原文：
A
In 1977Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University did something verybold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out tofind what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. She brought aone-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him toreproduce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned tocommunicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”
B
WhenPepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They weresimply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the abilityto think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs’eyes and know that, of course, they have thoughts and emotions. But such claimsremain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all tooeasy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then,does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking – that it is ableto acquire information about the world and act on it? “That’s why I started mystudies with Alex,” Pepperberg said. They were seated – she at her desk, he ontop of his cage – in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar, atBrandeis University. Newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys werestacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team – and because of their work,the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful.
C
Certainskills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, agrasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others’ motives,imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments,researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chippingaway at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpseof where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays arethieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzeesuse a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to huntsmall mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stunsinsects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply bywatching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned outto be a surprisingly good talker.
D
Thirtyyears after the Alex studies began; Pepperberg and a changing collection ofassistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with twoyounger parrots, also served as Alex’s flock, providing the social input allparrots crave. Like any flock, this one – as small as it was – had its share ofdrama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times aroundPepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a maleassistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago petstore where she let the store’s assistant pick him out because she didn’t wantother scientists saying later that she’d particularly chosen an especiallysmart bird for her work. Given that Alex’s brain was the size of a shelledwalnut, most researchers thought Pepperberg’s interspecies communication studywould be futile.
E
“Somepeople actually called me crazy for trying this,” she said. “Scientists thoughtthat chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps can’tspeak.” Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use signlanguage and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. Thebonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him sohe can “talk” to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations ofsymbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing ashaving an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperberg’spatient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost onehundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although hecalls an apple a “banerry.” “Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, andthey look a little bit like cherries, so Alex made up that word for them,”Pepperberg said.
F
Itsounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willinglydoing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to arguewith Pepperberg’s explanation for his behaviors. She wasn’t handing him treatsfor the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say thesounds. “He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitatethem,” Pepperberg said, after pronouncing “seven” for Alex a good dozen timesin a row. “I’m not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language,” sheadded. “That’s never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitativeskills to get a better understanding of avian cognition.”
G
In otherwords, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds ofsome English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a bird’s basicunderstanding of the world. She couldn’t ask him what he was thinking about,but she could ask him about his knowledge of numbers, shapes, and colors. Todemonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in themiddle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from abasket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alex’s eye. “What’s the same?”she asked. Without hesitation, Alex’s beak opened: “Co-lor.” “What’sdifferent?” Pepperberg asked. “Shape,” Alex said. His voice had the digitizedsound of a cartoon character.
Since parrots lack lips (another reason itwas difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemedto come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But thewords – and what can only be called the thoughts – were entirely his.
H
For thenext 20 minutes, Alex can through his tests, distinguish colors, shapes, sizes,and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, suchas accounting for the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then,as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his bird’s brain, Alex spoke up.“Talk clearly!” he commanded when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was alsoteaching talked with wrong pronunciation. “Talk clearly!” “Don’t be a smartaleck,” Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. “He knows all this, and hegets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just tobe obstinate. At this stage, he’s like a teenager; he’s moody, and I’m neversure what he’ll do.”
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with theinformation given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is notgiven in the passage
1 Firstly, Alex has grasped quite a lotof vocabulary.
2 At the beginning of the study, Alexfelt frightened in the presence of humans.
3 Previously, many scientists realizedthat the animal possesses the ability of thinking.
4 It has taken a long time beforepeople get to know cognition existing in animals.
5 As Alex could approximately imitatethe sounds of English words, he was capable of roughly answering Irene’squestions regarding the world.
6 By breaking in other parrots as wellas producing the incorrect answers, he tried to be focused.
Questions 7-10
Complete the following summary of theparagraphs of Reading Passage 1.
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from theReading Passage 1 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-10 on youranswer sheet.
After the training of Irene, Parrot Alex canuse his vocal tract to pronounce more than 7..............................,while other
scientists believe that animals have no thisadvanced ability of thinking, they would rather teach 8……………………….
Pepperberg clarified that she wanted toconduct a study concerning 9……………………….but not to teach him to talk.
The store’s assistant picked out a bird atrandom for her for the sake of avoiding other scientists saying that the birdis 10……………………….afterward.
Questions 11-13
Answer the questions 11-13 below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR ANUMBER from the passage for each answer.
11 What did Alex reply regarding thesimilarity of the subjects shown to him?
12 What is the problem of the youngparrots except for Alex?
13 To some extent, through the way, hebehaved what we can call him?
but notto teach him to talk.
Questions 11-13
Answer the questions 11-13 below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR ANUMBER from the passage for each answer.
11 What did Alex reply regarding thesimilarity of the subjects shown to him?
12 What is the problem of the young parrotsexcept for Alex?
13 To some extent, through the way, hebehaved what we can call him?
Answerkeys：
1. NOTGIVEN
2. NOTGIVEN
3. FALSE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE
6. FALSE
7. 100English words
8.chimpanzees
9. aviancognition
10.particularly chosen
11.color
12.wrong pronunciation
13.teenager
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发表于 2024-7-4 09:56:10
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