Question

Choose the best words or expressions and complete the passage

Number sense is not the ability to count. It is the ability to recognize a change in number. Human beings are born with this ability. ______________, experiments show that many animals are, too. For example, many birds have good number sense. If a nest (巢) has four eggs and you remove one, the bird will notice. However, if you remove two, the bird generally leaves. This means that the bird ______________the difference between two and three.

Another interesting experiment showed a bird's______________number sense. A man was trying to take a photo of a crow (乌鸦) that had a nest in a tower, but the crow always left when she saw him coming. The bird did not______________ until the man left the tower. The man had an idea. He took another man with him to the tower. One man left and the other stayed, but they weren't successful in fooling the bird. The crow stayed away until the second man left, too. The experiment was_______________with three men and then with four men. It was not until five men went into the tower and only four left that they finally managed to take a photo.

How good is a human's number sense? It's not very good. For example, babies about fourteen months old______________ notice if something is taken away from a small group. But when the number goes beyond three or four, the children are often very confused.

It seems that number sense is something we have in common with many animals in this world, and that our human ability is not much better than a crow's.

1.A.Importantly B.Surprisingly C.Disappointedly D.Fortunately

2.A.went out B.found out C.looked out D.turned out

3.A.forgetful B.friendly C.amazing D.silly

4.A.escape B.return C.fly D.sing

5.A.noticed B.mentioned C.repeated D.produced

6.A.never B.rarely C.properly D.usually

Answer

1.B

2.B

3.C

4.B

5.C

6.B

【解析】

文章大意：本文是一篇说事理性的说明文，篇章模式为总-分-分-总的结构。第一段提出话题，说明什么是数字感，并通过拿鸟类作为例子说明，不仅人类与生俱来都有这种数字感，而且动物也有；第二段运用一个人想对一只乌鸦进行拍照的另一个有趣的例子来进一步鸟类的神奇的数字的分辨力；第三段，以一个婴儿为例说明人类的数字感并不是很好；最后一段为结论段，重申主题：人类和许多动物一样都有数字感，而且人类的这种能力不比乌鸦好多少。

1.句意：令人惊讶地是，实验表明许多动物也是。

考查副词。Importantly重要的是；Surprisingly出人意料地；Disappointedly失望地；Fortunately幸运地。根据上下文句意，由“Human beings are born with this ability...”到“experiments show that many animals are, too...”可看出空格前后句意上表达出递进关系。应填Surprisingly。故选B。

2.句意：这意味着这只鸟发现了二和三的区别。

考查动词短语。went out出去；found out发现；looked out注意；turned out关掉，熄灭（电灯、煤气等）。概括结论性，根据上文的事例，“If a nest has four eggs and you remove one, the bird will notice...”得出结论。带入选项B“found out”句意为“鸟类能发现两个和三个之间的区别”。符合句意。应填found out，故选B。

3.句意：另一个有趣的实验显示了鸟类惊人的数字感。

考查形容词。forgetful健忘的；friendly友好的；amazing 惊人的；silly愚蠢的。根据下文实验事例，“It was not until five men went into the tower and only four left that they finally managed to take a photo...”推测结论为“惊人的数字意识”更符合句意。应填amazing，故选C。

4.句意：那只鸟直到那人离开塔楼才回来。

考查动词。escape逃跑；return返回；fly飞； sing唱。根据上下文句意，由“The bird did not...until the man left the tower...”得出，return带入更符合句意。故选B。

5.句意：实验由三个人重复，然后由四个人重复。

考查动词。Noticed注意；mentioned提到，提及；repeated重复；produced 产生。根据上下文句意，“The experiment was…with three men and then with four men. It was not until five men went into the tower and only four left that they finally managed to take a photo.”可见该实验进行反复检测调整，故填“repeated”，故选C。

6.句意：例如，14个月大的婴儿很少注意到是否有东西从一个小群体中被拿走。

考查副词。never从不；rarely很少, 不常；properly正确地，恰当地；usually通常地。首尾呼应。根据上文，“How good is a human's number sense? It's not very good...”得知人类对数字的意识不是很好，又由“...But when the number goes beyond three or four, the children are often very confused...”得出“rarely”“很少发现”更符合句意。故选B。