Lots of young mammals and birds engage in behaviour that provides no obvious adaptive outcome such as access to food, shelter or a mate, is voluntary and rewarding in itself and appears to be conducted pleasantly when the animal is relaxed.
What about bumblebees (大黄蜂)? Apparently they play too, according to work just published in Animal Behaviour by Galpayage Dona and Lars Chittka. The idea of asking whether bumblebees like to play came to Chittka during a previous study in which he trained them to roll wooden balls around in order to gain access to food. He noticed that, during this experiment, they would often roll the balls for no apparent reason. They just seemed to enjoy it.
A perfect PhD project for an ambitious student. And Ms Galpayage Dona stepped up to the mark. She created an field, put pollen (花粉) and sugar solution in it to arrest the bees, and connected it via a plastic tube to a bumblebee nest in Dr Chittka’s laboratory. In one part of the field, nine of the balls were fixed to the floor. In another, the balls could be rolled around. Ms Dona tagged 45 bees, between one and 23 days old, so that they could be followed as individuals. She then opened the door to the field for three hours a day for 18 days and recorded on video what happened.
The recordings suggested that the bees did enjoy this experiment. All of the tagged bees rolled a ball at least once during the experiment. Most did so many times. One particular enthusiast managed 117 rolls. Overall, the camera recorded 910 incidents of ball—rolling by tagged insects. Also young bees played more often than old ones. All that they seemingly need now is some goalposts and a referee (裁判), and bumblebee social behaviour will take off to the next level.
1. Why do some animals engage in the behavior mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To find a perfect mate. | B．To gain access to food. |
| C．To entertain themselves. | D．To get rewards from others. |
| A．A survival training | B．A failed experiment. |
| C．An ambitious project. | D．An unexpected finding. |
| A．Applied for her PhD. | B．Joined Chittka’s study. |
| C．Tagged the bumblebees. | D．Updated Chittka’s equipment. |
| A．Why Animals Love to Play? | B．How Bumblebees Manage Ball-rolling? |
| C．Are Bumblebees Porential Football Players? | D．Is Playfulness Restricted to Mammals and Birds |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Most male birds try to attract mates with beautiful gestures. However, the white bellbird, local to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil makes the loudiest call ever recorded for that purpose. That is 40 Db higher than the safe hearing range for humans, which is 85 Db. Before this, the honor belonged to another Amazon-liver—the well-known screaming piha, which set a record of 116 Db.
Mario Cohn-Haft, one of the study's authors, first became familiar with the loud birds through his trips to the mountains of the Brazilian Amazon.” We could hear them all over the place; they're kind of the soundtrack of these forests,” says the researcher at Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research.“They give out these loud ringing sounds that sound like someone hitting metal, like a blacksmith.”
To find out how loud the white bellbird's sound actually was, Mario Cohn-Haft and Jeff Podos from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, walked to the mountains of the Amazon rainforests in northern Brazil in December 2018 and then again in February 2019. What they discovered was interesting
The pigeon-sized white bellbirds began their courtship(求偶) with a slightly gentler scream that averages about 116 Db. Upon attracting their possible mate's attention, they increase their effort with the deafening “song”. What was strange was that the male began by singing its first note with its back to the female and then turned suddenly. “You see this bird spinning around, and he's got his beak(鸟喙) wide open,” Podos said. “And he makes the second note right in the place the female would have been if she had not been smart enough to back off.”
The scientists are not sure why the female birds continue to stay so close even when the males are singing at full pitch(音高). "Maybe they are trying to judge the male birds up close, though at the risk of suffering damage to their hearing systems, "Podos thinks. Since the unpleasant sound, which increases the male birds' risk of being discovered, was not one of the survival skills, the researchers concluded that the female birds might have a preference for louder male birds.
The white bellbirds' ability to scream loudly may be the result of their diet, which only consists of fruits. Though the sizes of some fruits are like golf balls, the birds swallow them wholly. Cohn-Haft and Podos believe the bird’s ability to open their beaks wide helps increase their sound.
However, the scientists are puzzled about how the birds, both male and female, can endure the loud songs without going deaf.
