VOA慢速英语：猴子可以像人类一样嫉恨

Monkeys do not like it when others get more food than they do, according to a new study.

根据一项新的研究，猴子们并不喜欢别的猴子比它们得到更多的食物。

Researchers from Yale and Harvard universities found Capuchin monkeys punish monkeys that get more food.

Capuchin monkeys can show 'spiteful' behavior.

耶鲁和哈佛大学的研究人员发现，卷尾猴会惩罚比它得到更多食物的猴子。

"This sort of, ‘If I can't have it, no one can' response is consistent with psychological spite, and it was previously thought unique to humans," said Kristin Leimgruber of Harvard University. She is a co-author of the research study.

哈佛大学的Leimgruber称：“这种，如果我不能拥有，别人也不能的的反应是与心理嫉恨相一致的。而这一点，在以前被认为是人类所独有的。”她是该研究的作者之一。

The researchers watched as some Capuchin monkeys were given more food than others. They found that monkeys getting the smaller share pulled a rope to collapse a table holding the other monkey's bigger share.

研究人员们观察当一些卷尾猴被给予比其他卷尾猴更多食物时的表现。得到较小份额食物的猴子将会用一根绳子拽翻放着其他猴子的较大份额食物的桌子。

Another lead researcher, Yale University psychologist Laurie Santos, explained over email.

另一位首席研究员，耶鲁大学的心理学家劳里·桑托斯，通过电子邮件来解释这一现象。

"I think that we can conclude about humans is that some of our more embarrassing tendencies (e.g., not liking it when others get more than us in some situations) have relatively deep roots."

“我认为我们可以从人类得出结论，我们的一些比较尴尬的倾向(在一些情况下，当别人得到的比我们更多时，我们会不喜欢)拥有相对深厚的根基。

Santos said the spiteful response was not present with another member of the ape species – chimpanzees. Visit the website www.chinavoa.com to get more information!

桑托斯表示，嫉恨反应在猿猴种类另一个成员——黑猩猩身上是不存在的。

An earlier study, she said, showed chimpanzees would collapse the table of other chimpanzees who took or stole food from them.

她说早先的研究中表明黑猩猩会破坏其他拿走或偷走它们食物的黑猩猩的桌子。

But they would not collapse the table of chimpanzees who just happened to have more food, Santos said. In other words, it was fine if another chimpanzee had more food -- as long as they did not steal it.

桑托斯说但是它们不会破坏那些恰巧比它们拥有更多食物的黑猩猩的桌子。 换句话说如果另一只黑猩猩拥有更多的食物，它是无所谓的，只要它们没有偷走它的食物。

I'm Caty Weaver.

我是凯迪韦弗。

Bruce Alpert reported and researched this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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Words in This Story

spite – n. a desire to harm another person because you feel that you have been treated wrongly or unfairly

previously – adv. happening at an earlier time

unique – adj. used to say that something or someone is unlike anything or anyone else

embarrassing – adj. to make (someone) feel confused and foolish in front of other people

tendency – n. a quality that makes something likely to happen or that makes someone likely to think or behave in a particular way

relatively – adv. when compared to other