文章大意：这是一篇说明文。人们习惯于将智力与大脑的大小联系起来，但是蜘蛛却颠覆了固有的认知，它们有微小头脑却有浩瀚心智，文章还介绍了有着认知领域公认的冠军称号的跳蛛是如何捕猎的。
7 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A. smarts B. strategies C. signal D. guideline E. normal F. automatic
G. challenged H. deceives I. target J. suspended K. disturbance |
Spiders are Smarter than We Think
People tend to associate intelligence with brain size. As a general 1 , this makes sense: the more brain cells, the more mental capabilities. Humans, and many of the other animals we have come to think of as intelligent, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, all have large brains. And it’s long been assumed that the smallest brains simply don’t have the capacity to support complex mental processes. But what if we are wrong and they actually do?
“Spiders are one case where this general idea is 2 ”, said Dimitar Dimitrove of the University Museum of Bergen in Norway, “Behaviors that can be described as ‘cognitive’, as opposed to 3 responses, are fairly common among spiders.” Jumping spiders are the undisputed champions of cognition among spiders. The jumping spiders shown to have the most impressive 4 belong to the genus(属)Portia, found in Africa, Asia and Australia. These spiders prefer to hunt other spiders and have 5 tailored to each species they prey on.
When hunting another group of jumping spiders called Euryattus, Portia employs a clever trick. Euryattus females build nests in curled-up dead leaves 6 in air by silk attached to rocks or vegetation. Courting males crawl down the silk ropes, stand on top of the nest, and shake it in a specific way. The 7 draws the female out of the nest.
To pursue a spider that also eats Jumping spiders, Portia 8 it into moving closer by plucking（拔）some of the silk strands of its web. If the 9 spider is relatively small, Portia plucks the web to imitate a trapped insect, prompting the spider to rush over, thinking it is about to have a meal—only to become one itself. But if the spider is bigger and potentially more dangerous, Portia may copy a gentle 10 similar to a fruit fly contacting a single strand at the edge of the web that the spider will slowly wander over to inspect. As soon as the target is close enough, Portia pounces and strikes with its poisonous long sharp teeth.
