As Frans de Waal, a primatologist (灵长动物学家), recognizes, a better way to think about other creatures would be to ask ourselves how different species have developed different kinds of minds to solve different adaptive problems. Surely the important question is not whether animals can do the same things humans can, but how those animals solve the cognitive (认知的) problems they face, like how to imitate the sea floor. Children and some animals are so interesting not because they are smart like us, but because they are smart in ways we haven’t even considered.
Sometimes studying children’s ways of knowing can cast light on adult-human cognition. Children’s pretend play may help us understand our adult taste for fiction. De Waal’s research provides another interesting example. We human beings tend to think that our social relationships are rooted in our perceptions, beliefs, and desires, and our understanding of the perceptions, beliefs, and desires of others — what psychologists call our “theory of mind.” In the 80s and 90s, developmental psychologists showed that pre-schoolers and even infants understand minds apart from their own. But it was hard to show that other animals did the same. “Theory of mind” became a candidate for the special, uniquely human trick.
Yet de Waal’s studies show that chimps (黑猩猩) possess a remarkably developed political intelligence — they are much interested in figuring out social relationships. It turns out, as de Waal describes, that chimps do infer something about what other chimps see. But experimental studies also suggest that this happens only in a competitive political context. The evolutionary anthropologist (人类学家) Brain Hare and his colleagues gave a junior chimp a choice between pieces of food that a dominant chimp had seen hidden and other pieces it had not seen hidden. The junior chimp, who watched all the hiding, stayed away from the food the dominant chimp had seen, but took the food it hadn’t seen.
Anyone who has gone to an academic conference will recognize that we may be in the same situation. We may say that we sign up because we’re eager to find out what other human beings think, but we’re just as interested in who’s on top. Many of the political judgments we make there don’t have much to do with our theory of mind. We may show our respect to a famous professor even if we have no respect for his ideas.
Until recently, however, there wasn’t much research into how humans develop and employ this kind of political knowledge. It may be that we understand the social world in terms of dominance, like chimps, but we’re just not usually as politically motivated as they are. Instead of asking whether we have a better everyday theory of mind, we might wonder whether they have a better everyday theory of politics.
1. According to the first paragraph, which of the following shows that an animal is smart?| A．It can behave like a human kid. |
| B．It can imitate what human beings do. |
| C．It can find a solution to its own problem. |
| D．It can figure out those adaptive problems. |
| A．We talk with infants in a way that they can fully understand. |
| B．We make guesses at what others think while interacting with them. |
| C．We hide our emotions when we try establishing contact with a stranger. |
| D．We try to understand how kids’ pretend play affects our taste for fiction. |
| A．Neither human nor animals display their preference for dominance. |
| B．Animals living in a competitive political context are smarter. |
| C．Both humans and some animals have political intelligence. |
| D．Humans are more interested in who’s on top than animals. |
| A．we know little about how chimps are politically motivated |
| B．our political knowledge doesn’t always determine how we behave |
| C．our theory of mind might enable us to understand our theory of politics |
| D．more research should be conducted to understand animals’ social world |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Natural selection is the process by which one type of animal within a species thrives because of certain characteristics that make it more likely to live than others in its group. The history of the peppered moth(灰蛾) is an example of the natural selection process.
In 19th century England, certain types of peppered moths were able to better blend（融合）into their surroundings. During that time period, great changes were happening in Great Britain. The Industrial Revolution was part of this change, and with it came air pollution. Natural selection often takes hundred or even thousands of years to occur. For the peppered moth, this process occurred comparatively quickly.
At the beginning of the Industrial Age, most peppered moths in England were light-colored and covered with black markings, although a few moths had dark-colored wings. Because the light-colored moths blended into the light-colored bark on the trees, they could not be easily seen by birds that would eat them. As the air grew more polluted, however, tree trunks became covered with soot(烟煤) and became darker. The light-colored moths became easy for birds to see against the dark tree trunks. Since the dark-colored moths now had the advantage, their numbers grew. Within 50 years, the peppered moth went from being mostly light-colored to being mostly dark-colored.
In the 20th century, the air cleared up, and the peppered moth population changed again. As tree trunks lighted due to less soot in the air, light-colored moths once again had an advantage. Their numbers increased as soot levels declined. Depending on their environment, the coloration of the moths helped them to be “naturally selected” to survive.
1. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “thrives” in the first paragraph?| A．Reduces. | B．Booms. |
| C．Changes. | D．Endangers. |
| A．The length of time was unusual. |
| B．The soot levels in England did not affect it. |
| C．This type of color change was typical for moths. |
| D．It was a good example of environmental protection. |
| A．Dark-colored moths were originally easy to see on trees. |
| B．Both kinds of moths preferred the dark-colored trees. |
| C．Birds failed to see light-colored moths. |
| D．The color of moths was unimportant. |
| A．Birds would eat fewer moths. |
| B．Moths would not be able to stay alive. |
| C．Light-colored moths would disturb people’s life. |
| D．The population of dark-colored moths would increase. |
【推荐2】More than 1,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, it's darker than a moonless night. But even in this dark world, there's constant activity -including groups of Humboldt squids, each the size of a small adult human, darting around in search of fish.
“You can think of them as little rocket ships. They jet through the water. And they engage in these feeding frenzies. They're always looking out for an opportunity to eat.” Stanford University biologist Ben Burford. He says feeding in a group requires careful navigation.
“These animals are pretty aggressive. So there's probably some risk to group living. Like, imagine driving in heavy traffic with a bunch of aggressive drivers. Thank goodness you have turn signals and brake lights and horns on your cars, because that prevents a lot of catastrophe from happening.”
Burford thinks Humboldt squids communicate in the dark ocean by using their own form of signaling. They do it by turning their bodies into animated message boards. How? They can rapidly change their natural color patterns on their skin by contracting and relaxing their muscles. What's more, their bodies can be bright, or glow.
“They're creating a bioluminescent backlighting for their natural color patterns. So it becomes somewhat like an e-reader, something you can actually read in the dark. They're essentially just, you know, selectively revealing and concealing different parts of a glowing body, producing these patterns on top of a glowing body.”
Burford suspected that the squids could be combining different natural color patterns to create complex signals. “So each of those elements could mean something. And they might have the potential to combine them to generate more meanings.” To find out, his team attached cameras to remotely operated vehicles in order to study the squids' behavior. “We looked at how they arranged their patterns in sequence during prey-capture events.”
Burford eventually hopes to do underwater experiments in which the squids are shown playbacks of their visual signaling-virtual glowing squids, if you will. Their reactions should be illuminating.
1. Which of the following can best describe Humboldt squids?| A．Pretty but sensitive. | B．Mild but courageous. |
| C．Aggressive but cooperative. | D．Imaginative but cautious. |
| A．By creating color patterns on their glowing body. |
| B．By touching other squids’ bodies and muscles. |
| C．By navigating their way carefully in groups. |
| D．By examining their natural color selectively. |
| A．They operated the squids remotely. |
| B．They collected and analyzed signals. |
| C．They attached cameras to operable vehicles. |
| D．They conducted some underwater experiments. |
| A．In a travel guide book. | B．In a health magazine. |
| C．In a researcher’s lab record. | D．In a scientific journal. |
【推荐3】Lots of people dream of a beach vacation, but hesitate to take one because they don't want to leave a pet behind.
Find a hotel that is pet-friendly. Most hotels that accept pets will advertise themselves as pet-friendly on their websites.
Clean up after your pet. When vacationing with your pet it doesn't mean that all responsibility is gone. Picking up after it, whether that is when it goes to the bathroom or it makes a mess with its food, is still your responsibility.
Be considerate of others.
| A．Protect your pet from the sun. |
| B．Make sure you choose a beach that allows pets. |
| C．However, there is no need to settle for a pet sitter. |
| D．You never know how an animal will react in public. |
| E．You could also try to stay with a friend who loves your pet. |
| F．If you are unsure whether a hotel accepts pets, call it and ask. |
| G．This is especially important at the beach where many people move around. |
【推荐1】“Do not tell anyone”. We often hear these words when someone tells us a secret. But keeping a secret is hard. We’re often tempted（引诱）to “spill the beans”, even if we regret it later.
According to the professor, Asim Shah, keeping a secret may well “become a burden”. This is because people often have an “eager and anxious urge（冲动）to share it with someone”. An earlier study, led by Anita, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted（托付）with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.
