The mirror self-recognition test was dreamed up in the 1960’s by Gordon Gallup, Jr., a scientist now with the State University of New York. Back then, he was a graduate student taking a course in psychology, and the students were asked to come up with an idea for an experiment.
“I was washing my face in front of a mirror one day, says Grallup. It occurred to me wouldn’t it be interesting to see if other animals could recognize themselves in mirrors?”
Still looking at the mirror, he realized he could test an animal by secretly marking its face with some kind of red dye (染料), to see if it could use the mirror to access these strange red marks.
No such test had been done before, even though people had long observed animals looking into mirrors. Most species tend to treat a mirror image as a stranger to be courted (献殷勤) or attacked. Some scientists thought that primates (灵长类) might do better. Charles Darwin once watched with interest as an orangutan (红毛猩猩) named Jenny made faces at a mirror.
When Gallup started doing experiments with chimps (黑猩猩), a few years after he came up with his test, he found that at first the chimps acted as if the mirror image were another animal. But then, after a couple of days they began using the mirror to examine parts of their bodies like their teeth.
When Gallup put red dye on their faces, the chimps later woke up and reacted to the unexpected mirror image as if they understood that the marks were on their own faces.
In Gallup’s view, only three species have mirror self-recognition: chimps, orangutans, and humans. Others, though, think the list is long. Diana Reiss, a scientist at Hunter College, has tested both dolphins and elephants and beeves that both show signs of recognizing themselves in mirrors.
1. Who first came up with the idea of the mirror self-recognition test?| A．A university student. | B．A zoo keeper in New York. |
| C．A teacher in Hunter College. | D．A scientist in a research organization. |
| A．Marking his image in the mirror. |
| B．Marking his own face before washing. |
| C．Marking the face of the animal to be tested. |
| D．Marking an animal without self-recognition ability. |
| A．They showed no interest in it. |
| B．They examined that image carefully. |
| C．They took it as another animal at first. |
| D．They immediately recognized what it was. |
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【推荐1】Parrots have been known to mimic words, but have you ever thought how they communicate? The sounds they make may sound meaningless to us, but new research has found that wild parrots are actually given names by their parents.
According to a study led by Karl Berg of Cornell University in the US, nestlings (雏鸟) are given a unique sound of their own, which stays with them for their entire lives.
In the study, the team placed hidden cameras in the nests of 17 different wild parrots. After studying their sounds, the team found slight differences in the calls parents used to communicate with each chick. And even before the nestlings had learned to communicate properly, the baby birds seemed to recognize and mimic their calls.
Sounds very similar to humans, doesn't it?
The study also proved that these signature calls are acquired socially not genetically. To do this, scientists switched the eggs in nine of the 17 nests, so that half of the parrots were raising nestlings that were not theirs. Using the recordings, the scientists concluded the nestlings all used names similar to those the parents (whether biological or nonbiological) called them for the first weeks of their lives. Lucie McNeil, from National Geographic, said, “this would be the first proven example of a non- human species teaching acoustical(声学的)communication.”
Lead scientist for the study, Karl Berg told National Public Radio of the US, “Most people say, ‘Well, all those calls are just noise’, but I think they're having conversations.”
When asked what else the parrots might be saying, Berg replied, “The theory is that these birds are deciding where the food is.” “Do we want to go 3 km North-northwest?” “Do we want to go to that field?’ They are sort of arguing or discussing.” Natural science author, Virginia Morell wrote: “Very gradually, scientists are learning to understand the conversations of very different animals that live lives rich with plans, quarrels and romance.”
You never know, if the science of animal translation keeps advancing, we might one day be watching a reality series about parrots.
1. What did the new research find about wild parrots?| A．They can talk by learning from people. |
| B．The sounds they make are meaningless. |
| C．They have names given by their parents. |
| D．They have a unique way of making sounds. |
| A．Different parrots are called differently by their parents. |
| B．Baby parrots can tell who their biological parents are. |
| C．Baby parrots can mimic their biological parents' calls better. |
| D．Parrots are the most skilled animals in acoustical communication. |
| A．To see whether the parents could recognize their own babies. |
| B．To see whether the parrots made the same sounds all their lives. |
| C．To see whether the signature calls were acquired socially or genetically. |
| D．To see whether biological and nonbiological parents named babies differently. |
| A．A new research in the US | B．Parrots can really talk |
| C．Conversations of animals | D．Parrots make meaningless sounds |
【推荐2】Scientists have discovered that rats have adapted to modern human life, even adapting their diets to the cities they live in.
