的，至少在一定程度上是任意的。如果这个假设成立的话，那么各种特别的脸部表情和声音就只会在特殊的情境下才能发生，而且在物种群甚至是物种之间都是一致的。相反，同样的手势却能够在不同的情境下使用。

研究结果正如预期。不同的物种群以及物种之间都会在相同的情境下使用一些表情（"不出声地张嘴露齿"、"放松地张嘴"、"高声气促"等），而却不会用相同的手势（"硬碰"、"向外伸手"、"互相打击"等）。波利克和德瓦尔博士规律性地观察到的近半手势在两种动物之间的意义几乎都是完全不同的。此外，即使是在一种动物内部，一个手势的意义可能在不同的情境下有所变化，就像人类说话时用不同的声调可以表示不同的意义那样。

我们应该记得手势仍然是人类语言中一个至关重要的组成部分，即使是对那些没有正常听力的人来说。有一个老笑话说，如果要让一个意大利人闭嘴，那就把他的手绑起来，这个笑话有其道理所在。进化的过程不会一步就达到复杂的结构，而是一步一步演化过来的。该研究间接地说明了，当我们的猿人和人类祖先开始有意义地向彼此挥手的时候，这种脑力思考的特点就在一步步地向语言能力发展。
关键字:考研英语
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