Directions: In this part, you trill have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on the Answer Sheet. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Bird Brains
Cracking Walnuts
The scene: a traffic light crossing on a university campus in Japan. Carrion crows and humans line up patiently, waiting for the traffic to halt. When the lights change, the birds hop in front of the cars and place walnuts, which they picked from the adjoining trees, on the road. After the lights turn green again, the birds fly away and vehicles drive over the nuts, cracking them open. Finally, when its time to cross again, the crows join the pedestrians and pick up their meal.
Biologists already knew the corvine family--it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws--to be among the smartest of all birds. But this remarkable piece of behavior would seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence. Researchers believe they probably noticed cars driving over nuts fallen from a walnut tree overhanging a road. The crows already knew about dropping clams from a height on the seashore to break them open, but found this did not work for walnuts because of their soft green outer shell.
Other birds do this, although not with quite the same precision. In the Dardia Mountains of Greece, eagles can be seen carrying tortoises up to a great height and dropping them on to rocks below.
Do Birds Have Intelligence?
Scientists have argued for decades over whether wild creatures, including birds, show genuine intelligence. Some still consider the human mind to be unique, with animals capable of only the simplest mental processes. But a new generation of scientists believes that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do. Birds can even talk in a meaningful way.
Good Memory
Some birds show quite astonishing powers of recall. A type of North American crow may have the animal worlds keenest memory. It collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, and then carefully buries them for safe keeping across over an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them, even when they are covered in feet of snow.
Making and Using Tools
On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, the crows demonstrate a tool-making, and tool using capability comparable to Paleolithic mans. Dr Gavin Hunt, a New Zealand biologist, spent three years observing the birds. He found that they used two different forms of hooked tool to pull grubs from deep within tree trunks. Other birds and some primates have been seen to use objects to forage. But what is unusual here is that the crows also make their own tools. Using their beaks as scissors and snippers, they fashion hooks from twigs, and make barbed, serrated rakes or combs from stiff leathery leaves. And they dont throw the tools away after one use--they carry them from one foraging place to another.
Scientists are still debating what this behavior means. Mans use of tools is considered a prime indication of his intelligence, is this a skill acquired by chance? Did the crows acquire tool making skills by trial and error rather than planning? Or, in its ability to adapt and exploit an enormous range of resources and habitats, is the crow closer to humans than any other creature?
Dr Hunt said this of his research: There are many intriguing questions that remain to be answered about crows tool behavior. Most important would be whether or not they mostly learn or genetically inherit the know-how to make and use tools. Without knowing that it is difficult to say anything about their intelligence, although one could guess that these crows have the capability to be as clever as crows in general.
The woodpecker finch is another consummate toolmaker; It will snap off a twig, trim it to size and use it to pry insects out of bark. In captivity, a cactus finch learnt how to do this by watching the woodpecker finch from its cage. The teacher helped the pupil by passing a ready- made spine across for the cactus finch to use.
Communication Ability
Another sign of intelligence, thought to be absent in most non-human animals, is the ability to engage in complex, meaningful communication. The work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona, Tucson, has now shown the general perception of parrots as mindless mimics to be incorrect.
The captive African grey parrot Alex is one of a number of parrots now believed to have the intelligence and emotional make-up of a 3 to 4 year old child. Under the tutelage of Professor Pepperherg, he acquired a vocabulary of over 100 words. He could say the words for colors and shapes and, apparently, use them meaningfully. He has learned the labels for more than 35 different objects; he knows when to use no, and phrases such as come here, I want X, and Wanna go Y.
A birds ability to understand, or speak, another birds language can be very valuable. New Zealand saddlebacks occupy the same territory for years. They have distinct song dialects passed on through the generations. New territory vacancies are hard to find, so young males are always on the look-out for new widows into whose territory they can move. While they wander around the forest, they learn the different dialect songs, just as we might learn a language or develop a regional dialect. As soon as a territory-owning male dies, a new young male may move in to take over within 10 minutes. He will immediately start singing the dialect of the territory he is in.
Possessing Abstract Concepts
Intelligence--if this is what scientists agree these birds possess--is not limited to the birds we always thought of as bright. In recent experiments at Cardiff University in Britain, a pigeon identified subtle differences between abstract designs that even art students did not notice. It could even tell that a Picasso was not the same as a Monet. The experiment seems to show that pigeons can hold concepts, or ideas, in their heads. The visual concept for the pigeon is Picassos painting style.
Social Necessity Makes Birds Smart.
Scientists believe it is not physical need that drives creatures to become smarter, but social necessity. The complexities of living together require a higher level of intelligence. Corvids and parrots, along with dolphins, chimps, and humans are all highly social--and smart--animals.
Some ravens certainly apply their intelligence for the good of the flock. In North America, they contact other ravens to tell them the location of a carcass. Ravens are specialized feeders on the carcasses of large mammals such as moose during the harsh winter months of North America. The birds roost together at night on a tree, arriving noisily from all directions shortly before sunset. The next morning, all the birds leave the roost as highly synchronized groups at dawn, giving a few noisy caws, followed by honking. They may all be flying off in the direction taken by a bird, which had discovered a carcass the previous day. This bird leads the others to his food store, apparently sharing his finding with the rest of the flock.
