Altruism is a type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of another animal or group of animals. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness; individuals performing altruistic acts gain nothing for themselves.
Examples of altruism abound, both among humans and among other mammals. Unselfish acts among humans range from the sharing of food with strangers to the donation of body organs to family members, and even to strangers. Such acts are altruistic in that they benefit another, yet provide little reward to the one performing the act.In fact, many species of animals appear willing to sacrifice food, or even their life, to assist other members of their group.
The meerkat, which is a mammal that dwells in burrows in grassland areas of Africa, is often cited as an example. In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained. If the sentinel meerkat sees a predator such as a hawk approaching the group, it gives an alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run and seek shelter. By standing guard,the sentinel meerkat gains nothing—it goes without food while the others eat, and it places itself in grave danger. After it issues an alarm, it has to flee alone, which might make it more at risk to a predator, since animals in groups are often able to work together to fend off a predator. So the altruistic sentinel behavior helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat’s group.
Listening Script:
You know, often in science, new findings force us to re-examine earlier beliefs and assumptions.
And a recent study of meerkats is having exactly this effect. The study examined the meerkat’s behavior quite closely, much more closely than had ever been done before. And some interesting things were found . . . like about eating habits . . . it showed that typically meerkats eat before they stand guard—so the ones standing guard had a full stomach! And the study also found that since the sentinel is the first to see a predator coming, it’s the most likely to escape . . . because it often stands guard near a burrow, so it can run immediately into the burrow after giving the alarm.
The other meerkats, the ones scattered about looking for food, are actually in greater danger. And in fact, other studies have suggested that when an animal creates an alarm,the alarm call might cause the other group members either to gather together or else to move about very quickly, behaviors that might actually draw the predator’s attention away from the caller, increasing that animal’s own chances of survival.
And what about people—what about some human acts that might be considered altruistic? Let’s take an extreme case, uh, suppose a person donates a kidney to a relative, or even to a complete stranger. A selfless act, right? But . . . doesn’t the donor receive appreciation and approval from the stranger and from society? Doesn’t the donor gain an increased sense of self-worth? Couldn’t such non-material rewards be considered very valuable to some people?
Que: Summarize the points made in the lecture you just heard, being sure to specifically explain how they cast doubt on points made in the reading.
The article explaines about altruism, A type of behaviour in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of another animal or group of animals. However, the professor opposes this fact and gives examples for the altruistic behaviour of both animal as well as humans.
First, In the example of meerkats, the reading claims that an individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking for predators while others hunt for food. The professor refutes this point by saying that the meerkat gaurds always have their stomach full. So the claim made about the meerkat guard goes without food is not true. In addition reading states that the meerkat guard also protects the others in a group by watching for predators and places itself in the grave danger. The professor also disagrees with this by saying that the guard always stands near to burrows. So whenever meerkat guard sees any predator, it makes the alrming cry and after that it can hide inside the burrows. While other meerkats in the group are more vulnerable of being hunted as the are in group and they might attract predators towards them.
Second, About the human's altrustic behaviour, the articles states that, unslefish acts of humans include sharing foods, donations or body organs to family members without any rewards. The professor opposes this point and says that when a person donates kidney to their family or friends, eventhough they dont get any actual reward, but they always get appreciation from friends and society. and by donating food or cloths the person always feel a sence on self satisfation. Hence, The professor explains that the individuals who perform altrustic acts and gain nothing is actually not correst.
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 258, Rule ID: BOTH_AS_WELL_AS[1]
Message: Probable usage error. Use 'and' after 'both'.
Suggestion: and
...the altruistic behaviour of both animal as well as humans. First, In the example of mee...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 338, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[2]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: addition,
...guard goes without food is not true. In addition reading states that the meerkat guard a...
^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 771, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
... are more vulnerable of being hunted as the are in group and they might attract predato...
^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 305, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...heir family or friends, eventhough they dont get any actual reward, but they always ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 392, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: And
... appreciation from friends and society. and by donating food or cloths the person a...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, hence, however, if, look, second, so, well, while, in addition, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 5.0 10.4613686534 48% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 7.30242825607 192% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 12.0772626932 99% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 22.412803532 103% => OK
Preposition: 31.0 30.3222958057 102% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1432.0 1373.03311258 104% => OK
No of words: 284.0 270.72406181 105% => OK
Chars per words: 5.04225352113 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.10515524023 4.04702891845 101% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.383925039 2.5805825403 92% => OK
Unique words: 159.0 145.348785872 109% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.55985915493 0.540411800872 104% => OK
syllable_count: 420.3 419.366225166 100% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 3.25607064018 31% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.23620309051 109% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 13.0662251656 99% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 21.2450331126 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 38.0636340447 49.2860985944 77% => OK
Chars per sentence: 110.153846154 110.228320801 100% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.8461538462 21.698381199 101% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.84615384615 7.06452816374 111% => OK
Paragraphs: 3.0 4.09492273731 73% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 5.0 4.19205298013 119% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.27373068433 70% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.245679620297 0.272083759551 90% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0877049467758 0.0996497079465 88% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.148523602191 0.0662205650399 224% => The coherence between sentences is low.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.206596371639 0.162205337803 127% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.194911194894 0.0443174109184 440% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.2 13.3589403974 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 53.8541721854 109% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.95 12.2367328918 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.46 8.42419426049 100% => OK
difficult_words: 68.0 63.6247240618 107% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 10.7273730684 98% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.498013245 99% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.2008830022 98% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Minimum four paragraphs wanted. The correct pattern:
para 1: introduction
para 2: doubt 1
para 3: doubt 2
para 4: doubt 3
Less contents wanted from the reading passages(25%), more content wanted from the lecture (75%).
Don't need a conclusion paragraph.
Read sample essays from ETS:
http://www.testbig.com/users/toeflwritingmaster
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.