1. How do the male white bellbirds try to find a mate?| A．By making some beautiful gestures |
| B．By making a sound as loud as 125 Db |
| C．By singing beautiful songs to a possible mate |
| D．By hitting metal with their beaks to make a sound |
| A．They sang more than one note during the courtship |
| B．They began their courtship with a slightly gentler scream |
| C．They got their beaks wide open when giving out a sound |
| D．They made the first courtship sound not facing the females |
| A．How animals can make louder sounds | B．What the white bellbird mainly feeds on |
| C．Why the white bellbird can make such a sound | D．Why the white bellbird usually swallows fruits |
| A．Stand | B．Record | C．Produce | D．Replace |
Your four-legged friends may soon have their own channel. Dog TV, cable TV’s first channel for dogs, is mostly about keeping lonely dogs calm.
There are about 78 million canines (犬）in the United States. Dog TV is aimed at these that are left alone for long periods. Dogs are social animals and often grow anxious when left on their own. They may bark, chew shoes, and generally get into trouble. Dog TV, which was launched last February, is designed to help ease their boredom and anxiety.
Creators of the cable service approached their task scientifically. The sounds, colours, and camera angles have all been adjusted for canine senses. For instance, colours are made more vivid so that canine eyes can see objects clearly. Dog TV does not, as you might think, show Scooby-Doo or Clifford the Big Red Dog. Rather, there are three types of Dog TV “shows”. The first aims to relax dogs. These segments show dogs resting to the sound of calming music. The second kind shows pleasant (for a dog) day-to-day settings, like riding in a car or walking down a street. The third type is meant to stimulate ― like a scene of two dogs playing in a field. “Dogs love watching other dogs being active on the screen,” says Beke Lubeach, a Dog TV spokesperson. She says that birds, monkeys, and zebras also make dogs take notice.
Not everyone is buying it. “I think a lot of this is to make us feel better as opposed to making the pet happier,” says Dr. Ann E. Hohenhaus of New York’s Animal Medical Centre. She tells The New York Times, “Your pet needs adequate exercise and an interesting environment. You cannot just turn on the TV and hope your dog is going to get better.”
On the other hand, the Humane Society animal shelter in Escondido, California, tried out Dog TV at its shelter. Sally Costello, the director, says workers observed that dogs exposed to the channel were calmer and barked less.
Dog TV has been seen only in Southern California so far. But it is scheduled to go national soon. Owners of the commercial-free channel hope to charge about $5 a month for their service.
1. The following programmes are often broadcast on Dog TV EXCEPT________.| A．dogs resting to the sound of calming music |
| B．programmes like Clifford the Big Red Dog |
| C．a scene of two dogs playing in a field |
| D．dogs riding in a car or walking down a street |
| A．Everyone who owns dogs will buy the service. |
| B．Dog TV can make your dogs happier and happier. |
| C．Dogs need more than a good animal channel. |
| D．Dog TV makes people happier than pet dogs. |
| A．Dog TV will only be seen in Southern California. |
| B．There will be many ads on the animal channel. |
| C．Dog owners will enjoy the programmes very much. |
| D．Dogs exposed to the channel will become calmer. |
| A．About $5. | B．About $10. | C．About $12. | D．About $60. |
【推荐3】The sixth mass extinction (灭绝) is not a worry for the future. It’s happening now, much faster than expected before, and it’s entirely our fault, according to a study published Monday.
Humans have already wiped out hundreds of species (物种) and pushed many more to the edge (边缘) of extinction through wildlife trade, pollution and habitat loss.
Gerardo Ceballos Gonzalez, a professor of ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said approximately 173 species died out between 2001 and 2014, which is 25 times more extinct species than you would expect under the normal, background, extinction speed.
The past events were caused by terrible changes of the environment The sixth mass extinction - the one happening now - is different: it’s caused by humans.
When one species in the ecosystem disappears, it destroys the entire ecosystem and pushes other species toward destruction.
Hundreds of species of frogs are suffering population decrease and extinctions because of the chytrid fungus (真菌) disease, which is sometimes spread into new areas by humans. Climate change is likely making it worse.