Ravens share information about their findings of food carcasses because dead animals are patchily distributed and hard to find. Many eyes have a better chance of finding a carcass, and once one has been located, the information is pooled. Although the carcass now has to be shared between more individuals, the heavy snowfall and risk of mammal scavengers taking the food mean that a single bird or a small group could not eat it all alone anyway.
Intelligence Inheritance
The level of intelligence among birds may vary. But no living bird is truly stupid. Each generation of birds that leaves the protection of its parents to become independent has the inborn genetic information that will help it to survive in the outside world and the skills that it has learned from its parents. They would never have met the challenge of evolution without some degree of native cunning. Its just that some have much more than others.
1. The example of the Japanese carrion crows at the beginning of the passage is a demonstration of the ______.
A) kindness of people B) harmonious living conditions
C) ecological stability D) bird intelligence
2. ______ believe that birds as well as some other non-human animals show intelligence.
A) Biologists
B) A new generation of scientists
C) Researchers of the University of Arizona
D) Only Dr Hunt and his colleagues
3. A type of North American crow can ______ most of the pine seeds it buried even they are in deep snow.
A) eat up B) retrieve C) crack D) lose
4. The writer compares the ability of the crows on the Pacific island of New Caledonia in making and using tools with that of ______.
A) Paleolithic man B) North American crow
C) the woodpecker finch D) carrion crows
5. People generally regard parrots speaking human language as ______.
A) meaningful communication B) conveyance of feelings
C) mindless mimics D) ridiculous noises
6. A New Zealand saddleback learns the language of another saddleback in order to ______.
A) share information about food with it
B) beat it in the competition for a spouse
C) use the dialect to control the territory it just moves into
D) show that it has the ability to acquire different dialects
7. It is ______ that drives birds to become intelligent.
A) society necessity B) physical need
C) genetic information D) psychological request
8. Some birds, such as ______, may hold ideas in their heads.
9. Some ravens in North America apply their intelligence for the good of the flock by ______ the others to his food store.
10. Birds genetically inherit skills and abilities to meet the ______.
答案与解析
1. D 2. B 3. B 4. A 5. C 6. C 7. A
8. pigeons
9. leading/guiding/directing
10. challenge of evolution
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
1.由Cracking Walnuts部分第二段第二句But this remarkable piece of behavior would seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence.可见乌鸦借助交通工具轧碎核桃的行为是鸟类具有智慧的例证。故本题正确答案为D项。
2.由Do Birds Have Intelligence?部分第三句But a new generation of scientists believes that creatures，including birds，can solve problems by insight and even learn by example，as human children do.可见新一代的科学家们认为鸟类和其他动物电具有智慧。因此本题正确答案为B项。
3.Good Memory部分讲到有些鸟类拥有非凡的记忆力。作者以某类北美乌鸦为例。在每年11月份，该乌鸦将近三万粒松子储藏在广达两百平方英里的范围内。在随后的八个月里，它能够找回90%的松子，无论它们是否被厚厚的白雪覆盖。根据原文Over the next eight months，it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them，even when they are covered in feet of snow.可知本题正确答案为B项。
4.由Making and Using Tools部分第一段第一句On the Pacific island of New Caledonia， the crows demonstrate a tool-making，and tool using capability comparable to Paleolithic mans.可知新喀里多尼亚岛上的这种乌鸦所展示的制造和使用工具的能力可以和旧石器时代的人相媲美。故本题正确答案为A项。
5.根据Communication Ability部分第一段最后一句The work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona，Tucson，has now shown the general perception of parrots as mindless mimics to be incorrect.可知教授的工作证明了把鹦鹉说话当作愚蠢学舌的普遍看法是错误的。由此可以推断，人们一般认为鹦鹉说话是愚蠢的学舌。故本题正确答案为C项。
6.由Communication Ability部分第三段中的While they wander around the forest，they learn the different dialect songs...As soon as a territory-owning male dies，a new young male may move in to take over within 10 minutes.He will immediately start singing the dialect of the territory he is in.可知年轻的雄鸟学习不同的方言并不是为了和该领地的鸟交流关于食物的信息，而是为了在该领地的雄鸟死去后可以占据该领地，用方言统领其他鸟。因此本题的正确答案为C项。
7.由Social Necessity Makes Birds Smart部分第一句Scientists believe it is not physical need that drives creatures to become smarter，but social necessity.可知是社会需求并非生理需求使生物变得更有智慧。故本题正确答案为A项。
8.Possessing Abstract Concepts部分最后两句作者说：The experiment seems to show that pigeons can hold concepts，or ideas，in their heads.The visual concept for the pigeon is Picassos painting style.作者举鸽子为例，讲到有些鸟类具有抽象概念。故本题答案为pigeons。
9.根据Social Necessity Makes Birds Smart部分第二段Some ravens certainly apply their intelligence for the good of the flock...This bird leads the others to his food store，apparently sharing his finding with the rest of the flock.可知北美的这些乌鸦引导同伴到自己发现食物的地方，让大家一起分享食物。故此题答案可以填写leading/guiding/directing。
10.根据Intelligence Inheritance部分倒数第二句They would never have met the challenge of evolution without some degree of native cunning.可见鸟类是通过基因遗传获得能力和智慧应对进化过程中的挑战。故本题答案为challenge of evolution。