Conformity involves changing your behaviour to “fit in” or “go along” with the people around you. In some cases, this social influence might involve agreeing with or acting like the majority of people in a specific group, or involve behaving in a particular way to be viewed as “normal” by the group. Actually, conformity is something that happens regularly in our social world. Sometimes we’re aware of our behaviour, but in many cases it happens without much thought or awareness on our parts. And even in some cases we go along with things we disagree with or behave in ways we know we shouldn’t.
There are countless examples of conformity in life. For instance, a teenager dresses in a certain style because he wants to fit in with the rest of the teenagers in his social group. A woman reads a book for her book club and really enjoys it. When she attends her book club meeting, the other members all dislike the book. Rather than go against the group opinion, she simply agrees with the others that the book is terrible.
Why do we conform? In many cases, looking to the rest of the group for clues for how we should behave can actually be helpful. Others might have greater knowledge or experience than we do, so following their lead can actually be instructive. And in some cases, we conform to the expectations of the group to avoid looking foolish. This tendency can become especially strong in situations where we aren’t quite sure how to act. Additionally, there are some situations where we conform just in order to avoid punishments or gain rewards.
There are many factors that influence conformity. For example, not knowing how to perform a difficult task makes people more likely to conform. Personal characteristics such as motivation to achieve and strong leadership abilities are linked with a decreased tendency to conform. And people are more likely to conform in situations that involve between three and five other people.
1. What can we learn about conformity from the first paragraph?| A．Actually it is rare for us to conform. |
| B．Blind conformity should be criticized. |
| C．Sometimes people tend to conform unconsciously. |
| D．Conformity means changing your behaviour reluctantly. |
| A．Joining a certain organization. |
| B．Following the ongoing fashion. |
| C．Sharing something personal with others. |
| D．Giving up your creative ideas cautiously. |
| A．When we are at a loss. |
| B．When we are rejected. |
| C．When we feel threatened. |
| D．When we feel uncomfortable. |
| A．Conformity cannot be avoided by anyone. |
| B．Conformity is linked to the size of the group. |
| C．Conformity is a natural response to challenges. |
| D．Conformity isn’t related to individual differences. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】African grey parrots help their peers complete tasks despite no immediate benefit to themselves, researchers have found in the first study to show that birds display such apparently “selfless” behaviour.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, Brucks and colleagues report how they tested African grey parrots in a task that involved the birds passing a token, in the form of a metal ring, through a hole in their section to a neighbouring bird of the same species. This token could then be passed by the second bird to a human, via another hole, who would exchange it for a piece of nut.
The team found African grey parrots helped their neighbours by passing tokens to their neighbour when a human held out their hand, allowing the second bird to drop it through-the hole and receive a tasty treat.
The same behaviour was seen when the roles of the birds were reversed (颠倒). The more tokens a bird had previously given, the more they received in return.
However, the team stress previously the birds did not know that their favour would be rewarded, suggesting it is something of a “selfless” act.
The team say it may be due to African grey parrots gathering in huge flocks at night but splitting into smaller groups during the day to forage (觅食). Brucks said such behaviour is thought to require strong social cognitive abilities, adding that being helpful might help the birds gain a good reputation with their peers, making it more likely that they would team up for foraging and other tasks.
Dr Manon Schweinfurth, an expert in animal behaviour, said evidence of reciprocal (互惠的) behaviour in African grey parrots is quite interesting. “It has been thought that it is so cognitively demanding that only humans can show it. But we now get more and more evidence from other animals that they are able to show reciprocity,” she said.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The methods of observation. | B．The comparison of the species. |
| C．One feeding behaviour of parrots. | D．One example of Brucks’ experiments. |
| A．A strong survival instinct. | B．A desire for food. |
| C．The need for social cognitive abilities. | D．Curiosity towards other species. |
| A．Only African grey parrots are capable of exhibiting reciprocal behavior. |
| B．Reciprocal behavior is the only demonstration of cognitive abilities. |
| C．Other animals may possess similar social cognitive abilities to African grey parrots. |
| D．The reciprocal behavior of African grey parrots is learned through experience. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Admiring. | C．Indifferent. | D．Surprised. |
【推荐2】Have you ever caught yourself saying, “I hate small talk!” the minute you walk into a party? If so, you might be an introvert (内向的人). Introverts hate to chat about “small” subjects with people. They are fine when you talk face to face but seem to get lost in the crowd when there’s a group around.
