The Reading:
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 selfish 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?
Altruism is a type of behaviour in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for another animal or group of animals. The author states that alturism is opposite of selfishness and one does not gain anything for themselves while the speaker feels that the scientists have re-examined the meaning of alturism and it has changed with time.
In the reading, the author begins by stating that altruism abound, both among human and mammals. He feels that, humans share food or even donate body organs to family and strangers, but does not gain any reward for performing the act. The speaker , however, disagrees with this viewpoint. She states that the donor recieves appreciation and applause for such selfless acts. She goes on to that that one's self worth is increased and such non-material rewards are considered valuable.
The author claims that the meerkat shows altrustic sentinel behaviour that helps ensure the survival of other members of it's group by standing guard and looking out for predators while others eat or hunt food. Again, the speaker believes that there are flaws in writer's argument by stating that meerkats have an eating habit of eating before they stand guarding.The speaker holds that meerkats are the first one to see the predators coming , hence they are the most likely to escape into their burrows.
As we can see, both the author and speaker holds conflicting views on altruism possessed by both humans and mammals.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 247, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...ward for performing the act. The speaker , however, disagrees with this viewpoint....
^^
Line 5, column 363, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: The
...it of eating before they stand guarding.The speaker holds that meerkats are the fir...
^^^
Line 5, column 440, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...he first one to see the predators coming , hence they are the most likely to escap...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, hence, however, if, look, while
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 7.0 10.4613686534 67% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 7.30242825607 178% => OK
Relative clauses : 13.0 12.0772626932 108% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 22.412803532 107% => OK
Preposition: 27.0 30.3222958057 89% => OK
Nominalization: 2.0 5.01324503311 40% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1214.0 1373.03311258 88% => OK
No of words: 240.0 270.72406181 89% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.05833333333 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.93597934253 4.04702891845 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.45419759897 2.5805825403 95% => OK
Unique words: 145.0 145.348785872 100% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.604166666667 0.540411800872 112% => OK
syllable_count: 358.2 419.366225166 85% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 6.0 8.23620309051 73% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 24.0 21.2450331126 113% => OK
Sentence length SD: 69.8123198297 49.2860985944 142% => OK
Chars per sentence: 121.4 110.228320801 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.0 21.698381199 111% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.3 7.06452816374 61% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 4.19205298013 72% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 1.0 4.27373068433 23% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.26237174871 0.272083759551 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.106593263496 0.0996497079465 107% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.174679765893 0.0662205650399 264% => The coherence between sentences is low.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.161712731534 0.162205337803 100% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.171639667762 0.0443174109184 387% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.4 13.3589403974 108% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 55.58 53.8541721854 103% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 11.0289183223 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.2367328918 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.77 8.42419426049 104% => OK
difficult_words: 60.0 63.6247240618 94% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.0 10.7273730684 121% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 10.498013245 110% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.2008830022 107% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 76.6666666667 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 23.0 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.