快⬆️⬆️点击上方蓝字关注并星标这个公众号，一起涨姿势～
词数：366 words
难度：★★★☆☆
小贴士：
后台聊天对话框：
回复“考研”获取2025考研英语等备考资料
回复“四六级”获取四六级历年真题及解析
回复“PDF”获取本文PDF版内容；
回复“笔记”获取阅读、新题型、完形填空、写作模板等笔记
点击文末左下角“阅读原文”可获得PDF版内容、每月文章合集
——大橙子留
✦ +
+
上期划线句答案
Some 95% of Gen Z owners surveyed last year by the American Pet Products Association, an industry group, said they bought their dog a gift at least once a year, compared with 81% of boomers.
去年，美国宠物产品协会的调查显示，95%的Z世代宠物主人每年至少给宠物买一次礼物，而婴儿潮一代中这一比例为81%。
✦ +
+
本期内容
◆
双语阅读
Para.1
Why do humans have thousands of tools and other animals have only a few? At the risk of oversimplification, Tomasello and his colleagues (1993, 2001, 2009) argue that humans are unique in their ability to create cultural products such as tools. Compared to nonhuman animals, we are exceptionally talented at learning from one another, in part because we can take the perspective of another person and recognize their intentions. Other animals cannot do this.
Para.2
Humans are also able to transmit cultural products with high fidelity. In other words, we’re gifted imitators and replicators. We can see something (a gesture or diagram) or hear something (a new word or melody) and produce an exact or nearly exact copy. High fidelity is necessary for the successful accumulation of cultural knowledge. A cultural product that is replicated with low fidelity—a joke that’s mangled in the retelling, for example—usually ends up in the dustbin of history.
Para.3
Tomasello’s theory of cultural learning includes another key concept called the ratchet effect. Cultural innovations can be shared with others. When a person makes a better mousetrap or some other technological improvement, the advance can leap from one human mind to another by means of language, imitation, and social learning. As a result, technological progress does not slip back to an earlier stage. It moves up and forward, one small step at a time.
Para.4
Instances of the ratchet effect can be found throughout human history. The first hammer was a handheld rock, then a rock tied to a stick, and eventually, a molded piece of steel fitted to the end of a sculpted wooden or plastic handle. The first recorded music was inscribed on metal cylinders, followed by vinyl records, magnetic tapes, and eventually digital files in computers.
Para.5
To my knowledge, no instance of the ratchet effect has ever been observed among nonhuman animal species. Chimpanzees have used twigs to fish for termites and ants, but they haven’t made any lasting improvements to the tool itself or how the tool is used. In short, humans have created and accumulated a huge store of cultural knowledge and products because they (we!) are superb imitators and high-fidelity replicators. Other animals are not.
本文节选自：Psychology Today（今日心理学）
发布时间：2024.9.14
作者：Lawrence T. White
原文标题：Why Humans Have Thousands of Tools and Other Animals Do Not
◆
写作句总结
As a result, technological progress does not slip back to an earlier stage. It moves up and forward, one small step at a time.
结构：As a result, … does not slip back to an earlier stage. It moves up and forward, one small step at a time.
因此，…不会回到之前的阶段，而是不断向上向前推进，一次一小步。
例句：As a result, historical civilization does not slip back to an earlier stage. It moves up and forward, one small step at a time.
◆
阅读理解题
According to Tomasello and his colleagues, what sets humans apart from other animals in terms of tool usage and cultural products?
A) Humans have a greater physical strength to create tools
B) Humans are exceptional imitators and replicators
C) Humans have a higher level of intelligence than other animals
D) Humans have a natural instinct to invent new tools
◆
打卡作业
翻译文章中的划线句，文末留言打卡，下期推送会在文章开头处公布参考翻译答案，大家一起来学习英语吧~
翻译 | 大橙子
校对 | 李柚子
词汇词组 | 西西弗
划线句讲解 | 流木
写作句总结 | 沅沅
免责声明：本文来自网络公开资料，仅供学习交流，其观点和倾向不代表本公众号立场。
