英语听力精选进阶版 7296（在线收听）

美国科学家们发现黑猩猩会因自己做出了错误的决定而感到无比沮丧。来自杜克大学的研究人员和黑猩猩做了几个有赏游戏，结果发现输了游戏的猩猩都会发脾气。

The Duke University team designed two games - one to test patience and the other assessing risk-taking.

The second was a sort of gambling game where the forty chimps and bonobos the team studied were offered a choice between a safe option - six peanuts hidden under a bowl - or a risky option. The second bowl concealed either a slice of cucumber or a much tastier piece of banana, and that prize wasn't revealed until the ape had made its choice.

When one chimp, named Timi, gambled and got the cucumber, he threw what looked and sounded very much like a tantrum. Although some were more stoic than Timi, many of the animals involved showed an emotional response to a bad decision - anxiously scratching themselves or calling out.

The study, the scientists say, suggests that emotions like frustration and regret - so fundamental to our own decisions - are not uniquely human, but are an important and ancient part of ape society.

Quiz 听力测验

What were the two games trying to test?

The chimpanzees' patience and risk-taking.

What word means 'hidden'?

Concealed.

True or false? The chimpanzees reacted badly when they made the wrong decision.

True. The chimpanzees appeared to throw tantrums, scratched themselves or called out.

What does the study say about feelings of frustration and regret?

That they are not unique to humans but are also present in ape society.

Glossary 词汇表

patience 耐心

risk-taking 冒险精神

a safe option 保险的选择

concealed 盖住的、遮住的

revealed 揭开，使显露

a tantrum 发脾气

frustration 挫败，沮丧

regret 悔恨，惋惜

fundamental 不可缺少的，重要的

uniquely 独有的