Goodbye in the wild

Humans have many ways to say “hi” and “bye”. It’s a way to be polite. But did you know that apes (大猩猩) also do this?

According to a new study, we have found this kind of behavior (行为) in animals for the first time. Many animals greet each other, but they don’t say “goodbye” like apes do.

Scientists studied over 1,200 apes. Of course, they don’t say “What’s up?” like we do. They use body language.

For example, they will touch each other or hold hands. They might also butt(顶) heads or just look at each other. They do these things both before and after they spend time together. These greetings will be shorter if the apes already know each other. Humans do this too.

Scientists say that the common ancestors (共同祖先) of apes and humans might have done this as well. Then they passed down the habit to both of us.

Our ape cousins

Apes can do many things just like us. Here’s a list of some of their “human” behaviors.

Make tools (工具) to help them finish tasks

Eat junk food (垃圾食品) when they’re unhappy

Recognize (识别) faces

Beg for food

Laugh out loud

【小题1】What does the new study show?

A．Apes say “hi” and “bye” like humans.	B．Animals don’t greet each other.
C．Animal behavior is hard to study.	D．Apes enjoy saying “goodbye“ to other animals.

【小题2】The writer uses Paragraph 4 to ________.

A．tell us how to study apes	B．show how apes do exercise
C．show how apes greet each other	D．tell us what body language is

【小题3】Why do some apes use shorter greetings?

A．Because they don’t like each other.	B．Because they already know each other.
C．Because they are lazy sometimes.	D．Because they want to save time.

【小题4】What does the phrase “pass down” in the last paragraph mean?

A．经过

B．坚持

C．养成

D．传递

【小题5】What do we know from the text?

A．Apes like to make friends with humans.	B．Greetings are important to animals.
C．Apes have different ways to say “hi”.	D．Humans learned to greet each other from apes.