Question

Science is finally beginning to embrace animals who were, for a long time, considered second-class citizens.

As Annie Potts of Canterbury University has noted, chickens distinguish among one hundred chicken faces and recognize familiar individuals even after months of separation. When given problems to solve, they reason: hens trained to pick colored buttons sometimes choose to give up an immediate food reward for a slightly later (and better) one. Healthy hens may aid friends, and mourn when those friend die.

Pigs respond meaningful to human symbols. When a research team led by Candace Croney at Penn State University carried wooden blocks marked with X and O symbols around pigs, only the O carriers offered food to the animals. The pigs soon ignored the X carriers in favor of the O’s. Then the team switched from real-life objects to T-shirts printed with X or O symbols. Still, the pigs walked only toward the O-shirted people: they had transferred their knowledge to a two-dimensional format, a not inconsiderable feat of reasoning.

I’ve been guilty of prejudiced expectations, myself. At the start of my career almost four decades ago, I was firmly convinced that monkeys and apes out-think and out-feel other animals. They’re other primates(灵长目动物), after all, animals from our own mammalian(灵长目动物) class. Fairly soon, I came to see that along with our closest living relatives, whales too are masters of cultural learning. and elephants express profound joy and mourning with their social companions. Long-term studies in the wild on these mammals helped to fuel a viewpoint shift in our society: the public no longer so easily accepts monkeys made to undergo painful procedure in laboratories, elephants forced to perform in circuses, and dolphins kept in small tanks at theme parks.

Over time, though, as I began to broaden out even further and explore the inner lives of fish, chickens, pigs, goats, and cows, 1 started to wonder: Will the new science of "food animals" bring an ethical (伦理的) revolution in terms of who we eat? In other words, will our ethics start to catch up with the development of our science?

Animal activists are already there, of course, committed to not eating these animals. But what about the rest of us? Can paying attention to the thinking and feeling of these animals lead us to make changes in who we eat?

1.According to Annie Potts, hens have the ability of          .

A. interaction

B. analysis

C. creation

D. abstraction

2.The research into pigs shows that pigs         .

A. learn letters quickly

B. have a good eyesight

C. can build up a good relationship

D. can apply knowledge to new situations

3.Paragraph 4 is mainly about         .

A. the similarities between mammals and humans

B. the necessity of long-term studies on mammals

C. a change in people’s attitudes towards animals

D. a discovery of how animals express themselves

4.What might be the best title for the passage?

A. The Inner Lives of Food Animals

B. The Lifestyles of Food Animals

C. Science Reports on Food Animals

D. A Revolution in Food Animals

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】这是一篇议论文。文章论述了我们原来当作食物的动物实际上也有情感有思想，它们有一定的分析推理能力。人类不应只将它们当作食物。

1.推理判断题。由第二段中的“When given problems to solve, they reason: hens trained to pick colored buttons choose some times to give up an immediate food reward for a slightly later (and better) one”可知，当解决问题时，母鸡们会推理：例如，受过挑选彩色纽扣的训练的母鸡们有时会选择放弃即时的食物奖励，换取稍晚一些(而且更好)的食物奖励。由此可知，母鸡们具备分析能力。故B选项正确。

2.推理判断题。由第三段中的“Pigs respond meaningful to human symbols. When a research team led by Candace Croney at Penn State University carried wooden blocks marked with X and O symbols around pigs, only the O carriers offered food to the animals. The pigs soon ignored the X carriers in favor of the O's. Then the team switched from real-life objects to T-shirts printed with X or O symbols. Still, the pigs walked only toward the O-shirted people: they had transferred their knowledge to a two-dimensional format, a not inconsiderable feat of reasoning.”可知，一些研究者拿着带X标记的木板，一些研究者拿着带O标记的木板，只有拿带O标记木板的研究者给猪提供食物，猪很快就只理会这些研究者了。当木板换成带X和O标记的衬衫时，猪仍然只走向那些穿带O标记衬衫的研究者。这表明猪将把知识转移到了二维的形式，这是一种相当大的推理壮举。结合选项，D选项正确。

3.段落大意题。由第四段中的“At the start of my career almost four decades ago, I was firmly convinced that monkeys and apes out-think and out-feel other animals...Fairly soon, I came to see that along with our closest living relatives, whales too are masters of cultural learning, and elephants express profound joy and mourning with their social companions. Long-term studies…helped to fuel a viewpoint shift in our society: the public no longer so easily accepts monkeys made to undergo painful procedure kin laboratories, elephants forced to perform in circuses, and dolphins kept in small tanks at theme parks.”可知，数十年前，作者坚信猴子和猩猩在思考能力和情感上都胜过其他的动物。很快，作者就意识到除了猴子和猩猩，鲸鱼也是文化学习的主人，大象也表现出高兴等情感。长期的研究也促进着我们社会观点的转变：我们不再认为猴子只能是实验室里的实验对象，大象只能在马戏团里进行表演，海豚只能被养在主题公园狭小的池子里。很明显，本段介绍的是人们对动物看法的转变。故C选项正确。

4.标题归纳题。第一段提出：科学开始拥抱原来被我们认为是二等公民的动物们（即：我们对某些动物的看法正在发生变化）。第二和第三段以母鸡和猪为例告诉读者：通过科学研究，母鸡和猪也具备情感，也具备分析推理能力。第四段介绍了人们对动物看法的转变。第五和第六段呼吁读者：动物有自己的情感和思想，我们不要只将动物当成我们的食物。结合每段大意可知，该文主要是围绕动物也有情感有思想来展开的。故A选项适合做该文标题。