英语写作精讲精练：精美有效表意

　　Passage 2:

　　One day, in a zoo, a female ape held something in her hand, clutching it tightly.(虽然是一个事实，但对于我们读者来讲就会做出各种猜测，所以，这里面肯定有文章) A zookeeper was anxious to get it from the ape, for (表原因)he was suspicious that the thing was dangerous or valuable.(真是如此吗？想必不会的，否则故事讲起来就没劲了) First he offered the ape some peanuts, only to be met with a blank stare. Realizing that they were negotiating, the zookeeper upped the ante and offered a piece of pineapple. At this point, while maintaining eye contact, the ape opened her hand and revealed a key chain, to the zookeeper’s great relief. As he gave the pineapple to the ape, she suddenly changed her mind. Instead of giving him the whole chain, she broke it and gave him a link, perhaps figuring why give him the whole thing if she can get a bit of pineapple for each piece. What an astute bargainer she was!(很有趣，不是吗？但这个东西究竟要派做什么用场呢？难得就是为了换好东西吃吗？恐怕不会那么简单，否则文章开头就不会那么安排了)

　　The first time an ape named Coco broke out, the zookeepers chalked it up to human error.(猩猩跑出来了，虽然讲是由于管理员的疏忽，但肯定不会那么简单的。否则，开始时讲的内容就与此无关了，是吗？) It was a balmy day, and the apes at the zoo had been playing in their big outdoor enclosure. Afterward, shocked zookeepers looked up and saw Coco and his family hanging out in trees near the elephant barn. Later investigation revealed the door connecting the furnace room to the outdoor enclosure was open. The director chewed out his staff, and the incident was forgotten. But (不看后面内容就知道又出问题了，为什么？因为有but)the next time the weather was nice, Coco escaped again. The director fumed. He was getting ready to fire someone. But(这里肯定要出现转机了，为什么？因为有but嘛) soon afterwards, he caught Coco in the act. First the young ape climbed down some air-vent louvers into a dry moat. Then, taking hold of the bottom of the furnace-room door, he pulled it back just enough to slide a wire into the gap, slip a latch and pop the door open. The following day, the director noticed something shiny sticking out of Coco’s mouth: that was the wire lock-pick, stowed there between escapes.(谜团解开了，但又是为了说明什么问题呢？眼睛的余光一扫，看到下面还有很多内容，所以，作者的真实意图还在后面)

　　An anthropologist tried to teach an ape human sign language and also some virtuous habits such as saving and sharing. Indeed, the ape set up an example of sharing that a robber baron might envy. When he was given some grapes and asked to share them with the anthropologist, he promptly ate all the fruit. Then seemingly remembered he had been asked to share, he handed the anthropologist the stem.(

　　A whale, called Charles once helped save his family.(肯定要讲述全过程的，否则读者没法理解其中的诀窍，所以，此话也是“帅才”) He was kept in a big tank with his mate in a zoological consulting firm. When his mate gave birth to a baby, who did not thrive at first, keepers took him out of the tank by a stretcher for emergency care. After that they returned the big baby back to the tank. As the boom operator halted the stretcher a few feet above the water, the baby suddenly began to throw up through his mouth and blowholes. The keepers feared it would aspirate vomit, which could bring pneumonia, but they could not reach the baby to help it. Apparently sizing up the problem, Charles swam under the stretcher and allowed one of the men to stand on his head, something he had never been trained to do. Then, using his tail flukes to keep steady, Charles let the keeper reach up and release the bridle so the 420-pound baby could slide into the water within reach of help.(又是一个精美的例子！该说明举这些例子的意图了吧？)

　　Do animals really have thoughts, what we call consciousness? (这才是作者要揭示的真实意图，而且是以一个问句的形式摆出的)If animals can think, they will probably do their best thinking when it serves their purposes. There are more and more evidences to show how little we know about animal intelligence.(深入到这个层面了) Besides,(表示递进) what is intelligence anyway? If life is about perpetuation of a species—and intelligence is meant to serve that perpetuation—then we can’t hold a candle to pea-brained sea turtles, which predated us and survived the calamity that wiped out dinosaurs. Still,(层层递进) it is comforting to realize that other species besides our own can stand back and appraise the world around them even if their horizons are more constrained than ours.(写作的真实意图出现在了结论段里)