Secrets are so often getting out. Why do people share them at all? Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. “Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone, ”according to Shah.
He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out. But this doesn’t mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.
Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you’d better put yourself in their position, Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn’t give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone’s secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn’t so secret anymore.
1. Why does the author say keeping a secret may “become a burden”?| A．Because people are born not to be able to keep secrets. |
| B．Because when people have secrets, their bodies ache. |
| C．Because keeping secrets is certain to cause depression. |
| D．Because keeping secrets could probably be harmful to health. |
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
| A．To fall by accident. | B．To let out secrets on purpose. |
| C．To spread secrets to everyone around. | D．To give away secrets unintentionally. |
| A．Quiet people are more likely to keep the secrets to themselves. |
| B．Sharing secrets helps establish friendship or get over the, sense of guilt. |
| C．Putting yourself in others’ shoes helps realize the importance of keeping secrets. |
| D．A person who is asked to keep a secret will suffer from psychological problems only. |
【推荐2】Gender, brain function, and STEM performance
[1] Scientists have debunked the idea that women are underrepresented in the science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) industries because of biological differences which affect their maths skills. Girls and boys have similar brains and are equally able when it comes to understanding maths, according to the study published in the journal Science of Learning.
[2] The research involved 104 children aged between 3 and 10 years old, 55 of whom were girls. The kids watched an educational video featuring maths concepts such as counting and addition, while the scientists charted their brain activity using an MRI scanner. The team then compared all the scan results, with which the researchers could compare the brain activity of the children to adults. The team asked 38 men and 25 women to watch the same videos in the scanner. According to the data, there was no difference between the children’s brain functions or development. And the boys and girls appeared to be equally tuned into the videos.
[3] The authors wrote the figures suggest “girls and boys showed statistically equivalent levels of neural maturity throughout the brain, suggesting that the neural processing of mathematics develops at similar rates in boys and girls,” they wrote.
[4] “Limited evidence for intrinsic, biological gender differences in mathematics ability has fueled debate about the underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM fields” the authors said.
[5] Jessica Cantlon, professor of developmental neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University and senior author of the paper, commented in a statement: “Science doesn’t align with folk beliefs. We see that children’s brains function similarly regardless of their gender so hopefully we can adjust expectations of what children can achieve in mathematics.”
[6] “However, typical socialization can exacerbate small differences between boys and girls that can snowball into how we treat them in science and maths. We need to be cognizant of these origins to ensure we aren’t the ones causing the gender inequities.”
[7] Alyssa Kersey, the first author, said: “It’s not just that boys and girls are using the maths network in the same ways but that similarities were evident across the entire brain. This is an important reminder that humans are more similar to each other than we are different. Earlier this year, a separate team of researchers concluded girls would score better in maths and science tests if exams were made longer. The scientists found female students are better at sustaining their performance over a long period and argue this should be regarded as a skill.”
[8] Co-author Oosterveen said: “Our study also documents a female strength in test-taking that has largely been ignored and that deserves recognition. Gender differences in test performance in maths and science have generally been perceived as a female weakness. The findings in this study could serve as a counterbalance to the gender stereotypes shaped by this perception.
1. Which of the following can be a replacement word for the underlined word “debunked” in paragraph 1?| A．supported | B．disproved | C．delighted | D．distinguished |
| A．To illustrate a generally accepted scientific findings from their recent study. |
| B．To explain why girls and women are underrepresented in many STEM fields. |
| C．To emphasize the widely held gender difference isn’t scientifically grounded. |
| D．To argue for more favorable policy to support women and girls in STEM fields |
| A．The snowball effect that can worsen the situation. |
| B．Small differences between boys and girls. |
| C．Gender inequities that are common in STEM field. |
| D．How we treat the gender distinctions in science. |
| A．Girls are likely to make a better performance in longer maths and science tests. |
| B．Girls and boys showed similar brain functions while watching an educational video about maths. |
| C．The findings could be used to argue against the commonly believed gender stereotypes. |
| D．MRI scanner was used so the researchers were able to record information about their brain activity. |
【推荐3】Would you make the same decisions in a foreign language as you would in your native tongue? It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, or that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systematic. We discovered, however, that the opposite is true: Using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases (偏差).
