A
The ants are tiny and usually nest between rocks in the south coast of England. Transformed into research subjects at the University of Bristol, they raced along a tabletop foraging for food -and then, remarkably, returned to guide others. Time and again, followers trailed behind leaders, darting this way and that along the route, presumably to memorize land- marks. Once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to literally proceed to the next step. The ants were only looking for food but the researchers said the careful way the leaders led followers -thereby turning them into leaders in their own right -marked the Temnothorax albipennis ant as the very first example of a non-human animal exhibiting teaching behavior.
B
"Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil," remarks Nigel Franks, professor of animal behavior and ecology, whose paper on the ant educators was published last week in the journal Nature.
C
No sooner was the paper published, of course, than another educator questioned it. Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist and one of the scientists who came up with the definition of teaching, said it was unclear whether the ants had learned a new skill or merely acquired new information.
D
Later, Franks took a further study and found that there were even races between leaders. With the guidance of leaders, ants could find food faster. But the help comes at a cost for the leader, who normally would have reached the food about four times faster if not hampered by a follower. This means the hypothesis that the leaders deliberately slowed down in order to pass the skills on to the followers seems potentially valid. His ideas were advocated by the students who carried out the video project with him.
E
Opposing views still arose, however. Hauser noted that mere communication of information is commonplace in the animal world. Consider a species, for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence of a predator. Sounding the alarm can be costly, because the animal may draw the attention of the predator to itself. But it allows others to flee to safety. “Would you call this teaching?” wrote Hauser. “The caller incurs a cost. The naive animals gain a benefit and new knowledge that better enables them to learn about the predator’s location than if the caller had not called. This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we don’t call it teaching, even though it is clearly transfer of information.”
F
Tim Caro, a zoologist, presented two cases of animal communication. He found that cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting -going, for example, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat to merely tripping the gazelle and letting the cubs finish it off. At one level, such behavior might be called teaching -except the mother was not really teaching the cubs to hunt but merely facilitating various stages of learning. In another instance, birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects and so on, are observed to do the same thing themselves while finding food later.
G
Psychologists study animal behavior in part to understand the evolutionary roots of human behavior, Hauser said. The challenge in understanding whether other animals truly teach one another, he added, is that human teaching involves a “theory of mind” -teachers are aware that students don’t know something. He questioned whether Franks’s leader ants really knew that the follower ants were ignorant. Could they simply have been following an instinctive rule to proceed when the followers tapped them on the legs or abdomen? And did leaders that led the way to food -only to find that it had been removed by the experimenter -incur the wrath of followers? That, Hauser said, would suggest that the follower ant actually knew the leader was more knowledgeable and not merely following an instinctive routine itself.
H
The controversy went on, and for a good reason. The occurrence of teaching in ants, if proven to be true, indicates that teaching can evolve in animals with tiny brains. It is probably the value of information in social animals that determines when teaching will evolve rather than the constraints of brain size.
I
Bennett Galef Jr., a psychologist who studies animal behavior and social learning at McMaster University in Canada, maintained that ants were unlikely to have a “theory of mind” -meaning that leader and followers may well have been following instinctive routines that were not based on an understanding of what was happening in another ant’s brain. He warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behavior among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behavior. Animals may behave in ways similar to humans without a similar cognitive system, he said, so the behavior is not necessarily a good guide into how humans came to think the way they do.
Questions 1-5
Look at the following statements (Questions 1-5) and the list of people in the box below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 Animals could use objects to locate food.---C
2 Ants show two-way, interactive teaching behaviors.---A
3 It is risky to say ants can teach other ants like human beings do.---D
4 Ant leadership makes finding food faster.---A
5 Communication between ants is not entirely teaching.---B
List of People
A Nigel Franks
B Marc Hauser
C Tim Caro
D Bennett Galef Jr.
Questions 6-9
Choose FOUR letters, A-H
Write your answers in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.
Which FOUR of the following behaviors of animals are mentioned in the passage?
A touch each other with antenna
B alert others when there is danger
C escape from predators
D protect the young
E hunt food for the young
F fight with each other
G use tools like twigs
H feed on a variety of foods
Questions 10-13
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
10 Ants' tandem running involves only one-way communication.---TRUE
11 Franks's theory got many supporters immediately after publicity.---FALSE
12 Ants' teaching behavior is the same as that of human.---NOT GIVEN
13 Cheetah share hunting gains to younger ones---FALSE
1 题目关键信息为‘use object to locate food’,对应原文第6段末句中，‘…birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food…’.题目中的‘objects’与原文的‘stick’替换，‘local food’为原词重现，对应本段的研究者名字为Tim Caro，所以选C.
