II. While Reading Tasks
Word Inference
- achievement |əˈCHēvmənt| noun-a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill: to reach this stage is a great achievement.
- primate |ˈprīˌmāt| noun-a mammal of an order that includes the lemurs, bushbabies, tarsiers, marmosets, monkeys, apes, and humans. They are distinguished by having hands, handlike feet, and forward-facing eyes, and, with the exception of humans, are typically agile tree-dwellers.
- foresight |ˈfôrˌsīt| noun-the ability to predict or the action of predicting what will happen or be needed in the future: he had the foresight to check that his escape route was clear.
- raw |rô| adjective-(of food) uncooked: raw eggs.
- evolution |ˌevəˈlo͞oSHən| noun-the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
- emulate |ˈemyəˌlāt| verb [ with obj. ] match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation: lesser men trying to emulate his greatness.
- resist |riˈzist| verb [ with obj. ] try to prevent by action or argument: we will continue to resist changes to the treaty.
- patience |ˈpāSHəns| noun-the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset: you can find bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross.
- impetus |ˈimpitəs| noun- the force that makes something happen or happen more quickly: the crisis of the 1860s provided the original impetus for the settlements.
- transition|tranˈziSHən, -ˈsiSHən|-noun-the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another: students in transition from one program to another.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
Reading Comprehension: Word -Recognition
When a chimpanzee placed a raw sweet potato slice into the device, a researcher shook it, then lifted the top tub out to offer the chimp an identical cooked slice of sweet potato.
It was known that chimps prefer cooked food, but it was an open question whether chimps had the patience to wait through the pretend “shake and bake” process.
Grammar Focus: Preposition Exercise
The research grew out of the idea that cooking itself may have driven changes in human evolution, a hypothesis put forth by Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist at Harvard.
One obvious difficulty in creating an experiment was that chimps have not yet figured out how to use fire, and the scientists were wary of giving them access to real cooking devices.
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