朗文3L看听学英语第四册 Lesson 23

　　23 Television Day: Right or left?
Which of your two hands do you use most? Very few of us can use both of our hands equally¹ well. Most of us are right-handed. Only about five people out of a hundred are left-handed². New-born babies can grasp objects with either of their hands, but in about two years they usually prefer to use their right hands. Scientists don't know why this happens. They used to think that we inherited³ this tendency from our animal ancestors⁴, but this may not be true. Monkeys are our closest relatives in the animal world. Scientists have found that monkeys prefer to use ont of thieir hands more than the other-but it can be either hand. There are as many right-handed monkeys as there are left-handed ones. Next time you visit the zoo,watch the monkeys carefully. You'll see that some of them will prefer to swing from their right hands and others will use their left hands. But most human beings use their right hands better and this makes life difficult for those who prefer to use their left hsnds. We live in a right-handed world.

1 equally   

adv.平等地；公平地

参考例句：

• Divide the cake into quarters and share it equally.把蛋糕分成四份，大家平均享用。
• The blue sky belongs equally to us all.蓝天为人所共有。

2 left-handed   

adj.左手的；用左手的

参考例句：

• She played left-handed to give her opponent a fair chance.她用左手进行比赛以给对手一个较大的机会。
• If you do most things with your left hand, you are left-handed.如果你用左手做大部分事情，你就是左撇子。

3 inherited   

adj.通过继承得到的，遗传的；继承权的v.继承( inherit的过去式和过去分词 )；经遗传获得（品质、身体特征等）接替（责任等），继任

参考例句：

• She had not inherited her mother's forgiving nature. 她没有承袭她母亲的宽厚天性。
• She inherited a fortune from her father. 她从她父亲那里继承了一大笔财富。

4 ancestors   

n.祖先( ancestor的名词复数 )；祖宗；原型；（动物的）原种

参考例句：

• His ancestors had come to America from Ireland. 他的祖先从爱尔兰来到美国。
• The custom of worshipping ancestors is prevalent among these people. 崇拜祖先的风俗在这些人中是普遍的。 来自《简明英汉词典》