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.
The reading passage and the lecture both discuss altruism in humans and animals. The author in the article argues that individuals who do altruistic acts do not gain anything in return and they do that out of selflessness. However, the lecturer refutes the claims made in the reading passage. He mentions that most humans and animals act in their self-interest.
First of all, the excerpt states the sentinel meerkat as an example for altruism in animals. The article further elaborates that the sentinel meerkat stands to guard other group members while they are hunting or eating. Once it sees a predator, it makes an alarming cry to alert other members to escape. In this situation, the standing guard is sacrificing itself for others and it gains nothing in return. For example, it can go without food while others eating. In addition, the guard puts itself in grave danger by fleeing the predator alone after the whole group escapes. The group has a better chance to survive because they could work together to fend off the predator. Nevertheless, the speaker in the lecture indicates that a recent study done on meerkats casts doubt on these ideas. According to the lecture, researchers found that the sentinel meerkat usually eats first before standing to observe predators. In addition, the sentinel could have a better chance to run away because it's the first one to see the predator and it also stands guarding near a burrow so it could just disappear inside the burrow. Other meerkats are actually more at risk as they are scattered looking for food or eating. Moreover, when the guarding meerkat makes the call, other members either may gather together or move about quickly which would draw the predator's attention away from the calling animal, increasing the caller's chances of survival.
Second, the reading article holds that when humans donate organs to a relative or a stranger, they are doing a selfless act. This point is challenged by the lecturer. He holds that a kidney donor would get appreciation and approval from the receiver and the society as well. a donor's self-worth would also increase by such act. Those non-materialistic rewards are highly valued by some people. Hence, humans do these, so-called, altruistic acts in order to get respect from other people.
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 993, Rule ID: IT_IS[17]
Message: Did you mean 'it's' (='it is') instead of 'its' (possessive pronoun)?
Suggestion: it's; it is
...ave a better chance to run away because its the first one to see the predator and i...
^^^
Line 5, column 1346, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'predators'' or 'predator's'?
Suggestion: predators'; predator's
...move about quickly which would draw the predators attention away from the calling animal,...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 276, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: A
...m the receiver and the society as well. a donors self-worth would also increase b...
^
Line 9, column 489, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...order to get respect from other people.
^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, first, hence, however, if, look, may, moreover, nevertheless, second, so, well, while, for example, in addition, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 7.0 10.4613686534 67% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 5.04856512141 158% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 7.30242825607 164% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 12.0772626932 99% => OK
Pronoun: 30.0 22.412803532 134% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 46.0 30.3222958057 152% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1922.0 1373.03311258 140% => OK
No of words: 382.0 270.72406181 141% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.03141361257 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.42095241839 4.04702891845 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.55667509448 2.5805825403 99% => OK
Unique words: 210.0 145.348785872 144% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.549738219895 0.540411800872 102% => OK
syllable_count: 584.1 419.366225166 139% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 3.25607064018 215% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 12.0 8.23620309051 146% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 2.5761589404 155% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 22.0 13.0662251656 168% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 21.2450331126 80% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 43.6322204472 49.2860985944 89% => OK
Chars per sentence: 87.3636363636 110.228320801 79% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.3636363636 21.698381199 80% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.40909090909 7.06452816374 91% => OK
Paragraphs: 3.0 4.09492273731 73% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 4.0 4.19205298013 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 4.33554083885 185% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 4.45695364238 135% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.27373068433 187% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.166019301152 0.272083759551 61% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0467985306888 0.0996497079465 47% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0599444204365 0.0662205650399 91% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.104964552294 0.162205337803 65% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0514436686046 0.0443174109184 116% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.9 13.3589403974 82% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 53.8541721854 116% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 11.0289183223 79% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.6 12.2367328918 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.32 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 93.0 63.6247240618 146% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 6.5 10.7273730684 61% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.498013245 84% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 20 minutes.
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: 75.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.5 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.