Together with his students and collaborators, Professor Keysar has made discoveries about the impact of using a foreign language on choice, the way that language modality affects reasoning, how language affects health decisions and negotiations, and more. In a 2021study, Boaz Keysar, a professor at the University of Chicago in the US, led an experiment concerning how foreign languages relate to human ways of thinking.
Whereas people were risk averse for gains and risk seeking for losses when choices were presented in their native tongue, they were not influenced by this framing manipulation in a foreign language. People were asked to make a choice: Take a guarantee of one pound or take a 50 percent chance of winning 2.50 pounds. When presented with this choice in their native language, most people took the safe option of only getting one pound. But they were more willing to make the riskier choice when asked in a foreign language, leading to more profits overall, according to The Guardian. As Keysar put it, “People just hate the prospect (前景) of losing, but they hate it less in a foreign language. ”
Keysar and his team did another experiment in which participants were given a series of related words like “dream”, “snooze”, “bed” and “rest”. Later, when asked which words they remembered hearing, people were more likely to mistakenly remember “sleep”, which was not on the list, in their native language. But it was much less likely to happen if they did the test in a foreign language.
The evidence is clear: By learning a foreign language, you’re not just learning a language — you’re gaining a new state of mind.
1. What aspect of the Boaz Keysar’s research in 2021 focus on?| A．The impact of using a foreign language on choice. |
| B．The way that language modality affects reasoning. |
| C．How language affects health decisions and negotiations. |
| D．The relationship between foreign languages and people’s way of thinking. |
| A．willing | B．slow | C．opposed | D．eager |
| A．To change people’s attitude to the game. |
| B．To prove a foreign language influences the way of thinking. |
| C．To show the choice is more correct when using a foreign language. |
| D．To prove using a foreign language leads to memories with greater accuracy. |
I: Introduction P: Point C: Conclusion
A． | B． | C． | D． |
【推荐1】On October 16, 2021, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) successfully launched the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft using a Long March 2F rocket, carrying three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts (中国航天员) to the Tianhe core cabin module (CCM) (核心舱).
Shenzhou 13 is the second crewed mission to the Tianhe CCM, the first module of the China's Tiangong Space Station, which is currently under construction. The CNSA announced the names of the three crew members, commander Zhai Zhigang, and operators Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, in a press conference the day before lift-off. Wang becomes the first female astronaut to visit the space station. This mission is scheduled to last six months, compared to the previous crewed mission duration of 90 days, which makes this the longest Chinese human spaceflight.
The Shenzhou spacecraft is largely comparable to the Soyuz (联盟号飞船) in its design and technology but the Shenzhou is substantially bigger at 9.25m×2.8 m. The spacecraft's first flight was on November 19,1999, and its first crewed launch was the Shenzhou 5, which was launched on October 15, 2003, making China the 3rd country to demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities.
The spacecraft has three modules: a forward orbital module, a reentry capsule in the middle, and a back service module. The orbital module has room to store experiment equipment, and is a space for in-orbit habitation. The reentry module is the middle section of the spacecraft. This is where the crew sits for lift-off and reentry, and is the only part of the vehicle which makes it back to Earth. The service module holds the life support and equipment needed for the Shenzhou to function. The spacecraft also has two sets of solar panels, with a total area of 40 m2. One pair is found on the service module, and the other on the orbital module.
1. What is the main task of Shenzhou 13?| A．To fix the Tianhe core cabin module. |
| B．To build the Tiangong Space Station. |
| C．To carry three trained crew members. |
| D．To set a new record of spaceflight. |
| A．It's similar to the Soyuz in some ways. |
| B．It's the largest spacecraft in the world. |
| C．It's last flight was on October 15, 2003. |
| D．It's spaceflight capabilities rank third. |
| A．The orbital module. | B．The reentry module. |
| C．The service module. | D．Powerful solar panels. |
| A．Science is developing extremely fast. |
| B．Space competitions are becoming common. |
| C．Spaceships are increasingly large. |
| D．China is growing into a space power. |
【推荐2】Why should mankind explore space? Why should money, time and effort be spent exploring and researching something with so few apparent benefits? Why should resources be spent on space rather than on conditions and people on Earth? These are questions that, understandably, are very often asked.
Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup (基因构成) as human beings. What drove our ancestors to move from the trees into the plains, and on into all possible areas and environments? The wider the spread of a species, the better its chance of survival. Perhaps the best reason for exploring space is this genetic tendency to expand wherever possible.
Nearly every successful civilization has explored, because by doing so, any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge, we may be completely destroyed by the danger. With knowledge, we can lessen its effects.
Exploration also allows minerals and other potential (潜在的) resources to be found. Even if we have no immediate need of them, they will perhaps be useful later. Resources may be more than physical possessions. Knowledge or techniques have been acquired through exploration. The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. We have already benefited from other spin-offs including improvements in earthquake prediction, in satellites for weather forecasting and in communications systems. Even non-stick pans and mirrored sunglasses are by-products (副产品) of technological developments in space.
While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of space allows creative, brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The danger exists, but knowledge can help human beings to survive. Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist.
While Earth is the only planet known to support life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to live on other planets. It is true that the lifestyle would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.
1. Why does the author mention the questions in Paragraph1?| A．To express his doubts. | B．To compare different ideas. |
| C．To describe the conditions on Earth. | D．To introduce points for discussion. |
| A．survival chances | B．potential resources |
| C．unexpected benefits | D．physical possessions |
| A．Our genetic makeup. | B．Resources on the earth. |
| C．The adaptive ability of humans. | D．By-products in space exploration. |
| A．Space exploration has created many wonders. |
| B．Space exploration provided the best value for money. |
| C．Space exploration may help us avoid potential problems on Earth. |
| D．Space exploration can benefit science and technology. |
【推荐3】According to a new study, teens focus on rewards and have a hard time leaning to avoid punishment or consider the results of alternative actions.
University College London researchers compared how teens and adults learn to make choices based on the available information. They tracked the way in which 18 volunteers aged 12-17 and 20 volunteers aged 18-32 completed tasks in which they had to choose between abstract symbols.
Each symbol was consistently associated with a fixed chance of a reward, punishment, or no outcome (结果). As the experiment progressed, participants learned which symbols were likely to lead to each outcome and adjusted their choices accordingly. Teens and adults were equally good at learning to choose symbols associated with reward, but teens were less good at avoiding symbols associated with punishment. Adults also performed significantly better when they were told what would have happened if they had chosen the other symbols after each choice, while teens did not appear to take this information into account.
“From this experimental lab study we can draw conclusions about learning during the teen years. We find that teens and adults learn in different ways, something that might be related to education,” said lead author Dr. Stefano Palminteri. “Unlike adults, teens are not so good at learning to adjust their choices to avoid punishment. This suggests that incentive systems (激励制度) based on reward rather than punishment may be more effective for this age group. Additionally, we found that teens did not learn from being shown what would have happened if they made other choices.”
To interpret the results, the researchers developed computational models of learning and ran simulations (模拟) applying them to the results of the study. The first was a simple model, one that learned from rewards, and the second model added to this by also learning from the option that was not chosen. The third model was the most complete and took the full situation into consideration, with equal weight (权重) given to punishment avoidance and reward seeking. For example, gaining no outcome rather than losing a point is weighted equally to gaining a point rather than having no outcome.
Comparing the experimental data to the models, the team found that teens’ behavior followed the simple reward-based model while adults’ behavior matched the complete, contextual model. “Our study suggests that teens are more willing to accept rewards than they are to punishments of equal value,” said senior author Dr. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, “As a result, it may be useful for parents and teaches to express things in more positive terms.”
1. It can be learned from the study that ________.| A．adults made choices faster than teens | B．adults were less sensitive to punishment |
| C．teens reacted to reward as well as adults did | D．teens were aware of the outcome of each choice |
| A．They reflected people’s strong desire for punishment avoidance. |
| B．They gave the situation different degrees of consideration. |
| C．They paid equal attention to reward and punishment. |
| D．They shaped the behavior of people at different ages. |
| A．“If you insist on doing things in this way, you will lose ten points.” |
| B．“If we had talked about this earlier, you wouldn’t have made the mistake.” |
| C．“If you hand in your homework ahead of time, you will get an extra point.” |
| D．“If you want to approach a problem differently, you can talk to your parents.” |
| A．To discuss a new discovery. | B．To prove a theory. |
| C．To correct misunderstanding. | D．To offer suggestions. |
