L4：
讲座
1. What are the speakers mainly discussing
Animal behavior that cannot be explained by natural selection
The evolution of various forms of deceptive animal communication
Possible reasons that animals communicate truthful messages
Research that shows similarities between human and animal signals
2. What point does the professor make about human communication
It is often influenced by social rules.
It almost always consists of truthful messages.
It does not always rely on spoken language.
It breaks down when someone exaggerates.
3. Why does the professor talk about lions
To compare two ways that lions communicate with each other
To introduce the concept of signal reliability in the animal kingdom
To point out why lions often win fights against animals of other species
To explain some of the benefits of exaggerating one’s own strength
4. The speakers discuss a hypothetical scenario involving bears. In this scenario,what would happen to the first bears that used deceptive signals
They would reproduce more than other animals in their species.
They would not have energy for tasks other than communication.
They would become unable to understand signals from other animals.
They would eventually return to using only honest signals.
5. What does the professor imply when she talks about the handicap principle?
Weak animals defend themselves by increasing the volume of their vocalizations.
Most animals’ vocalization behavior is not explained by the handicap principle.
Some animal species cannot afford the costs of honest communication.
Individual animals’ behavior is consistent with long-term benefit to the species.
6. Why does the professor say this:
To encourage the students to contribute some of their ideas
To express surprise that some animal communication has broken down
To emphasize that the situation she describes would be unfavorable
To suggest that honest communication can sometimes lead to chaos
