When put to the test, bees have proved over and over again that they’ve got a lot more to offer than making honey and now some scientists say there’s proof that they also like to play. A study recently published in Animal Behavior suggests that bumblebees, when given the chance, like to fool around with toys.
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London conducted an experiment in which they set up a container that allowed bees to travel from their nest to a feeding area. But along the way, the bees could choose to pass through a separate section with several small wooden balls. Over 18 days, the scientists watched as the bees “went out of their way to roll wooden balls repeatedly, though there seems to be no apparent cause to drive them to do so.”
The finding suggests that like humans, insects also interact with inanimate (无生命的) objects as a form of play. Also similar to people, younger bees seemed to be more playful than adult bees. “Previous research has shown that there are lots of animals who play just for the purpose of enjoyment, but most examples come from young mammals and birds. This study provides a strong indication that insect minds are far more advanced than we might imagine,” Lars Chittka, who led the study, said.
The study’s first author, Samadi Galpayage, who is a PhD student at Queen Mary University, added that it is the evidence that insects may be able to experience feelings. “They can actually experience some kind of positive emotional states, even if basic, like other larger fluffy (覆有绒毛的) animals do. This sort of finding has led to our understanding of insects and will, hopefully, encourage us to respect and protect life on earth ever more,” she said in the statement.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The conclusion of the research. |
| B．The assumption about the bees. |
| C．The description of the experiment. |
| D．The reasons for conducting the experiment. |
| A．Clear. | B．Preventable. | C．Horrible. | D．Different. |
| A．Birds like to fool around with toys. |
| B．Toys are more enjoyable to adult bees. |
| C．Humans seldom interact with lifeless objects for fun. |
| D．Insect minds are better developed than we thought. |
| A．Insects experience the same emotions as humans do. |
| B．Fluffy animals fail to show positive emotional states. |
| C．More work is needed to protect endangered life on earth. |
| D．The finding improves our understanding of living things. |
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【推荐1】Researchers have found bees can do basic mathematics, in a discovery that deepens our understanding of the relationship between brain size and brain power. Recently, A study conducted by researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia showed that bees could perform arithmetic operations like addition and subtraction (减法).
Solving math problems requires a complex level of involving the mental management of numbers, long-term rules and short-term working memory. The finding that even the tiny brain of a honeybee can grasp basic mathematical operations has a possible effect on the future development of Artificial Intelligence, particularly in improving rapid learning.
RMIT’s Professor Adrian Dyer said numerical (数字的) operations like addition and subtraction are complex because they require two levels of processing. “You need to be able to hold the rules around adding and subtracting in your long-term memory, while mentally using skillfully a set of given numbers in your short-term memory,” Dyer said. “On top of this, our bees also used their short-term memories to solve arithmetic problems, as they learned to recognize plus or minus as abstract concepts.”
The findings suggest that advanced numerical cognition (认知) may be found much more widely in nature among non-human animals than previously suspected.
“If math doesn’t require a massive brain, there might also be new ways for us to include interactions of both long-term rules and working memory in designs to improve rapid AI learning of new problems,” said Dyer.
Many species can understand the difference between quantities and use this to search for food, make decisions and solve problems. But numerical cognition, such as exact number and arithmetic operations, requires a more complex level of processing.
Previous studies have shown some primates (灵长目动物), birds, babies and even spiders can add and/or subtract. The new research, published in Science Advances, adds bees to that list.
1. What have the researchers from RMIT University discovered?| A．The relationship between brain size and brain power. |
| B．Long-term rules and short term working memory. |
| C．Bees can perform complex arithmetic operations. |
| D．Bees can do basic mathematics. |
| A．requires addition and subtraction two complex processing |
| B．has a possible effect on the future development of AI |
| C．only involves their short-term working memory |
| D．calls for a lot of maths knowledge |
| A．Bees can recogize the exact number. |
| B．Arithmetic operations exist in human and bees. |
| C．Numerical cognition has been found in many more species. |
| D．Some primates, birds and even spiders can add and substract. |
| A．A Discovery About the Tiny Brain of Bees |
| B．New Findings About Bees Having Numerical Cogintion |
| C．Numerical Cognition Requires a Complex Level of Processing |
| D．The Relationship Between Brain Size and Brain Power |
【推荐2】Scientists discovered that fewer humpback whales made the singing noises, as their population grew. “It was getting more difficult to actually find singers,” marine biologist Rebecca Dunlop in Brisbane said. She added, “When there were fewer of them, there was a lot of singing-now that there are lots of them, no need to be singing so much.”
Eastern Australia’s humpback whales came close to disappearing in the 1960s. With the end of commercial whaling (捕鲸), the population began to regrow, climbing to about 27,000 whales by 2015. That number is near estimated pre-whaling levels. As the density (密度) of whales increased, their singing behaviors changed. While 2 in 10 males made crying noises in 2004, 10 years later the number had dropped to 1 in 10, Dunlop said.
The team’s study appeared in a recent issue of Nature Communications Biology. Dunlop said she thinks singing played a big part in bringing in mates when populations severely declined. When humpbacks live in denser populations, males looking for mates also have to deal with competing whales.
Boris Worm, an ocean biologist, was not involved in the research. “As animal populations recover, they change their behavior-they have different cries,” Worm said. The research suggests the seas are still noisy with humpback whale sounds.
Many humpbacks seek to bring in mates with a combination of singing and physical movements, the study notes. The large increase in the humpback population during the study period provided valuable data about changes in the animals’ behavior and they must have been singers long before whaling reduced their numbers, said Simon Ingram. But the new study demonstrates (证明) how necessary their complex and beautiful songs were to their survival and recovery, he added.
1. Which may make humpback whales sing in the discovery?| A．The power of waves. | B．The use of microphone. |
| C．The feeling of loneliness. | D．The increase of their numbers. |
| A．Their sudden disappearance. | B．Their sharp rise in numbers. |
| C．Their being well protected. | D．Their change in behaviors. |
| A．Increased. | B．Dropped. | C．Climbed. | D．Recovered. |
| A．Humpbacks’ behaviors have never changed. |
| B．Humpbacks’ numbers increased by whaling. |
| C．Humpbacks’ singing noises are important. |
| D．Humpbacks’ singing will disappear soon. |
【推荐3】The victims were carried in one by one, their paws（爪子）and fur burnt, suffering from thirst and fear. Their caretakers bandaged their wounds, hugged them and laid them in baskets with the only thing that was familiar—the leaves of a eucalyptus tree （桉树）
As catastrophic fires have burned more than 2 million acres in Australia, dozens of koalas have been rescued from burning trees and grey ground.
“They are terrified," said Cheyne Flanagan, clinical director of the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, the only hospital of its kind in the world.
Koalas, unlike kangaroos, birds or snakes, do not flee from fires but instead climb trees to the top, where they can curl themselves into a ball for protection and wait for the danger to pass”
But during very serious fires, such as those that have burned in recent weeks, the animals, conservationists said, are far less likely to survive. Even if the fire itself does not reach the top of the tree, the animal may overheat and fall to the ground, where they can be burned to death.
The difficulty of the koala—a national symbol of Australia—has raised questions among conservationists and scientists about what it will take to preserve biodiversity in a country where there is more serious fire, extreme heat and lack of water.
While koalas have to get used to existing alongside wildfires, the animals are facing new danger not just from climate change but also from human activities, which has disturbed local populations, weakening their ability to survive fires.
“We have these unique animals not found anywhere else on this planet, and we're killing them.” Flanagan said. "This is a big wake-up call.”
1. What will koalas do when facing the wildfire?| A．Flee to other places. | B．Hide under the ground. |
| C．Climb to the top of the tree. | D．Wait -for the rescue to come. |
| A．More human activities. | B．Less water to drink. |
| C．Bigger local population. | D．Weaker ability to climb. |
| A．Koalas' living habits should be studied more carefully. |
| B．More measures should be taken for koalas' protection. |
| C．Wake-up calls should be made when wildfire happens. |
| D．Killing unique animals should be banned in a strict way. |
| A．Looking for unique animals in Australia. |
| B．Protecting Australia's animals who cannot climb. |
| C．Facing new threats which cause koalas' deaths. |
| D．Saving the fire victims ： Australia's koalas. |
【推荐1】When researchers found a hummingbird with shiny gold feathers on its throat in Peru’s Cordillera Azul National Park, they thought it was a newly discovered species. After conducting a DNA analysis of the bird, researchers made a surprising discovery that it was a hybrid that resulted from two related pink hummingbird species. However, they found the gold-throated hummingbird wasn’t the result of an even genetic split(分离).
Since it’s rare for hummingbirds of the same species to have such wildly different throat feathers, the researchers dived deeper into the mystery of the gold feathers on the hybrid species. “It’s a little like cooking: If you mix salt and water, you kind of know what you’re gonna get, but mixing two complex recipes together might give more unpredictable results,” said study coauthor Chad Eliason, Field Museum senior research scientist, in a statement. “This hybrid is a mix of two complex recipes for a feather from its two parent species.”
The base color of feathers comes from pigment(色素), but feather cell structure and the way light reflects off the feathers create structural color. It is this structural color that generates the colourful nature of hummingbird feathers.
The researchers hope their work inspires others to keep an eye out for potential hybrid species of hummingbirds, Mauro, a curator of birds at Chicago’s Field Museum said.
“New tools like genetic data open up new understanding of how these events happen across geography and time,” Mauro said. “One question we want to look into in the region in Peru where this study was done is how this complex foothill landscape has evolved through time and what role those changes have played in diversification of birds and other organisms.”
1. What can we know about the gold-throated hummingbird?| A．It is a foreign species. | B．Its feathers reflect off more light. |
| C．It is a relative to known species. | D．Its throat is different in structure. |
| A．To introduce a topic. | B．To give an example. |
| C．To present an issue. | D．To explain a phenomenon. |
| A．The base color. | B．The pigment. |
| C．The feather cell structure. | D．The structrual color. |
| A．Where the study is carried out. |
| B．How new tools are used in the research. |
| C．The role of landscape changes in birds’ evolution. |
| D．The method of identifying the gold-throated hummingbird. |
【推荐2】Throughout history, people have always been surprised at the intelligence of some birds. Crows(乌鸦)are such an example. Crows’ brain is only about the size of a human thumb, so how smart could they be?
While a crow’s brain may seem small compared with a human brain, what matters is the size of the brain in relation to the size of the animal. According to Professor John Marzluff at the University of Washington’s Aviation Conservation Lab, a crow is actually a flying monkey. Whether it is a friendly monkey or more like a bad one in The Wizard of Oz depends a lot on what you have done to it(or any of its friends).
Can you tell one crow from another? In this way, a crow may be smarter than you because it can recognize human faces. Marzluff’s team caught some crows, made marks on them and released them. Members of the team wore different masks. Crows would attack people wearing a mask, but only if the mask had been worn by someone who had troubled them.
If you think two crows that are watching you and crying to each other are talking about you, you are probably right. In Marzluff’s study, even crows that were never caught attacked scientists. How did the crows describe their attackers to other crows? Their communication is poorly understood. The intensity(强度), rhythm, and lasting time of crying seem to form the basis of a possible language. It turns out that crows can pass on anger to their children-even the little crows attacked masked scientists.
Another case about crows’ great memory comes from Chatham, Ontarrio. Around half a million crows would stop in Chatham during their regular travel, putting the farming community’s crops in danger. Head of the town declared war(宣战)on crows and the hunt began. Since then, the crows have, when passing Chatham, flown high enough to avoid being shot. However, this didn’t stop them from leaving droppings all over the town.
1. Why does Professor John Marzluff call a crow a flying monkey?| A．Because it looks like a monkey. | B．Because it is as friendly as a monkey. |
| C．Because it is as intelligent as a monkey. | D．Because its brain is the same size as a monkey’s. |
| A．had caused some trouble to them | B．were in Marzluff’s team |
| C．worked on scientific study | D．had done harm to their babies |
| A．They would damage the crops. | B．They would make much noise. |
| C．They would attack people in the town. | D．They would leave droppings all over the town. |
| A．Crows never forget. | B．Crows’ communication. |
| C．Crows’ brain development. | D．Crows are smarter than we have imagined. |
【推荐3】If your job requires a lot of sitting,you could be putting your health at danger.
The American Journal of Epidemiology（流行病学）did a study in 2010 on the connection between sitting and an individual's physical health.In the study,53,440 working men and 69,776 working women were surveyed on their time spent sitting.The subjects were all disease free when employed.The researchers identified 11,307 deaths in men and 7,923 deaths in women during the 14-year follow-up.
The findings: Women who reported sitting for more than six hours per day had an approximately 40 higher all-cause death rate than those who reported less than three hour a day,and men had an approximately 20 higher death rate.
Well,now is a fine time to get this information.But why didn't they tell me this years ago?I would have planned on taking a more active job instead of the sedentary（坐着的）job of an editor.
So what can you do if you have to work for a living at a job that requires a lot of sitting?Here are some ideas:
Take frequent breaks.It is recommended that workers vary activities,change their position,and take short breaks every 20 minutes to rest muscles and increase blood circulation.Get a standing desk.Some studies have shown that working from an upright position may be better for health.The serious fitness people can even purchase a treadmill （跑步机）desk.It only goes about one mile per hour.Have a walking meeting.If your group is kind of small,going for a walk while discussing topics is a good alternative.
1. According to the text,the study in 2010 .| A．found men reporting shorter sitting time than women |
| B．surveyed more men than women on their daily sitting time |
| C．identified fewer deaths in men than in women during the 14-year follow-up |
| D．discovered connection between sitting and physical health in men and in women |
| A．using a standing desk | B．resting one’s muscles |
| C．quitting sedentary jobs | D．taking a walk while discussing |
| A．Things being discussed. | B．People being studied. |
| C．Areas of knowledge being learned. | D．Objects being painted. |
| A．Working out leads to health risks. |
| B．Your long-sitting job could be killing you. |
| C．Long time sitting is positively associated with health. |
| D．A study on sitting time and physical health was completed. |
【推荐1】A Beijing-based expert team has reported the world’s first case of a 19-year-old adolescent with Alzheimer’s disease(疾病) (AD). It is a condition normally related to old people. The team released the research results in Journal(杂志) of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The patient(病人) developed memory problems at 17 years old and was then diagnosed with AD at 19. The patient first began to have difficulty focusing on learning. One year later, the patient suffered great short-term memory loss, an inability to remember the previous(之前的) day’s events or where personal things were stored, as well as reading difficulties and slow reactions.
Later the patient continued to suffer gradual memory loss, even struggling to remember having eaten. As a result，the patient had to drop out of(退学) high school. The patient has no family history of AD and no other causes of memory problems such as genetic(基因的) issues or other diseases.
Since the first case of AD was reported in 1906, it has been widely believed that AD mainly occurs in the old. AD is a disease with a slow beginning. It can bring gradual loss of cognition(认知), memory and speech and an increase in mental(心智的) problems over time. It even leads to the inability to take care of oneself in time. It is still difficult to treat the disease.
The study has confirmed that AD is no longer a disease limited to the old. The team call for more attention to the possibility of AD occurring in younger people. Healthy habits may help prevent AD. Consider the following steps: exercise, eat the Mediterranean diet(地中海饮食), get enough sleep, learn new things and connect socially.
1. What is special about the newly-reported case?| A．The patient was diagnosed at 17. | B．The patient has a family history of AD. |
| C．The patient is too young for the disease. | D．It's the world's first case of Alzheimer's disease. |
| A．It can never be cured. | B．It only occurs in the old. |
| C．It will become worse over time. | D．The first case was reported in the 1910s. |
| A．making efforts to learn a foreign language | B．taking a walk every day |
| C．talking to many people every day | D．staying up working every night |
| A．Entertainment | B．Health | C．Education | D．Technology |
【推荐2】Clocks around the world mark every passing second, minute and hour. But to humans, seconds of pain can feel like minutes, and hours spent at a party can end in a second.
The brain can stretch or squeeze the feeling of time for many reasons, including pleasure, pain, fear and age. Although the science behind this “subjective (主观的) time” is not fully understood, some research suggests that an additional factor might influence the subjective length of your life: your income.
Research already suggests that, on average, wealthy people live longer, biologically. Now, fresh research indicates that varied and novel experiences could create more “time codes (编码)” in the human brain as it processes (处理) memory formation. This, in turn, could mean that people who can afford to enjoy more vacations and hobbies, and who have more stimulating jobs, will recall having lived for a longer time on Earth.
