美国国家公共电台 NPR--How does a gorilla get too much screen time?

How does a gorilla¹ get too much screen time?

Transcript²

Caregivers try to limit the screen-time distractions³ that interfere⁴ with the social and intellectual development of a young teenage mind. In one example, the teenager happens to be a gorilla.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

This next story might resonate with families who struggle to manage screen time. It's a story about a teen named Amare.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Amare had become withdrawn⁵ from his peers. He'd become less active. His focus on the real life around him shifted - all of which had his caregivers worried.

FADEL: But Amare isn't your average teenager. He's a 16-year-old gorilla who lives at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

STEVE ROSS: Rather than just a couple of minutes a day of screen time, Amare recently has been really having hours and hours, as people have grown more and more interested in showing him their photos.

MARTINEZ: That's Steve Ross, who directs the zoo's Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes. He says zoo visitors like to interact with Amare by pressing up against the glass of his enclosure and showing him their cellphones.

ROSS: People have shown him their vacation photos, pictures of their family. He is drawn⁶ to it, so he plops down in his little - his corner and looks at these screens as long as they'll be given to him.

MARTINEZ: He's pretty much riveted⁷, except at mealtime - typical teenager.

FADEL: You might think any screen time is too much for a gorilla, even one that lives in a zoo. But many primates⁸ at the Lincoln Park Zoo regularly use tablets as part of training and cognition studies. They do, however, stick to about 5 minutes a day with these activities, instead of the hours Amare spends looking at visitors' phones.

ROSS: He lives in a bachelor group. There are three other teenage boys in there with him, but no females at all.

MARTINEZ: And Ross says the problem is what Amare is not doing within that group.

ROSS: What they're really learning is how to navigate⁹ that really dynamic social environment. So there's a lot of fighting. There's a lot of playing. There's a lot of social interactions. They have to learn how to find their place in the hierarchy¹⁰. That takes a lot of work and a lot of concentration.

MARTINEZ: Teenage gorillas¹¹ need to compete for dominance and form lifelong bonds. When Amare is immersed in the tech devices belonging to humans, he's missing out on a lot of developmental experiences. So the zoo roped off the area near his favorite window and put up signs to urge visitors not to offer their digital diversions.

FADEL: But there are other distractions. In the wild, a bachelor group would live far away from the females - not so at the zoo.

ROSS: We've put coverings over the windows so that the bachelors don't sit there and just fixate on the girls in the neighboring group. So, yeah, that's a thing.

MARTINEZ: Ross admits he's learned a lot about parenting by studying primates. But in this case, having teenagers at home may provide useful lessons for work.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WAN'NA BE LIKE YOU")

LOUIS PRIMA: (Singing) Oh, oobee doo.

BRUCE REITHERMAN AND PHIL HARRIS: (Singing) Hoopdeewee.

PRIMA: (Singing) I wanna be like you-hoo-hoo.

1 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

5 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 riveted   

铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意

参考例句：

• I was absolutely riveted by her story. 我完全被她的故事吸引住了。
• My attention was riveted by a slight movement in the bushes. 我的注意力被灌木丛中的轻微晃动吸引住了。

8 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

9 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

10 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

11 gorillas   

n.大猩猩( gorilla的名词复数 )；暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• the similitude between humans and gorillas 人类和大猩猩的相像
• Each family of gorillas is led by a great silverbacked patriarch. 每个大星星家族都由一个魁梧的、长着银色被毛的族长带领着。 来自《简明英汉词典》