If you’re talking to an introvert, you might find that your first few conversations go one of two ways. Either they’ll seem to get bored and not say much or they’ll seem to avoid small talk in support of more in-depth topics. What you need to know is that the introvert is not being rude. It’s just that they don’t like small talk. Here’s why.
Small talk serves as a gateway toward deeper conversation. Some introverts don’t realize that small talk will actually help them get to the bigger topics. You don’t need to stay on small talk forever. However, sometimes introverts feel that even the short amount of time it takes to get into the real conversation is a waste of time. Small talk is very fast. Someone says something and this should be followed up with a quick response. But introverts like to weigh their words before saying them aloud. Before they answer, they’ll chew on different thoughts.
Small talk by its very nature invites more people to join in. The more people who join the conversation, the more the introvert will tend to step back. As a result, they’ll be quiet. Small talk is about throwing out subjects in the hope that one or more of them can be turned into a common point of interest.
The listening involved in small talk is not in-depth. The purpose is about listening “lightly” so you can figure out the right topics to spend some time on. Introverts tend to be great listeners, but they use active listening rather than light listening. This makes them wonderful friends, but can also make it difficult for new people to understand why they’re so quiet.
1. How do introverts respond to a chat?| A．They try to avoid it. |
| B．They get excited about it. |
| C．They give it their full attention. |
| D．They focus on unimportant topics. |
| A．It goes slowly. | B．It makes no sense. |
| C．It leads to deeper topics. | D．It costs people a lot of time. |
| A．Think over. | B．Get into. |
| C．Write down. | D．Let out. |
| A．Be a quiet listener. |
| B．Try to find shared topics. |
| C．Think twice before answering questions. |
| D．Figure out the deep meaning of questions. |
【推荐3】It was a reading class. While all her classmates were flying through the 2nd and 3rd books in the Harry Potter series, Skye Malik, only on page four of the first book, got impossibly stuck on the word “doughnut”.
Her unexpected difficulty with reading is called dyslexia. Skye got a professional diagnosis at the end of the 2nd grade. Knowing that other kids were going through the same thing made it easier on her somehow. What wasn’t easy, even after all the help she got from special tutors and reading programs, was fluent reading. What many people do without thinking—reading—she had to struggle with word by word, sometimes letter by letter. In class, she would hear the other kids flip through the pages on assignments and go on to the questions while she was still doing battle with the first paragraph.
She was as frustrated as she was discouraged. But she didn’t know of any other way until her 4th grade teacher, Miss Pollock, told her about something called Learning Ally.
Learning Ally is a non-profit organization that offers audio versions of books. A crew of volunteer readers has recorded 75,000 classic novels, children’s books, and school textbooks that help more than 300,000 students and adults with learning differences or who are blind. Now Skye could listen to the books with her ears and follow the words with her eyes on the page. Instead of having her mother read her textbooks to her, she could independently do her work. “With Learning Ally, I feel confident and capable and can easily keep up with my classmates,” Skye explains, “and I want other kids to feel empowered, just the way I did.”
So Skye, now aged 16, created The Paco Project which was named after her grandfather whose nickname was “Paco”. The Paco Project is a fundraiser and educational initiative focusing on giving students with dyslexia access to the same Learning Ally technology that changed her life.
Skye has realized that she is one of the lucky kids who have been diagnosed. She knows that educating teachers about dyslexia and giving students with the learning challenge the tools they need is a great first step in meeting dyslexia head on, and helping them be confident, capable students.