The scientists claim that it could be possible that humans and rats have had similar changes in their genetic make-up, due to modern city life. The downside of the changes in the DNA is that they could make rats susceptible to the same health problems as humans, such as pollutants and sugary foods.
The study showed that rats’ diets have also adapted to their environment. In New York, you can see them eat bagels and beer; in Paris, they like croissants and butter. They adapt in amazing ways. The scientists also analyzed the genomes (基因组)of 29 New York rats and compared them with those of nine brown rats from Heilongjiang Province, north-east China. The finding showed that dozens of rat genes had been through major DNA changes over the centuries, as the rats spread from Asia to Europe and America, and from the countryside and into cities.
The changed genes were associated with diet, behavior, and movement, which added pressures and challenges for the rat to overcome. This could reflect the fact that urban rats have to move through highly artificial environments that are very different from natural habitats. So these gene changes might have evolved to help them move more easily through underground channels and pipes.
As the rats are closely associated with city-living humans, the scientists believe that it is possible that similar changes have happened in both species.
In October 2019, scientists used rats to successfully test an enzyme(酶) that could be used to help people quit smoking. Two groups of rats were trained to self-administer nicotine, and over two weeks their nicotine intakes increased, suggesting addiction. Then, one group of rats was given the enzyme, which led to a decreased nicotine intake. The scientists say that the enzyme could be developed for human use in the future.
1. Which of the following best explains the underlined phrase “susceptible to” in paragraph 2?| A．Not likely to be cured of. | B．Being disease-resistant to. |
| C．Very likely to be affected by. | D．Being thoroughly exposed to. |
| A．Rats in the city are particular about their food. |
| B．Rats in different cities have different genetic make-up. |
| C．Rats are distributed in every continent of the earth. |
| D．Rats have been adjusting themselves to the environment. |
| A．To explore rats’ survival ability. | B．To help people stop smoking. |
| C．To learn more about city rats. | D．To tell apart nicotine and enzyme. |
| A．Rats Have Adapted to Modern Human Life |
| B．Rats in the City Have Varieties of Diets |
| C．Rats Are More Adaptable than Humans |
| D．Rats Have the Same Genetic Make-up to Humans |
【推荐3】Tommy, a 26-year-old chimp (猩猩), lives in a small cage in a used truck sales lot in New York. Retired from movie work and whatever else once occupied him, he has no chimp friends—just a TV. He is worlds away from the rainforest of Western Africa, where chimps spend most of their lives in trees, hunting, and socializing together.
His owner hasn’t broken any laws, but an animal rights group called the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) is trying to change the view. The group says chimps have such a humanlike intelligence that they should be recognized as “legal persons” and be placed in an animal shelter and wander free.
You’ve probably heard the term “animal rights”, but animals don’t actually have rights in many countries. Animal-welfare laws punish people who mistreat animals, but that’s not the same as chimps having a right to liberty or anything else.
NhRP’s first step is to ask a judge to end people’s unjust arrest on behalf of Tommy and other privately owned chimps. If the court (法庭) decides to recognize chimps as legal persons, NhRP’s next step will be arguing for what rights the chimps should be guaranteed. “The right that they should have is the right to body liberty,” says Wise, a NhRP group member. “They should be able to choose how to live their lives.”
Tommy’s owner, Pat Lavery, says he rescued Tommy from a careless owner about a decade ago and denies the chimp is mistreated or unhappy. “He likes being by himself,” he says.
“There’s a danger in making a jump to say they’re just like people,” says Richard Cupp, a professor who writes about animals and the law. “If we really believe chimps are very, very smart, then who knows if maybe someday we might…say, ‘Hey, here’s a particular human being that’s not very smart at all, maybe the chimps have higher status than this person.’”
1. What can we infer from the text?| A．Great progress has been made on improving animal rights. |
| B．Pat Lavery is thought to mistreat Tommy by NhRP. |
| C．Animal rights are going from bad to worse. |
| D．Animal rights have been admitted in western countries. |
| A．To ensure chimps’ body safety. | B．To stop illegal hunting of chimps. |
| C．To help chimps find their families | D．To help chimps enjoy their freedom. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Uncaring. | C．Worried. | D．Supportive. |
【推荐1】Teenagers grow up very quickly. Since your last birthday, a lot of things have changed. Perhaps you've grown much taller than everyone else in your class.
What's normal? There's no one type of normal.
