英文早点丨0714 - 会交流、会写信，这个世界上最聪明的大猩猩过世了……

372 - bonny

372 - bonny

因为会手语而轰动全世界的大猩猩Koko去世了。回顾Koko传奇的一生，它震惊科学界的事迹也总是伴随着各种争议。在过去46年的生命里，Koko运用手语与人类交流、学会了使用收音机、因为好友与宠物的离世而伤心等等不可置信的行为让人大开眼界；但是，与此同时，也有专家对此不断地提出质疑。到底是它真的拥有语言交流的天赋和能力，还是这只是它的饲养员对它的行为做出了不合理的解释？

Natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study.----Bacon

KOKO the gorilla knew over 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and used them to do everything from asking for food to joking around. Her trainer and long-term companion, Penny Patterson, thought Koko went further still, signing in novel ways and showing complex emotions.

Yet there is an important distinction between communication and language. It is sometimes claimed that words convey just 7% of meaning, and that body language and tone of voice do the rest.

文本选自 ：The Economist(经济学人)

作者 ：Johnson

原文标题 ：What Koko the gorilla could and couldn’t do？

原文发布时间 ：5 July 2018