考研英语阅读:大猩猩和人类一样偏好用右手
大猩猩和人类一样偏好用右手
Humans are not the only species to prefer to use their right hand-chimpanzees also share the trait, according to a new study by Spanish scientists.
根据西班牙科学家的一项最新研究显示，人类并不是唯一偏好用右手的物种，大猩猩和人类一样具备这个特点。
The researchers reached their findings, published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Primatology,
这项最新研究发表在美国期刊《灵长类动物学》上。
after observing 114 chimpanzees from two primate rescue centers, one in Spain and the other in Zambia.
科学家们是通过对两个灵长类动物救助中心里的114只大猩猩进行观察而得出这一结论的。这两个救助中心一个在西班牙，一个在赞比亚。
The primates were provided with food hidden inside tubes and the scientists monitored them to see which hand they used to get at it,
科学家在大猩猩面前放了一个管子，管子内藏着食物。研究者就是想观察大猩猩到底是用哪知手取出食物，
either their fingers or with the help of tools.
不管是用手指还是借助工具。
“The chimpanzees showed a preferential use of the right hand to get the food from the tube,” the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution, which coordinated the study, said in a statement.
大猩猩偏好用右手取食物，” 协助这项研究的加泰隆尼亚古生态学和社会发展研究所在报告中称。
“This feature had traditionally been considered exclusively human and had been believed to be caused by asymmetries observed in the human brain that are related to the realization of complicated activities that require the use and coordination of both hands.”
“使用右手一直以来被认为是人类独有的特点，这个特点是由于人类左右脑发展不平衡造成的。人类为了完成复杂的活动，往往需要两手并用。”
The study also found that female chimpanzees, like their human counterparts, are more likely to be right-handed than males.
这项研究还发现，母猩猩同人类女性一样，比起他们的另一半来说更偏好用右手。
The researchers said this suggests “that just like in our species, there are shared biological factors, genetic and hormonal,
这项研究表明，“就像在人类内不一样，物种之间也存在共同的生理基因和荷尔蒙特征，
that modulate the functioning of our brain.”
这些特征控制着我们的大脑。”