Don't feel afraid if you seem to have grown a lot in a very short time. Everyone experiences this during puberty (青春期). Most girls start puberty at 10, and boys at 11. But it can be earlier or later.
| A．Don't care too much about your looks. |
| B．Your looks are largely decided by your parents. |
| C．Or maybe you can't fit into your favourite pair of jeans. |
| D．Next time you go to the supermarket, take a look around. |
| E．It can be between 7 and 13 for girls and 9 and 15 for boys. |
| F．If you're worried about your changes, what should you do? |
| G．Kids who weigh more than their friends are still considered normal. |
【推荐2】Every student has his own style of studying and it's up to you to use the available resources to be as effective and productive as possible.Here are some tips on how to teach yourself to study effectively.
●
●Set a goal.
●Learn over time.
●Set a realistic and reasonable schedule.
●Have time to rest.It's necessary to have enough time to rest in order to regain all the energy used up by the body from all the studying.
| A．Know yourself. |
| B．Have good study habits. |
| C．It's impossible to learn a lot of things in a short time. |
| D．Try to discover the type of reading that best suits you. |
| E．Allocate your time between studying and other activities. |
| F．Your mind won't be as sharp if you don't have ample sleep. |
| G．You need to determine what you want to achieve in a given subject. |
【推荐3】You may have heard that humans only use ten percent of their brain, and that if you could unlock the rest of your brainpower, you could do so much more. You could become a super genius, or acquire psychic powers like mind reading.
This “ten-percent myth” has inspired many references in the cultural imagination. In the 2014 movie Lucy, for example, a woman develops godlike powers thanks to drugs that release the previously inaccessible 90 percent of her brain.
Contrary to the ten-percent myth, however, scientists have shown that humans use their entire brain throughout each day.
Over the years, brain scientists have shown that different parts of the brain are responsible for specific functions, whether it’s recognizing colors or problem solving. Contrary to the ten-percent myth, scientists have proven that every part of the brain is integral for our daily functioning.
Research has yet to find a brain area that is completely inactive. Even studies that measure activity at the level of single neurons(神经元) have not revealed any inactive areas of the brain.
Many brain imaging studies that measure brain activity when a person is doing a specific task show how different parts of the brain work together. For example, while you are reading this text on your smartphone, some parts of your brain, including those responsible for vision and reading comprehension, will be more active.
A more direct counter to the ten-percent myth lies in individuals who have suffered brain damage – like through a stroke(中风)– and what they can no longer do, or do as well, as a result of that damage. If the ten percent myth is true, then damage to many parts of our brain shouldn’t affect your daily functioning. Studies have shown that damaging a very small part of the brain may have devastating consequences.
If someone experiences damage to Broca’s area(布罗卡氏区), for example, they can understand language but can’t speak fluently.
In one highly publicized case, a woman in Florida permanently lost her “capacity for thoughts, perceptions, memories, and emotions that are the very essence of being human” when a lack of oxygen destroyed half of her brain.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．The ten percent myth is not true. |
| B．Brain scientists have a long way to go. |
| C．Human brain is much more powerful than we imagine. |
| D．All parts of the brain are equally important. |
| A．To show the power of women. |
| B．To introduce an interesting story. |
| C．To fight against the ten percent myth. |
| D．To show the influence of ten percent myth. |
| A．listening | B．writing | C．speaking | D．reading |
【推荐1】There are usually few people who want to do housework. But a new study has found it is important to our general health and happiness to wash the dishes, dust the shelves and do troublesome things alike.
Actually, scientists now believe cleaning up the house is more important to mental and physical health than other factors (因素), such as the area you live in or how much you earn. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University say doing housework is helpful because of the exercise it takes to get the daily job done, which in turn affects mental health.
Dr. Kathy Wright and a research team at the university’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing wanted to find out how property (财产), education, environment and health behaviors, like smoking, affect an older person’s health. The study’s 337 participants (参与者), from 65 to 90 years old, had at least one chronic (慢性的) illness which prevented them from doing at least one basic daily task, such as bathing and dressing.
Dr. Wright said she was surprised to learn that doing housework and keeping their property affected the participants’ mental and physical health more than other factors. “House cleaning kept them up and moving,” said Dr. Wright. “A clean environment is helpful in treating some illnesses. And poverty (贫穷) did not directly affect mental or physical health.”
The study proved what Dr. Wright had observed in her visits: people living in a dirty environment seemed less satisfied than those in a place that was neat and tidy. Dr. Wright hopes the study shows how important it is for older people with chronic illnesses to continue physical activities, such as doing reaching exercises while sitting, standing up and sitting down in a chair.
1. Why does the author mention “few people want to do housework” in paragraph 1?| A．To track a study. | B．To describe a fact. |
| C．To Introduce the topic. | D．To attract readers’ attention. |
| A．Learn to share. | B．Get some exercise. |
| C．Learn to be responsible. | D．Enjoy staying with family members. |
| A．They chose those who were weak as their participants. |
| B．They observed the changes of the participants’ behaviors. |
| C．They tried different treatments for the participants’ illnesses. |
| D．They limited the participants’ moving areas to certain places. |
| A．The best ways to do housework. | B．How people improve their health. |
| C．Different attitudes towards housework. | D．Housework does good to people’s fitness. |
【推荐2】The giant panda is beloved of conservationists. It is one of the most recognisable large animals in the world. But it is also evolutionarily odd. It is a type of bear but it is a herbivore(食草动物). It is ironic, then, that this icon of the natural world might actually be an accidental consequence of human activity. Yet this is a convincing interpretation of results just published in a paper in Current Biology, by Wei Fuwen of the Institute of Zoology, in Beijing.
Pandas are not merely herbivores, they are monovores-merely eating bamboo only. Dr Wei wondered when this transition to monovory happened. The answer was, far more recently than anyone had expected.
Dr Wei studied carbon and nitrogen isotopes(同位素) in the bones of a dozen ancestral pandas, dating from between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago, and compared them with those of modern pandas. The study shows that the ancient pandas lived in more varied environments and had broader diets. What is more, they were not yet the obligate(专性的) bamboo feeders which they are today, and they were making subtropical zones and open land their home, rather than living merely in bamboo forests. The question is, what made them change?
There is one obvious possible cause: the spread of man. Organised states clearly existed by about 5,000 years ago. Growing human populations could easily have displaced the ancestors of modern pandas to fringe areas where there was little to eat but bamboo. And if bamboo is all there is to eat, then those that prefer to eat it will be at an evolutionary advantage. The modern, bamboo-eating panda-symbol of animals under pressure from man-may thus have been made the way it is by precisely such human pressures.
1. How did Dr. Wei conduct research into the transition of pandas?| A．Studying the diets of pandas. |
| B．Calculating the number of pandas. |
| C．Studying the structure of genes of pandas. |
| D．Analyzing the isotopic composition of pandas’ bones and teeth. |
| A．The change of their genes. |
| B．The intended invasion of other herbivores. |
| C．The unintentional expansion of human activity. |
| D．The decline in their habitat and thus the shortage of food. |
| A．Panda Evolution: By the Hand of Man? | B．Panda: beloved but odd |
| C．Panda: Herbivores or Monovores? | D．A Study of Ancient Pandas |
【推荐3】Traditionally, many decisions about medical treatment were left up to doctors: They decided, and patients agreed. Today, health care professionals are embracing the idea of shared decision-making, where patients become informed partners in their choices. Health care professionals now focus on placing the patient at the center of care, informing them about their options, and engaging them in treatment decisions. For example, they engage patients by asking, “What’s important to you? And what are your priorities and goals as we talk about a treatment plan?”
“I think there’s a strong recognition in American medicine, of the importance of patient engagement not only in their care, but in deciding what types of care and types of procedures they’re going to get,” said Dr. Allen, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.
A 2017 study, published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes found that people with heart disease who went through-shared decision-making had better physical and mental health, better obedience to medication and lower rates of staying in hospital and emergency department use. Patients also reported better communication with their doctors. When people are more engaged in decision-making, they understand the pros and cons of various treatment options, and they’re more likely to stick to the treatment plan and to continue that communication.
But research on how to best approach different, cultural groups is lacking. Many doctors cite limited time as a barrier, although research shows that shared decision-making can be accomplished even within short clinic visits. Also, current models of payment for doctors’ visits do not always agree with the goals of shared decision-making. But underlying all that is that medical decisions can be “incredibly complicated”.
Making the practice work. on a wider scale is an evolving process. But in the long run, Allen said: “shared decision-making can ensure that with all the amazing new technologies and treatments that we will have in medicine, they really can be applied to more patients in a tailored, meaningful way that meets their own values, goals and preferences.”
1. What role do doctors play in shared decision-making?| A．They are at the center of care. | B．They ask questions to patients: |
| C．They follow patients’ opinions. | D．They present suggestions to patients. |
| A．Shortened time in hospital | B．Improved healthy awareness |
| C．Reduced mental problems | D．Enhanced communication skills |
| A．Lack of family support |
| B．Limited time and money |
| C．Uniqueness of medical treatment |
| D．Complicated medicine production process |
| A．Shared Decision Making: More than Technology? |
| B．Shared Decision Making: an Ideal Way for Patients |
| C．Shared Decision Making: a Future Model of Hospitals? |
| D．Shared Decision Making: Advantages and Disadvantages |
