环球英语 — 308：Studying Chimpanzees: Jane Goodall
Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid.
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And I’m Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
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Jane Goodall sits in a tent in the Gombe forest in Tanzania. She sits very still. She is watching. A large male chimpanzee comes towards her. This ape looks like a small, hairy man. He is making a lot of noise. At first, Jane thinks that he is afraid of her. But as she watches, she begins to understand something. He is not angry! He just wants the fruit she is holding. Every day, she meets the chimpanzees living around her. And every day, Jane learns more about the chimpanzees.
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Around the world, Jane Goodall is famous for her work with chimpanzees, and her work to protect the environment. Today’s Spotlight is on Jane Goodall.
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Even as a child, Jane Goodall loved animals. When she was one year old, her father gave her a toy chimpanzee. She named this play animal Jubilee. 65 years later, Jane still has this soft play animal at her home in England.
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Jane had a happy life as a child. In 1952, Jane finished high school. Her family did not have enough money to send her to college. She worked at many different jobs. But she was not doing what she loved - working with animals.
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In 1956, Jane travelled to Kenya with a friend. Jane visited her friend’s family farm there. She enjoyed exploring the country and learning about its culture. There, Jane met Dr. Leakey, a famous doctor of anthropology and palaeontology. He studied old cultures and ancient life. He looked at ancient remains, hidden in the earth. Dr. Leakey gave Jane a job as an assistant. Soon Jane was digging in the African dirt looking for ancient signs of life.
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Doctor Leakey had been looking for someone to study chimpanzees. Scientists did not know very much about chimpanzees at this time. But Dr. Leakey believed that chimpanzees could give ideas and information about human life. Doctor Leakey saw that Jane had a lot of energy. She was patient, and loved animals. She was the perfect person to study these animals. He asked her if she wanted to study the chimpanzees. And she agreed to take the job.
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In 1960, Jane arrived in the country known today as Tanzania. The British government controlled the area at that time. The government would not allow a woman to go into the forests alone. So Jane’s mother joined her for the first few months.
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Jane lived closely with the chimps in the Gombe forest. At first, the chimps would run away when they saw Jane. But after some time, they let her get closer. She got to know the chimps better. She observed their relationships and behaviour. She even gave the chimps names as she studied them.
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In late 1960, Jane observed something very important and interesting. Two chimps took a wooden stick and pulled the leaves off of it. The chimps then put this stick into an insect hill. The chimps used the stick as a tool to collect the insects. This was very surprising to Jane and other researchers. At that time, scientists thought that humans were the only creatures to make tools. But Jane discovered that this was not true. The chimps used tools too! When Doctor Leakey heard of this news, he was very excited.
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Following this discovery, the National Geographic Society decided to pay for Jane’s research. They sent a photographer to take pictures of Jane’s life in the forest. Hugo van Lawick, the photographer, and Jane fell in love. They married in 1964. And they had a son a few years later.
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Soon, many people all over the world began to learn about Jane Goodall and her research. National Geographic produced magazine articles and television shows about her. People started to understand how important Jane’s research was. But during this time, Jane never had a college degree. She knew that scientists would not accept her research without a degree. So Jane entered Cambridge University. There, she received a degree in ethology, or the study of animal behaviour.
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But getting her degree was not easy. Many scientists did not like that Jane gave names to the chimps she studied. They said it was unprofessional. But Jane defended naming them. She said that the chimpanzees had emotions and minds. They were individuals, and different from each other. Today, scientists accept this idea.
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After Jane finished her degree, she returned to the Gombe Forest. And she and her husband started a research center there. They wanted to help other people study the chimpanzees. Researchers are still using the centre today. Jane and Hugo divorced in the early seventies. But Jane continued her research there.
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While studying at the Gombe Research Center, Jane made another interesting discovery. For many years, scientists thought that chimps only ate plants and fruits. Scientists thought they were very peaceful animals. But Jane’s research found something different.
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Jane observed wars between different groups of chimps. For example, in one case, Jane observed that one female chimp stole baby chimps away from their mothers. This chimp would then eat the babies. But Jane also observed kindness among the chimps. In another case, one male chimp chose to care for a baby chimp who had lost its mother.
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Jane published many books about her research. She taught the world about chimps. But then, her work took a new direction. Jane was shocked to learn that the chimpanzees were in danger. People were destroying their forest homes. She knew she had to teach people about what was happening. So Jane decided to leave her research. She wanted to teach people how they could help protect the chimps.
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In 1977, Jane started the Jane Goodall Institute. This group has four goals. The first is to protect the places where animals like chimps live. The second is to encourage good relationships between people and the environment. The third goal is to expand research about chimpanzees and other primates. And finally, the fourth goal is to protect chimps and similar animals living all over the world. This means caring for the animals in the wild and in zoos.
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Today, Jane Goodall travels more than 300 days a year. She teaches people about how they can help the environment. She has won many awards because of her research and environmental work. In one of her books Jane writes this question to all people:
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“The most important thing I can say to you, is that you as an individual, have a part to play. You can make a difference. You get to choose: do you want to use your life to make the world a better place for humans and animals and the environment? Or not? It’s all up to you.”
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