The researchers said this data highlights the urgency (紧急) with which the world needs to act. Later this year, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is expected to set new global goals to fight the ongoing biodiversity (生物多样性) problem in the coming decades.
| A．Mass extinctions are just as serious as their name suggests. |
| B．This interdependency (相互依存) of different species is bad news for humans, too. |
| C．But the speed at which species are dying out has quickened up in recent decades. |
| D．We humans are destroying the biodiversity of the world we evolved into. |
| E．Life on Earth has recovered after each of these events. |
| F．The researchers use amphibians (两栖动物) as an example of this phenomena. |
| G．Many species have evolved to deal with climate changes. |
【推荐1】The research company OpenAI has recently released ChatGPT, a language model that can construct remarkably well-structured arguments based on simple cues provided by a user. The system which uses a massive source of online text to predict what words should come next is able to create new stories in the style of famous writers, write news articles about itself and produce essays that could easily receive a passing grade in most English classes.
That last use has raised concern among academics, who worry about the possibility of an easily accessible platform that, in a matter of seconds, can put together essays as good as -- if not better than -- the writing of a typical student.
Cheating in school is not new, but ChatGPT and other language models are totally different from the hacks(雇佣文人)students have used to take a shortcut in the past. The writing these language models produce is completely original, meaning that it can’t be distinguished by even the most advanced plagiarism(剽窃)software. The AI also goes beyond just providing students with information they should be finding themselves. It organizes that information into a complete narrative.
Beyond potential academic honesty issues, some teachers worry that the true value of learning to write -- like analysis, critical thinking, creativity and the ability to structure an argument -- will be lost when AI can do all those complex things in a matter of seconds.
“We might know more things but we never learned how we got there. We’ve always said that the process is the best part and we know that. The satisfaction is the best part. That might be the thing that’s removed from all of this. Actually, I don’t know what a person is like if they’ve never had to struggle through learning. I don’t know the behavioral implications of that,” said Peter Laffin.
“Whenever there’s a new technology, there’s a panic around it. It’s the responsibility of academics to have a healthy amount of distrust, but I don’t feel like this is an undefeatable challenge,“ Sandra Wachter, technology researcher, said.
1. What is mainly stressed about ChatGPT in the first paragraph?| A．Its unusual functions. |
| B．Its working process. |
| C．Its promising future. |
| D．Its wide application. |
| A．They belong to a new cheating form. |
| B．They are writings of ChatGPT’s own. |
| C．They provide students with all needed information. |
| D．They are better than writings from the hacks. |
| A．AI makes us struggle through learning. |
| B．AI might be improperly used by hacks. |
| C．AI might rob us of the pleasure of learning. |
| D．AI might result in many writers losing their jobs. |
| A．He is pleased to see the release of ChatGPT. |
| B．He is ready for the challenges from ChatGPT. |
| C．He is in a panic about the use of ChatGPT. |
| D．He has a healthy distrust of ChatGPT. |
【推荐2】What do the random,scribbled(潦草的)drawings crowding the margins(页边空白)of most high school students’papers mean?When a student is caught doodling(乱画)in class,he will probably be criticized for daydreaming.But doodling while listening can help with remembering details,rather than implying that the mind is wandering,according to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.
In an experiment conducted by the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge,40 subjects were asked to listen to a two-minute tape giving several names of people and places.Half of the participants were asked to shade in shapes on a piece of paper at the same time,without paying attention to neatness,while the rest were given no such instructions.After the tape had finished,all participants in the study were asked to recall the names of people and places.The doodlers recalled on average 7.5 names of people and places,compared to only 5.8 by the non—doodlers.
“If someone is doing a boring task,like listening to a dull telephone conversation,they may start to daydream.”said study researcher,Professor Jackie Andrade,of the School of Psychology,University of Plymouth.“Daydreaming distracts them from the task,resulting in poorer performance.A simple task,like doodling,may be enough to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task.”
“In psychology,tests of memory or attention will often use a second task to selectively block a particular mental process.If that process is important for the main task,then performance will be weakened.But my research suggests that in everyday life doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring,task,rather than being an unnecessary distraction(分心)that we should try to resist doing.”said Andrade.
