Question

Certain animals know without analysis the difference between a number of objects and a smaller number. In his book The Natural History of Selbourne (1786), the naturalist Gilbert White tells how he surreptitiously removed one egg a day from a kind of bird Plover’s nest, and how the mother laid another egg each day to make up for the missing one. He notes that other kinds of birds ignore the loss of a single egg, but if more than one egg has been removed, they will give up their nests. It has also been noted that a certain type of bees always provides five—never four, never six—caterpillars (毛蟲) for each of their eggs so that their young have something to eat when the eggs have hatched out. Research has also shown that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd (奇數(shù)) and even (偶數(shù)) numbers of food pieces.

These have led some people to think that creatures can actually count. They also point to dogs that have been taught to respond to questions about numbers with the correct number of barks.

Animals respond to quantities only when they are connected to survive as in the case of the eggs, or survive as in the case of food. They can “count” only when the objects are present and only when the numbers involved are small—no more than seven or eight. In lab experiments, animals which are trained to count one kind of objects were unable to count any other type. What interests them are the objects, not the numbers. Animals’ achievements simply are not equal to evidence of counting. They only show the results of clever, careful training.

1.The author refers to Gilbert’s book in paragraph 1 in order to_______.

A．support the idea that animals can count

B．show attitudes have changed since 1786

C．prove that some animals are aware of quantities

D．indicate that more research is needed in this field

2.The author mentions all of the following are aware of quantities in some way EXCEPT _______.

A．caterpillars                            B．bees

C．mice                                 D．plovers

3.The underlined word “surreptitiously” probably means _______.

A．quickly                               B．carefully

C．occasionally                           D．secretly

4.Where does this text probably come from?

A．A news report.                         B．A science fiction.

C．A park guide.                           D．A biology magazine.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.D

【解析】

試題分析：這篇文章介紹動物有數(shù)字的意識，并通過一些實驗來證明這點。

1.細節(jié)題：從第一段的句子：Certain animals know without analysis the difference between a number of objects and a smaller number. 可知作者提到Gilbert的書是為了證明動物有數(shù)字意識。選C

2.排除題：文章第一段的句子：removed one egg a day from a kind of bird Plover’s nest, ，It has also been noted that a certain type of bees always provides ，和Research has also shown that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd (奇數(shù)) and even (偶數(shù)) numbers of food pieces.可知作者提到BCD都能意識到數(shù)字，但沒有說毛毛蟲可以意識到數(shù)字。選A

3.猜詞題：從句意看是作者偷偷每天從珩科鳥的鳥巢中拿掉一個蛋，選D

4.文章出處題：這篇文章介紹動物有數(shù)字的意識，應(yīng)該是出自生物雜志。選D

考點：考查科普類短文

點評：本文考查細節(jié)題為主，細節(jié)題可以在文章中直接找到與答案有關(guān)的信息?或是其變體。搜查信息在閱讀中非常重要它包括理解作者在敘述某事時使用的具體事實、數(shù)據(jù)、圖表等細節(jié)信息。做這類題一般采用尋讀法?即先讀題，然后帶著問題快速閱讀短文，找出與問題有關(guān)的詞語或句子，再對相關(guān)部分進行分析對比，找出答案。