“Right now they feel stuck — ashamed, unsure and insecure about their school work. If I could help stop these students feeling this way, that would mean the world to me.”
1. According to the passage, Skye ________.| A．found a way out with the help of Miss Pollock |
| B．felt annoyed at being teased by her classmates |
| C．preferred reading the first book of Harry Potter |
| D．was diagnosed with dyslexia in her fourth grade |
| A．to promote Learning Ally technology |
| B．to empower those with reading difficulty |
| C．with inspiration from Skye5s grandfather |
| D．in response to the growing demands of teachers |
| A．what people with dyslexia are suffering |
| B．what measures are needed to beat dyslexia |
| C．how Learning Ally influenced people with dyslexia |
| D．how Skye battled against dyslexia and helped others |
【推荐1】We humans have an outsize influence on this planet, and our winged, finned, and four-legged neighbors are in their tough time. Many animals have died out in response to the pressures, but some survivors are adapting. Some animals are showing off never-before-seen behaviors, shifting their diets, and even evolving different shapes, sizes, and colors.
The shifts can’t be avoided and are likely permanent: There’s no going back to when wildlife was still completely wild. “There’s no place anywhere on the planet in its original condition. There are micro plastics at the bottom of the ocean, and Antarctica is melting. The world has changed because we’re in it,” says Tag Engstrom, a biologist at California State University.
African elephants in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park are some daring members of the animal kingdom, who have found a will and a way to change right along with it.
Normally elephants use their 6-foot-long tusks to dig wells in search of water, lift objects, rip bark off trees, and even battle lions. In other words, the ivory appendages (附属品) are not just impressive to look at — they are highly useful tools. So it might seem strange that a significant number of African elephants in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, once an illegal hunting wildlife area, are now being born without tusks.
According to a 2021 DNA analysis published in the journal Science, that the elephants are born without tusks is no coincidence. After decades of being shot by ivory brokers, the leading elephants in some herds have passed down a trait that prevents the females’ prize possessions from growing in — and helps them avoid being hunted. No one knows yet how widespread these genes might be in the greater population of African elephants, or how the loss of tusks might affect the mammals’ survival overall. But the findings are a powerful, if depressing, reminder of the extremes a species might endure to escape from extinction.
1. How do the animals respond to humans influence?| A．Many animals have evolved four legs. |
| B．Animals can survive despite the tough time. |
| C．Some animals are developing different shapes. |
| D．Animals live in harmony with human beings. |
| A．We human beings are evolving. |
| B．Wildlife are not going back to the wild. |
| C．Plastics appear at the bottom of the ocean. |
| D．The planet is no longer what it was like before. |
| A．The elephants evolve the new trait by chance. |
| B．Elephants in some herds are all born without tusks. |
| C．Genes will be widespread in the greater population. |
| D．The new trait may help elephants survive the extinction. |
| A．Travel. | B．Science. | C．Puzzles. | D．Well-being. |
【推荐2】The skies are raining big blocks of ice, and experts are trying to learn what's going on.
For the second time in six days, California was attacked by ice balls. The latest happened early Thursday. A large block of ice dropped into Loma Linda, California. The ice crashed through the metal roof(房顶) of a fitness center, leaving a hole up to 2% feet wide. No one was hurt.
Two tennis players were playing outside the Drayson Center on Thursday morning. Suddenly they heard a strange sound, said Crawford, an official of the Loma Linda Fire Department.
A similar event happened last Saturday in Oakland, California. Early in the morning an ice dropped into a field at Bushrod Park and made a hole up to 2 feet wide. Luckily, no one in the park was injured.
One theory (理论) is the ice was dropped from planes. But there's little direct support for that. A few experts have suggested there may be other causes of similar ice falls, perhaps even global (全球的) warming.
Stories about dropping ice go back for centuries. They didn't begin to receive serious scientific attention until a few years ago, however, when Spain was attacked by a dozen large ice balls in 2000.
Scientist Jesus Martinez—Frias in Madrid and his team have collected reports of forty cases around the world since 1999 of puzzling falling ice. He thinks the ice forms in the air by a process similar to the formation of hail (冰雹) inside storms but without a storm.
Martinez—Frias believes global warming is causing the troposphere (对流层) to rise. This means the roof of the troposphere is forced to a greater height, where it cools more than normal. Thus, the temperature difference between warm and cold air in the troposphere produces strong up—and—down winds that repeat the hail—formation process, without a storm.
1. What took place on Thursday morning?| A．A fitness center caught fire. |
| B．A big ice ball fell into Loma Linda. |
| C．There was heavy rain in Loma Linda. |
| D．Two tennis players were hit by an ice ball. |
| A．No one was injured. | B．No building was destroyed. |
| C．Both were seen by Crawford. | D．Both caused a large number of holes. |
| A．It is very common around the world. |
| B．It often happens in Spain in recent years. |
| C．It has been carefully studied since 2000. |
| D．It is most likely to be produced by planes. |
| A．Strong winds above the troposphere. | B．The formation of hail. |
| C．Global warming. | D．Big storms. |
【推荐3】Wearing a hearing aid can slow the progress of dementia (痴呆) by up to 75 percent, according to a new study. Scientists believe that keeping older people active by adopting the devices can significantly reduce age-related cognitive (认知的) decline.
They followed the progress of 2,040 people between 1996 and 2014, asking them to complete word memory tests at various stages and monitoring the rate of decline before and after getting a hearing aid. The research team found that while the aids did not halt cognitive decline, they slowed it down by three-quarters. Meanwhile, in a separate group of 2,068 who underwent cataract surgery (白内障手术), decline slowed by around half.
The team at the University of Manchester said the strength of the connection between hearing aids, cataract surgery and mental decline meant policy makers should consider hearing and sight loss screening for all older adults. Dr. Piers Dawes said, “These studies underline just how important it is to overcome the barriers which stop people from accessing hearing and visual aids. It’s not really certain why hearing and visual problems have an effect on cognitive decline, but I’d guess that separation, shame and the resultant lack of physical activity that are linked to hearing and vision problems might have something to do with it.” “And there are barriers to overcome —people might not want to wear hearing aids because of embarrassment attached to wearing them, or they feel the amplification (放大) is not good enough or they’re not comfortable.”
The number of people in Britain suffering hearing problems will rise by 40 percent by 2035, a charity has forecast. The charity Action on Hearing Loss believes the number of people suffering such difficulties will rise from one in six to one in five, so it calls for more investment in treatment and research into hearing loss.
1. How does wearing hearing aids benefit old people?| A．It improves their cognitive ability. |
| B．It slows down their cognitive decline. |
| C．It enables them to make more friends. |
| D．It helps them overcome life barriers easily. |
| A．The result of the research. |
| B．The principle of the research. |
| C．The importance of the research. |
| D．The participants of the research. |
| A．Increase. | B．Stop. |
| C．Change. | D．Help. |
| A．Provide hearing aids for people freely. |
| B．Spend more on research into hearing loss. |
| C．Screen all old people for hearing and sight loss. |
| D．Encourage factories to produce good hearing aids. |
【推荐1】If you're thinking about reaching for another biscuit to get you through the working day,think again.Eating unhealthy snacks at your desk makes you pile on almost half a stone a year,a survey has revealed.The waistlines of women suffer the most,with the average female putting on 61b 3oz—the equivalent of a whole dress size—while men see their weight increase by 51b 20z.
The report into our eating habits found that,on average,we eat at least two snacks a day,with 30 percent of us tucking into three or more.Women admit eating more than men,with a further 13 percent of ladies scoffing four or more snacks a day.The research,by The Village Bakery,found biscuits are the most common vice,with 42 percent regularly opening a pack,closely followed by chocolate (38 percent),crisps (32 percent) and cakes (13 percent).
And office workers are worse than most.Cakes and biscuits brought into work by colleagues are one of the main temptations office staff give in to.In addition,33 percent admit reaching for nibbles to cope with stress and 22 percent say they need a sugar rush to perk them up in the afternoon.
Simon Staddon,of The Village Bakery,said:"We were aware time-poor office workers can find it difficult to easily access a nutritional lunch.But we were really shocked by the extent to which 'quick fix' lunches are affecting weight gain and general well-being.Popular mid-afternoon pick-me-ups such as biscuits,chocolate and cakes are high in calories,fat and full of sugar,all of which affect your blood sugar levels and ultimately lead to weight gain."
The survey of 2,000 British men and women suggests we are often ashamed of our unhealthy eating. Twenty-four percent of Britons admit lying about how many snacks they eat with 33 percent of women lying, compared to 20 percent of men.Unfortunately,it's as if we are not likely to do anything positive to counteract the sweet treats.
1. According to the passage,women usually put weight on first______.| A．on the face | B．on the legs |
| C．on the feet | D．in the middle |
| A．Colleagues eat them to save money. |
| B．Staff use them to cope with their lunches. |
| C．Colleagues often bring them to office. |
| D．Bosses invite staff to eat them. |
| A．Because it has much of nutrition. |
| B．Because it has little effect on weight gain. |
| C．Because it has little effect on general well-being. |
| D．Because they have a short time to have their lunches. |
| A．less likely to lie on snacks than men |
| B．more likely to lie on snacks than men |
| C．more ashamed of eating snacks than men |
| D．less ashamed of eating snacks than men |
【推荐2】Want to choose a picture book to enjoy? Here are four popular books sold on the website of Amazon, Read and choose your favourite.
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
So many beautiful memories are collected when relatives come to visit. Join in the fun as a family gets together for a summer they will never forget. Warm and inviting language as well as wonderful pictures brings the story of this family’s summer get-together to life.
Available from Amazon. S11. 26
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
You know that feeling when you're as excited as you are scared to make a jump. That's how Jabari feels about his first jump off the diving board. He knows how to swim. He knows jumping off surely looks fun. But is he brave enough to make a jump? With some gentle encouragement from his loving father, Jabari jumps.
Available from Amazon. $5.56
There Might Be Lobsters by Carolyn Crimi
Meet Suki. She's a small dog with a big fear of the beach. When a rescue is in order, Suki saves the day proving that there's nothing to fear but fear itself. It is a perfect picture book for kids who are afraid to try new experiences. It opens the door to calming dialogues and messages of bravery and victory.
Available from Amazon. $11.84
Three Little Words by Amy Novesky
Dory's"Just keep swimming!" message of never giving up is perfect for anyone who has ever felt like they were drowning. Follow Dory to an unforgettable adventure as she finds her way in this beautiful adventure of friendship and survival.
Available from Amazon. $12.06
1. What do we know about The Relatives Came?| A．It tells a story of adventure. |
| B．It is the cheapest picture book. |
| C．It's about a boy's memories. |
| D．It's about a family get-together. |
| A．The Relatives Came. |
| B．Jabari Jumps. |
| C．There Might Be Lobsters. |
| D．Three Little Words. |
| A．Learn to swim. |
| B．Never give up. |
| C．Love their friends. |
| D．Have an adventure. |
【推荐3】If you see the Rolling Stones in concert this summer and go get a drink, there may be no single-use plastic cup for you. The band and its promoter are working with Michael Martin - he's produced a bunch of big Earth Day concerts. The Stones approached Martin and asked for help in eliminating plastic waste. He came up with a simple solution.
"When you come up to get your first drink, you put down a $3 deposit, you get a really high-quality Rolling Stones-branded cup," says Martin. "You use it throughout the night, and at the end of the event you can turn your cup in and get your $3 back or you can keep your cup."
If you return the heavier plastic cup at the end of the show, it gets washed and used again. Or recycled. At some concert venues, there will still be disposable cups available as well. Martin, whose new company is called r. Cup, has been working with other artists, including U2, Bon Jovi, and Radiohead. "The live-event industry goes through more than 4 billion single-use cups a year. At a typical stadium event, you could see 100,000 or 200,000 cups thrown out," says Martin.
But this idea - returning and reusing a cup - this isn't exactly rocket science. So, why is this just being tried now?
"That's a really good question," says Martin. "In America, we're a throwaway society, and what's happening is that people are now seeing the consequences of that. And so, we're hoping we'll be able to wake people up and rearrange things."
Throwaway cups do serve a few purposes: They're cheap and easy, and it's a way for vendors to keep track of sales and make sure their employees aren't giving away free beer. Still, Martin says we can get past that. He'd like to introduce reusable cups at sporting events, zoos, universities, and festivals.
He's starting with rock concerts because artists have a pretty powerful platform. I mean, if Mick Jagger tells his fans to stop abusing the planet, who's going to say no to that?
1. Why did the Stones talk to Martin?| A．Martin could work with artists harmoniously. |
| B．Martin could run a new company successfully. |
| C．Martin could offer assistance to reduce waste. |
| D．Martin could provide recycled cups for audiences. |
| A．It introduces a heavier plastic cup that can be both recycled and reused. |
| B．It is well received among artists and customers in the live-event industry. |
| C．It requires $3 deposit and customers can get a branded cup of good quality. |
| D．It succeeds in preventing 4 billion single-use cups from going to the dump. |
| A．Throwaway cups do serve few practical purposes. |
| B．People are aware of the bad effect from throwaway cups. |
| C．Artists play a significant role in stopping plastic pollution. |
| D．A live concert consumes over 4 billion single-use cups a year. |
| A．Martin Produces Earth Day Concerts | B．Environmental Rules Take Effect |
| C．Single-use Plastic Cups Disappear | D．The Rolling Stones Go Green |
【推荐1】Recently, I was talking with a friend of mine about a common friend of ours. "I wish I could be like Jenny. She always seems so happy. I'm not joking; I honestly think she has the perfect life." said my friend.
If you were to look at the Wechat account of Jenny, you would indeed see what looks like the perfect life. However, despite the perfect content of her Wechat, I learned through a conversation with this girl that it was all carefully dealt with. Everything was put together to keep the public image that she was a happy and carefree girl. When she was sad or upset, there was no evidence of these emotions on her Wechat.
In fact, we all choose our online media presence. Look through your Wechat-I bet that you don't post pictures where you don't prepare your camera. On Wechat, we always show our "good side". Think about it. Would you rather post "I tried so hard but I ended up failing my test" or "I treated myself to a hot coffee after studying hard all week?"
We all want to give the best parts of our lives to show what's going well, and what we're proud of. We take photos of nice things we own. We post photos of good times rather than the bad times. No matter what happens, we try to make our online image perfect.
There's nothing wrong with making your online presence perfect — everyone does it in some way or another. However, when it comes to feeling envious of someone else's Wechat posts, remember that just like you, they're showing their good side.
1. What's Jenny's real life like?| A．Ordinary. | B．Meaningless. | C．Boring. | D．Perfect. |
| A．We shouldn't perfect our online image. |
| B．We should always show our good side. |
| C．We should stop reading online stories. |
| D．We don't need to envy others' online presence. |
| A．A professor's speech. |
| B．A survey of people's life. |
| C．A personal online blog. |
| D．An entertainment magazine. |
【推荐2】It had been snowing since two o'clock that afternoon. Time was slipping away, and as I watched the snowflakes fall onto my car, I really began to wonder if I was going to make it on time. Of course I must, as there was no option.
Several weeks ago, all the things that my daughter Alexandra had talked about were the Christmas concert to be held in her school and some rumors (谣言) about it. “Mom, Rachel was supposed to sing alone, but guess what happened? She’s not! Linda will replace her to do it.” “Mom, I get to stand next to Tyler in the whole concert!” “Mom, you won’t believe it, but Lexie’s whole family is coming to the concert, even from another state!” Making a long way out of state to see third graders sing Christmas carols seemed to be a pretty big deal for her.
As I sat in traffic, I thought about all the school events I had attended alone. Alexandra never mentioned it, but I wondered how she felt about me being the only one whoever came to her events. My own family lived out of town, and her father and his family never quite managed to fit those things into their schedules. I wondered if it bothered her.
The concert was scheduled to begin at seven o'clock. With only a few minutes to spare, I found myself running: first, through the snow-drifted parking lot, then through the school passage. I entered the crowded hall and found a vacant (空的) seat near the front. From her place onstage, Alexandra saw me run for the chair, and she smiled. I was close enough to hear the loud conversation of the children onstage.
“Look, Alexandra, there is my aunt and my cousin. They came all the way from West Virginia. I can’t believe my whole family is here!” Alex smiled at Lexie and said, “My whole family is here, too! Look, there she is!” Alex gave me a big smile. I waved back at her, never once noticing the melting snow dripping off my head. It suddenly occurred to me that while we tried to teach our children all about life, they actually taught us what life was all about.
1. What was Alexandra s attitude towards the Christma's concert?| A．sad | B．disappointed |
| C．indifferent (漠不关心) | D．excited |
| A．Alexandra felt disappointed to see only her mom present |
| B．her husband was too busy to attend the school events |
| C．she might miss the Christmas concert |
| D．Alexandra wouldn’t perform well in the Christmas concert |
| A．regretted not singing with her daughter |
| B．drove to attend the concert from another state |
| C．failed to understand her daughter’s words |
| D．attached importance to her daughter’s school events |
| A．My whole family is here | B．Express your love in time |
| C．Understanding makes miracles (奇迹) | D．A smile brings an end to a conflict |
【推荐3】It’s hard to be a bird in a world which is in the charge of mankind.
You can hardly hear yourself sing, let alone hear the songs of your friends… and worst of all, you can’t hear a predator(捕食者). Noise is almost everywhere, especially noise from traffic.
Researchers have tried to study the influence of road noise on animals by looking at animals living near noisy roads.
“We figured out a way to have just the noise without any of the other effects of the road, and to do that we put many speakers in a forest where there was no road,” said Chris McClure, a biologist at Boise State University and The Peregrine Fund. He and his team carried out their experiment at a place popular with birds in Idaho as they fly south for the winter.
While the noise kept lots of birds away, some remained. But they had trouble putting on enough weight to support them in the next part of their migratory journey.
“They have to take food but they also have to avoid getting eaten by a predator. But these two things can’t be done at the same time because to eat, they have to look down, which means they aren’t looking at predators.”
And when it’s too loud, they can’t hear the alarm calls of other birds. So they have to waste time looking for predators instead of searching for food.
By 2050, it’s thought that enough new roads will be built to circle the planet more than 600 times. But there’s an easy solution to the noise problem—“Lowering speed limits does a lot.”
So next time you’re driving through nature, just slow down a little. It’s safer for you and the wildlife. And you can enjoy the view a little longer.
1. Who does the word “you” in Para 2 refer to?| A．A driver. | B．A predator. | C．A researcher. | D．A bird. |
| A．To prevent birds from being hit by cars. |
| B．To separate noise from other effects of the road. |
| C．To test a larger number of birds. |
| D．To put as many speakers as possible. |
| A．They can’t concentrate on looking for food. |
| B．They have to fly south for the winter. |
| C．They can’t hear the alarm calls. |
| D．They feel afraid of the noise. |
| A．To build enough new roads. |
| B．To carry out more experiments. |
| C．To enjoy the view a little longer. |
| D．To drive slowly through nature. |