Dan Ware,a social study teacher,used to consider doodling a distraction from learning,but after teaching kids with all personality types he learned scribbling away during lectures helps certain students remember more information.“In my first few years of teaching,I thought,‘Well,this kid isn’t paying attention.He’s daydreaming.’But I had some really powerful experiences with students and came to understand in many cases that was their way of focusing,and those students were probably paying more attention than other students.”Ware said.
1. What do we know about the participants involved in the experiment?| A．Some were asked to note down the information neatly. |
| B．Some were asked to memorize the names they would hear. |
| C．Some were instructed to listen to the tape with full attention. |
| D．Some were instructed to make random drawings on paper. |
| A．Doodling helps some people focus. |
| B．Doodling makes a dull task interesting. |
| C．Students who doodle perform poorly. |
| D．Students who doodle lack concentration. |
| A．Daydreaming Can Sharpen Study Skills |
| B．Doodling Can Help Memory Recall |
| C．A Wandering Mind Improves Productivity |
| D．Distractions Harm Academic Performance |
【推荐3】The world of underwater slumber is unlike what we see on the surface. For mammals (哺乳动物), a good night’s sleep sends an animal into a state of unconsciousness (无知觉) during hours of restorative sleeping that helps heal the body and solidify memories firmly in the mind. For fish, however, sleep isn’t such a well-defined process. Instead, many fish species have taken to spending short periods in a state of reduced activity or rest while keeping their eyes open to scan the water for potential threats. During these periods of reduced activity, a fish’s bodily functions slow down and its watchfulness drops.
The breadth of animals in the ocean that exhibit this type of reduced activity is wide-reaching. Among the hundreds of thousands of creatures in the sea, some merely ride along with the current, such as jellyfish. Others find rocky bedrooms for the night, while those such as stingrays bury themselves in the sand to rest. However, it must be really hard to get a good night’s sleep when you breathe air but live in water. This is something that the world’s underwater mammals have to deal with.
To prevent themselves from drowning (溺死) in their sleep, underwater mammals such as dolphins and manatees have developed the ability to “turn off” one side of their brain to rest, known as unihemispheric sleep. While one side is fast asleep, the other keeps all the animal’s vital functions running, such as breathing. Manatees, for example, love to sleep, spending up to 12 hours a day in a deep slumber. However, as air-breathing animals, manatees need to surface every 20 minutes or so for oxygen. To achieve this, the half of the brain that’s still awake sends the sleeping manatee to the surface to get some air.
1. What does the underlined word “slumber” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Rest. | B．Sleep. | C．Danger. | D．Activity. |
| A．Because fish remain partially awake. | B．Because fish need short resting time. |
| C．Because fish possess no consciousness. | D．Because fish pretend not to be sleeping. |
| A．Hiding in sand. | B．Riding the current. |
| C．Finding spots to rest. | D．Breathing while sleeping. |
| A．By sleeping less. | B．By adapting to the sea. |
| C．By surfacing periodically. | D．By controlling their breath. |
【推荐1】It's a lesson that most of us learn years before were old enough to drive: Red means stop, green means go. Simple enough. But what happens when you live in a culture where green also means blue?
Drive around Japan long enough and you'll find “go” signals in different kinds of blue. “Is this signal broken?” you might ponder. “Did some careless workers install the wrong bulbs?” The answer, as Atlas Obscura points out, is not in the wiring, but in the Japanese language.
Hundreds of years ago, the Japanese language included words for only four basic colours: black, white, red, and blue. If you wanted to describe something green, you'd use the word for blue-ao. That system worked well until the word midori began showing up to describe green. Even then, midori was considered a shade of ao. This sudden switch-over had lasting effects in Japan.
Today you'll still see green things doubtfully labelled blue. A fruit seller might sell you an ao-ringo (blue apple) only to disappoint you that it's actually green. Likewise, green bamboos are called aodake (“blue bamboos”) and an inexperienced employee may be called aonisai, meaning a “blue two-year-old”. And that brings us to traffic lights.