“Even though time flies when you’re having fun, when you look back on it, you can remember much more of this extended experience compared to a boring experience,” says Jorgen Sugar, a postdoctoral student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience. He’s part of a team of scientists investigating these mental time codes.
The idea that novelty can affect the experience of time also seems to fit cultures that don’t measure time using clocks — many cultures rely on seasonal events to mark the flow of time. “Our experience of time does vary according to circumstances, and also according to the kind of rhythm of activity we engage in,” says Chris Sinha, a cognitive (认知) scientist working with Hunan University.
But other experts aren’t convinced (使信服). According to Monica Capra, an economist with a background in neuro-economics at Claremont Graduate University, subjective time isn’t well understood scientifically. Even if higher-paid jobs can lead to more new experiences, wealthy people aren’t necessarily spending money that way. A millionaire, for example, may spend money on a fancy watch, but this isn’t likely to change their feeling of time the way a vacation or even a low-cost hike would, she says.
Even though the human brain is the most complex biological system we know, researchers from many fields are still eager to uncover the mysteries of subjective time.
1. What do we know about “subjective” time from the passage?| A．It has nothing to do with one’s income. |
| B．Its pace is influenced by a person’s mood. |
| C．It is a thing that is completely understood. |
| D．It marks every passing second for a person. |
| A．Wealthy people tend to engage more in remembering things. |
| B．Wealthy people may feel life is relatively longer psychologically. |
| C．Wealthy people tend to have a better memory than poor people. |
| D．Wealthy people usually need more time to process memory formation. |
| A．She is not convinced that money can extend subjective time. |
| B．She doesn’t believe that wealthy people can buy good memories. |
| C．She thinks that the excitement of fun experiences can hardly wear off. |
| D．She doubts whether higher-paid jobs can lead to more new experiences. |
| A．Researchers are exploring the mysteries of memory. |
| B．Many factors can influence how you feel time. |
| C．Your subjective time may depend on your income. |
| D．The brain is a complex biological system. |
【推荐3】For the first time in 100 years, the endangered California condor (秃鹰) will return to the Pacific Northwest. As the largest lying land bird, the California condor was once in a difficult situation of extinction, but now has made noticeable steps towards recovery.
California condors prehistorically lived from California to Florida. By the mid-20th century, condor population had decreased due to illegal hunting. In 1967, the California condor was listed as endangered with a population of 50 to 60. Fifteen years later, only 23 condors survived worldwide. By 1987, all remaining wild condors had been placed into a breeding program. Thus, a recovery program began. As a result of excellent reintroduction efforts, there are now over 300 California condors in the wild in America.
The return of condors to the skies is a key step towards the recovery of the beautiful scenery. These creatures are essential members of their ecosystems and play a very important role in the cultural beliefs of the Yurok Tribe. Because condors have an irreplaceable place in their culture, the Yurok Tribe has led this reintroduction effort and completed a great deal of work over the past twelve years.
Recently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Park Service, and the Yurok Tribe came together to announce a final rule. This rule will help to facilitate the creation of a new California condor release place for the reintroduction of condors to Yurok Ancestral Territory and Redwood National and State Parks. Considering the date of the completion of the condor release place may be ahead of schedule, the actual release of condors would be spring of 2022.
Steve Mietz, head of Redwood National and State Parks said, "We will continue to work with our partners in condor recovery. Tourists can visit the tallest trees in our parks while watching the largest birds in the world fly overhead."
1. What happened to California condors in the 20th century?| A．Their population decreased. |
| B．They were listed as rare animals. |
| C．They changed their habitats. |
| D．There were only 23 condors in California. |
| A．Condors are a key part of beautiful scenery. |
| B．Condors play an essential role in their culture. |
| C．They rely on condors to study the ecosystem. |
| D．Condors are the tribe's main income source. |
| A．Protect. | B．Build. | C．Design. | D．Speed. |
| A．Saving the endangered California condors. |
| B．California is working to protect condors' habitat. |
| C．Condors are returning to Northern California skies. |
| D．Seeing condors back again after a hundred years. |
