Monkeys seem to have a way with numbers.
猴子似乎对数字有天赋。

A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 clearly different symbols consisting of numbers and selective letters with 0-25 drops of water or juice as a reward. The researchers then tested how the monkeys combined—or added—the symbols to get the reward.
一组研究人员训练了三只恒河猴，让它们学会将26个明显不同的符号（由数字和特定字母组成）与0-25滴水滴或果汁作为奖励联系起来。然后研究人员测试了猴子如何组合或相加这些符号以获得奖励。

Here’s how Harvard Medical School scientist Margaret Livingstone, who led the team, described the experiment: In their cages the monkeys were provided with touch screens. On one part of the screen, a symbol would appear, and on the other side two symbols inside a circle were shown. For example, the number 7 would flash on one side of the screen and the other end would have 9 and 8. If the monkeys touched the left side of the screen they would be rewarded with seven drops of water or juice; if they went for the circle, they would be rewarded with the sum of the numbers—17 in this example.
以下是领导该团队的哈佛医学院科学家玛格丽特·利文斯通描述的实验过程：在猴子的笼子里，提供了触摸屏。屏幕上的一部分会出现一个符号，另一部分则显示两个符号在一个圆圈内。例如，数字7会在屏幕的一侧闪烁，而另一端则显示9和8。如果猴子触摸屏幕的左侧，它们将获得七滴水或果汁作为奖励；如果它们选择圆圈，它们将获得数字之和——在这个例子中是17。

After running hundreds of tests, the researchers noted that the monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time, indicating that they were performing a calculation, not just memorizing the value of each combination.
在进行了数百次测试后，研究人员注意到猴子超过一半的时间会选择更高的数值，这表明它们是在进行计算，而不仅仅是记住每个组合的价值。

When the team examined the results of the experiment more closely, they noticed that the monkeys tended to underestimate（低估）a sum compared with a single symbol when the two were close in value—sometimes choosing, for example, a 13 over the sum of 8 and 6. The underestimation was systematic: When adding two numbers, the monkeys always paid attention to the larger of the two, and then added only a fraction（小部分）of the smaller number to it.
当团队更仔细地检查实验结果时，他们发现当两个数值接近时，猴子倾向于低估一个和与一个单独符号相比的数值——有时例如，它们会选择13而不是8和6的和。这种低估是系统的：在加两个数字时，猴子总是更关注较大的那个数字，然后只加上较小数字的一小部分。

“This indicates that there is a certain way quantity is represented in their brains, “Dr. Livingstone says. “But in this experiment what they’re doing is paying more attention to the big number than the little one.”
“这表明在它们的大脑中，数量有一定的表示方式，”利文斯通博士说。“但在这次实验中，它们所做的是更多地关注大数字而不是小数字。”

1. What did the researchers do to the monkeys before testing them?
   A. They fed them. B. They named them.
   C. They trained them. D. They measured them.
   答案：C

2. How did the monkeys get their reward in the experiment?
   A. By drawing a circle. B. By touching a screen.
   C. By watching videos. D. By mixing two drinks.
   答案：B

3. What did Livingstone’s team find about the monkeys?
   A. They could perform basic addition. B. They could understand simple words.
   C. They could memorize numbers easily. D. They could hold their attention for long.
   答案：D

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?
   A. Entertainment. B. Health. C. Education. D. Science.
   答案：A