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Dolphins prove to be great at making deals

Deal to umowa, układ, porozumienie. Deal-making to zawieranie umów, układów, porozumień. Poznaj wyrazy i wyrażenia związane z tematem i dowiedz się kto, oprócz ludzi, świetnie robi "deale".


We all know that dolphins are smart, but they never cease to amaze how intelligent they are. This time a recent study of male dolphins, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that dolphins are excellent deal-makers.


A lot of species form well-defined groups and animals cooperate within them, however collaborations between groups is rare. Cross-group relationships are usually hostile. Dolphins, on the other hand, co-operate across group lines to achieve their goals, such as protecting females from other rivals, and boost their chances of mating.


It turns out that dolphins off the west coast of Australia, just like humans, are able to negotiate incredibly complex social relationships. They can form alliances between groups, which apparently makes them more popular with dolphin "ladies". Scientists believe that dolphins' ability to forge across-group alliances is the result of the size of their brains. Relative to their body mass, dolphins, after humans, have the biggest brains among mammals.


Task 1.

Find these six phrases in the text. (answers)

  1. to stop surprising someone (phrase)

  2. not common (adjective)

  3. very unfriendly or aggressive (adjective)

  4. to increase the possibility of having sex in order to produce young (phrase)

  5. to manage a complicated relationship (phrase)

  6. to put a lot of effort into building a lasting cooperation (phrase)

Task 2.

Here's the list of expressions connected to the topic of deal-making. Can you explain the connection? Click on the word to see their definitions in the Macmillan Dictionary of English.

PDF worksheet with the content of this post:


Answers:

Task 1:

1. to cease to amaze someone 2. rare 3. hostile 4. to boost chances of mating 5. to negotiate a complex relationship 6. to forge an alliance

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