Initially, Japan's traffic lights were green as green can be. Despite this, the country's official traffic documents still referred to them as ao. International traffic law commands all “go” signals must be represented by green lights, and Japanese linguists objected to their government's decision to continue using the word ao to describe what was clearly midori. The government decided to compromise. In 1973, the government passed through an order that traffic lights use the bluest shade of green possible-still technically green, but noticeably blue enough to justifiably continue using ao nomenclature (命名法).
So, while it may appear that Japan uses blue traffic lights, the government assures us it's actually just a very blue shade of green-green enough to satisfy international regulations blue enough to still be called ao. Don't ever say the government never solved anything.
1. What does the underlined word “ponder” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Remark. | B．Wonder. | C．Explore. | D．Hesitate. |
| A．The public preferred blue to green. |
| B．Green must be used with caution in Japan. |
| C．The word ao developed later than the word midori. |
| D．There were limited words to describe colours in Japan's history. |
| A．The colour of “go” lights is a mix of blue and green in Japan. |
| B．Japan's traffic lights still disobey the international traffic law. |
| C．Japanese linguists opposed changing the color of traffic lights. |
| D．Japan's traffic lights were first addressed as green in official papers. |
| A．Traditional colours in Japan | B．Interesting driving rules in japan |
| C．Why Japan has blue traffic lights | D．Why green can cheat people in Japan |
【推荐2】Methane is one of the biggest drivers of global warming. About 95% of methane emissions from cattle come out of their mouths and noses. The common method to design cattle feed additive (饲料添加剂) helps in the reduction of methane gas in cattle’s stomachs. However, chemical additives may become a problem for animal life and also the products.
A British company has come up with a cow mask, which breaks down methane, a more harmful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, into CO2, and water. The company, named Zelp, was founded by brothers Francisco and Patricio Norris, children of Argentine—based cattle keepers. According to the company, the mask is able to reduce up to 60 percent of methane emissions in cattle.
Unlike a human face mask, the cow mask doesn’t cover the mouth. It sits just over the nose, helping it to catch methane from breathing and burps (打嗝). A sensor (感应器) on the device detects what percentage of methane the cow breathes out. As the methane reaches a certain level, a chemical reaction turns it into carbon dioxide and water.
The mask also works as a smart device for cows. It monitors cattle location through a GPS chip, besides measuring feeding activity. Norris brothers believe that it will help cattle owners identify early symptoms of a disease and help reduce the cost of farms.
The device has successfully passed trials conducted in institutions in Argentina besides UK’s Royal Veterinary College. As global meat consumption is set to increase by 70 percent in the next 30 years according to FAO, so will the demand in cattle and dairy industries. Thus, the Norris brothers believe that their cow mask will be one step in the right direction in the fight against global warming.
1. Why does Zelp develop the cow mask?| A．To help cattle eat safely. | B．To improve feed additives. |
| C．To cut the methane gas’ from cattle. | D．To quicken the cattle’s digestive process. |
| A．How the mask works. | B．When the mask detects the gas. |
| C．Why the mask benefits the cow. | D．How the mask fits on the cow’s head. |
| A．Giving cows a good appetite. | B．Tracking the cattle’s movements. |
| C．Curing the cows’ mild diseases. | D．Regulating the cattle’s feed intake. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Cautious. | C．Skeptical. | D．Optimistic. |
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules . That was the great thing about Facebook. You could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things: your city, your photo, your friends’ names ,were set by default (默认)to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience”.
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. In original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them. At the side of the pages totally, who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social networking sites. “I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it’s only the beginning, which is why I’m considering canceling my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t know. That’s too high a price to pay.
1. What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?
| A．It provides loads of information to its users. |
| B．It earns money by putting on advertisements. |
| C．It is a website that sends messages to users who want to get married. |
| D．It makes money by selling its users’ personal data. |
| A．They don’t know their personal data enriches Facebook. |
| B．They are unwilling to give up their personal information. |
| C．They don’t identify themselves when using the website. |
| D．They care very little about their personal information. |
| A．To obey the Federal guidelines. |
| B．To expand its business. |
| C．To improve its users’ connection |
| D．To provide better service to its users |
| A．He is dissatisfied with its present service. |
| B．He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
| C．He doesn’t want his personal data badly used. |
| D．He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |
