2021考研英语阅读分析

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Just because they can’t sing opera or ride a bicycle doesn’t mean that animals don’t have culture. There’s no better example of this than killer whales. As one of the most brutal predators , killer whales may not fit the image of a cultured creature. However, these beasts of the sea do display a vast range of highly refined behaviors that appear to be driving their genetic development.

The word “culture” comes from the Latin “colere” which literally means to “cultivate”. In other words, it refers to anything that is acquired or learnt, rather than instinctive or natural. Among human populations, culture not only affects the way we live, but also writes itself into our genes, affecting who we are. For instance, having spent many generations hunting the fat marine mammals of the Arctic, the Eskimos of Greenland have developed certain genetic adaptations that help them digest and utilize this fat-rich diet, thereby allowing them to thrive in their cold climate.

Like humans, killer whales have colonized a range of different habitats across the globe, occupying every ocean basin on the planet with an empire that extends from pole to pole. As such, different populations of killer whales have had to learn different hunting techniques in order to gain the upper hand over their local prey. This, in turn, has a major effect on their diet, leading scientists to speculate that the ability to learn population-specific hunting methods could be driving the animals’ genetic development.

单词积累

1. brutal adj. 残暴的;兽性的

2. predator n. 捕食性动物

3. refined adj. 精炼的;提纯的;优雅的;有教养的(此处指的是有教养的)

4. drive v. 驾驶;驱使(此处指的是驱使)

5. cultivate v. 种植，培养

6. acquire v. 获得，得到

7. instinctive adj. 本能的;直觉的

8. population n. 族群;人口

9. adaptation n. 改编本

10. colonize v. 聚居;在(某国家或地区)建立殖民地 (此处指的是聚居)

11. empire n. 帝国

12. speculate v. 推测;猜测

词组积累

1. a vast range of 许许多多的

2. appear to be 好像是

3. marine mammal 海洋哺乳动物

4. extend from... to... 从……延伸到……

5. gain the upper hand over 占上风全文参考翻译

动物不会唱歌剧或不会骑自行车并不意味着它们就没有文化。对于这个问题，没有比虎鲸更好的例子了。作为残忍的食肉动物之一，虎鲸可能不符合“有文化的生物”的形象。然而，这些海洋生物确实表现出了大量有教养的行为，这些行为似乎驱动着它们基因的发展。

“文化”这个词来自拉丁语“colere”，字面意思是“培养”。换句话说，它指的是任何后天习得、学到的东西，而不是本能的或天生的东西。在人类群体中，文化不仅影响着我们的生活方式，而且还写入了我们的基因，影响着我们的样子。例如，格陵兰岛的爱斯基摩人花了许多代人的时间猎捕北极地区的肥胖海洋哺乳动物，他们已经发展出某些帮助他们消化和利用这种富含脂肪的饮食的遗传适应性，从而使他们能够在寒冷的气候中发展壮大。

像人类一样，虎鲸在全球范围内聚居在一系列不同的栖息地，占据了地球上的每一个海洋盆地，形成了从一个极点延伸到另一个极点的帝国。因此，不同种群的虎鲸不得不学习不同的捕猎技巧，从而在与当地猎物的较量中占上风。这转而又会对它们的饮食产生重大影响，这促使科学家们推测，学习种群特定狩猎方法的能力可能会推动这些动物的基因进化。

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