The book An Immense World, by science journalist Ed Yong, looks into the remarkable sensory capacities of non-human animals. Other popular works—from naturalist Carl Safina’s Beyond Words to biologist Jonathan Balcombe’s What a Fish Knozws—argue that many animals are individuals with lives that matter to them. These observations are significant, because the degree of care we give to animals seems to rely on how we picture their inner lives.
We humans tend to judge and give consideration to other animals based on their smartness. Instead, I want to suggest that emotion, displayed by animals around us, may even provide our fellow creatures with what we could term a “spiritual” life.
One well-documented case is of a mother elephant named Eleanor. Weakened by age, Eleanor kept collapsing, and a fellow elephant, Grace, kept trying to lift her onto her feet. There’re even examples of elephants becoming depressed when they encounter the body of another species. In one instance, a young, orphaned elephant moaned(呻吟) when it discovered the remains of its rhinoceros companion, killed by hunters.
It’s suggested that non-human animals may be more aware of feelings than we are. I call this “living closer to the bone”. Other creatures might well have stronger, more immediate feelings because, unlike us, they don’t appear to analyze. Even if they can’t tell us what they’re experiencing, we’d be foolish to rule this out.
A story appeared on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. A female humpback whale became stuck in a pile of crab traps. The whale was badly cut. A rescue team dove underneath her, spending hours helping it. Once the huge animal realized she was free, she swam in a large circle, touching each diver in turn. One of the divers said, “It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing it was free and that we’d helped it.”
To me, this is an instance of animals’ spirituality on display. I suspect that, the more we learn about fish, birds, and even insects, we’ll recognize further elemental similarities of feeling.
12. Why are the three books mentioned in paragraph 1?
A.They offer us observations on ourselves. |
B.They remind us to care for animals’ emotions. |
C.They praise us about non-human animals. |
D.They show human dependence on animals. |
13. How do we usually make judgements about non-human animals?
A.From their feelings. |
B.On the basis of their awareness. |
C.By their appearances. |
D.According to their intelligence. |
14. Which of the following can best describe the elephants in the text?
A.Sympathetic. | B.Indifferent. |
C.Unconcerned. | D.Cooperative. |
15. What does the author suggest in the text?
A.Analyzing animals’ cleverness. |
B.Offering animals more freedom. |
C.Giving more understanding of animals. |
D.Avoiding killing non-human animals. |