2 题目关键信息为‘two-way，interactive teaching，’对应原文第2段第1句话中‘involves bidirectional feedback’以及‘an example of teaching’。其中‘two-way、interactive’均对应‘bidirectional’这一概念，对应本段的研究者名字为•Nigel •franks,所以选A.
3 该信息出现在原文9段中第2句‘he warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behavior among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behavior’.因此，正确答案为D.
4 该题目信息出现于第4段中第2句‘with the guidance of leaders, ants could food faster…’其中题目中的‘Ant leadership’对应原文中的‘guidance of leaders’。因此，正确答案为A.
5 .该题目信息出现于原文第5段末句‘•This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we don’t call it teaching. even though it is clearly transfer of information.’因此，正确答案为B。
选项A 本项关键信息包括‘touch each other’和‘antenna’。从题意上看，原文应该要提到蚂蚁用触角互相接触并传递信息，对应第1段第4句‘once a follower got its bearing，it tapped the leader with its antennae，’因此，选项A符合题意。
选项B本项关键信息为“alert others”和“danger”。对应第5段Hauser给出的例子 "Consider a species,' for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence of a predator.” 其中题目中的 “alert others” 对应原文中的 “ware fellow members”，题目中的 “danger” 对应原文中的 “the presence of a predator(猎 食者，天敌)”，因此选项B符合题意。
选项C意为“从猎食者处逃跑”，虽然原文第5段也有提及，但重点在于“警告同类. 好让同类可以逃跑”，却没有详细说明同类逃跑的这一行为，故实际上未提及. 应排除该选项。
选项E意为“替幼崽捕食”或“为幼崽猎食”，对应第6段第2句“...cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting...killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat...”，意为“猎豹母亲带幼崽打猎时，会逐渐让幼崽承担更多的打猎职责”。这意味着在这段时期的早期. 猎豹母亲还是以自己打猎为主，以哺育幼崽，故符合选项的意思，选项E符合题意。
选项G意为“使用诸如树枝一类的工具”，对应第6段末句中“...birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food..."。其中原文中的“stick (棍子)”对应题目中的 “tools like twigs (诸如树枝的工具)”，因此选项G符合题意。
10. 题目关键概念包括“only”和“one-way communication”。原文对应处为第2段首
句 ‘Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil.” 其中题目中的 “only one-way communication” 的概念在原文中被 “bidirectional feedback’ 推翻，故选NO。
11.题目关键概念包括 “got many supporters” 和 “immediately after publicity” 原文对应 处为第 2、3、4、5 段，虽然第 4 段末句 “His ideas were advocated by the students…” 中提到“他的观点获得了……学生的拥护和支持”，但此处提到的学生仅仅是指那 些“参与了 video project”的学生，与题目中“many supporters”这一概念不符。另外，原文也没有提及是否是“immediately after publicity”。此路不通，有同学则认为， 如果找到“反对者”(如第 3 段 “another educator questioned it” 和第 5 段 “Opposing views still arose”)就足以推翻“supporters”。但是，仔细思考，任何事物都可以既有 supporters，也同时有opponents这二者并不是非此即彼的关系。故“many supporters” 的概念未被打破，题目在原文的基础上无法判断 ，所以选 NOT GIVEN。
12.本题较为特殊，考查的是宏观重点信息，而非具体的细节信息。其题干意为“蚂蚁 的教学行为与人类相同”。全文中，有的人认为蚂蚁能teach，有的人则认为蚂蚁不能 teach,它们仅仅能够transfer information，而不能像人类一样teach。但是，这个争 论到最后也没有一个明确的结论。故而题目在原文的基础上无法判断，所以选NOT GIVEN。
13题目关键概念包括“share hunting gains”和“to younger ones”。对应第6段第2句猎豹妈妈带幼崽一起打猎的信息。其中原文中的“cheetah mothers...Killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat对应题目中的‘share hunting gains to younger ones’，因此，正确答案为yes。
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发表于 2019-7-1 19:54:34
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