【题文】Have you ever heard of the expression “birdbrain”? People use it to talk about someone who is stupid, but crows(乌鸦) show that this is unfair. Now it has been discovered that crows may understand analogies (类推法).
It was once thought that only humans could understand analogies, which help us to solve problems creatively.
To test
this ability in animals, scientists do RMTS tests. If a pair was AA, for example, picking BB to match it would be correct. If the pair was CD, however, then EF would be correct.
Monkeys have learned RMTS, but scientists wanted to know if crows could do it, too. An international team led by Edward Wasserman from the US first trained two crows to match things by color, shape and number in what is called IMTS, then moved onto RMTS.
For the IMTS test, the birds were put in a cage with a plate that had three cards and two cups in it. The card in the middle was the sample (样本), while the other wasn’t. The cup with the card that matched the sample card had some food to eat.[来源:学科网ZXXK]
In the second part of the experiment, the birds were tested with RMTS tests. A card with two same-sized circles, for example, meant they should pick the test card with two same-sized squares and not two different-sized circles (圆). The birds did well in the more difficult test and picked the correct card more than three quarters of the time, Science News reports.
Wasserman was surprised that crows were able to solve the problem without any training in RMTS. “What the crows have done is surprising,” he said.
So perhaps it’s time to stop saying “birdbrain” for good.
【小题1】In the opening paragraph, the writer used “birdbrain” to
.
| A．teach people how to use this expression |
| B．introduce a famous scientist Edward Wasserman |
| C．introduce recent findings about crows’ intelligence (智力) |
| D．get readers interested in the background of the expression |
【小题2】The underlined phrase “
this ability” in the 3
rd paragraph refers to
.
| A．the ability to play cards |
| B．the ability to find food to eat |
| C．the ability to understand analogies |
| D．the ability to pick the test card |
【小题3】In the RMTS test, if the birds were given the sample like this
, which card should they pick?
【小题4】Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
| A．Monkeys understand analogies. |
| B．Crows show how clever they are. |
| C．Crows did well in RMTS. |
| D．Monkeys are cleverer than crows. |
