首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based,on Reading Passage 1 below. Can ani
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based,on Reading Passage 1 below. Can ani
admin
2017-04-14
48
问题
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based,on Reading Passage 1 below.
Can animals count?
Prime among basic numerical faculties is the ability to distinguish between a larger and a smaller number, says psychologist Elizabeth Brannon. Humans can do this with ease - providing the ratio is big enough - but do other animals share this ability? In one experiment, rhesus monkeys and university students examined two sets of geometrical objects that appeared briefly on a computer monitor. They had to decide which set contained more objects. Both groups performed successfully but, importantly, Brannon’s team found that monkeys, like humans, make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number. ’The students’ performance ends up looking just like a monkey’s. It’s practically identical,’ she says.
Humans and monkeys are mammals, in the animal family known as primates. These are not the only animals whose numerical capacities rely on ratio, however. The same seems to apply to some amphibians. Psychologist Claudia Uller’s team tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes. In a series of trials, the researchers noted which tube the salamanders scampered towards, reasoning that if they had a capacity to recognise number, they would head for the larger number. The salamanders successfully discriminated between tubes containing 8 and 16 flies respectively, but not between 3 and 4, 4 and 6, or 8 and 12. So it seems that for the salamanders to discriminate between two numbers, the larger must be at least twice as big as the smaller. However, they could differentiate between 2 and 3 flies just as well as between 1 and 2 flies, suggesting they recognise small numbers in a different way from larger numbers.
Further support for this theory comes from studies of mosquitofish, which instinctively join the biggest shoal* they can. A team at the University of Padova found that while mosquitofish can tell the difference between a group containing 3 shoal-mates and a group containing 4, they did not show a preference between groups of 4 and 5. The team also found that mosquitofish can discriminate between numbers up to 16, but only if the ratio between the fish in each shoal was greater than 2:1. This indicates that the fish, like salamanders, possess both the approximate and precise number systems found in more intelligent animals such as infant humans and other primates.
While these findings are highly suggestive, some critics argue that the animals might be relying on other factors to complete the tasks, without considering the number itself. ’Any study that’s claiming an animal is capable of representing number should also be controlling for other factors,’ says Brannon. Experiments have confirmed that primates can indeed perform numerical feats without extra clues, but what about the more primitive animals? To consider this possibility, the mosquitofish tests were repeated, this time using varying geometrical shapes in place of fish. The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall surface area and luminance even though they contained a different number of objects. Across hundreds of trials on 14 different fish, the team found they consistently discriminated 2 objects from 3. The team is now testing whether mosquitofish can also distinguish 3 geometric objects from 4.
Even more primitive organisms may share this ability. Entomologist Jurgen Tautz sent a group of bees down a corridor, at the end of which lay two chambers - one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty. To test the bees’ numeracy, the team marked each chamber with a different number of geometrical shapes - between 2 and 6. The bees quickly learned to match the number of shapes with the correct chamber. Like the salamanders and fish, there was a limit to the bees’ mathematical prowess -they could differentiate up to 4 shapes, but failed with 5 or 6 shapes.
These studies still do not show whether animals learn to count through training, or whether they are born with the skills already intact. If the latter is true, it would suggest there was a strong evolutionary advantage to a mathematical mind. Proof that this may be the case has emerged from an experiment testing the mathematical ability of three- and four-day-old chicks. Like mosquitofish, chicks prefer to be around as many of their siblings as possible, so they will always head towards a larger number of their kin. If chicks spend their first few days surrounded by certain objects, they become attached to these objects as if they were family. Researchers placed each chick in the middle of a platform and showed it two groups of balls of paper. Next, they hid the two piles behind screens, changed the quantities and revealed them to the chick. This forced the chick to perform simple computations to decide which side now contained the biggest number of its "brothers". Without any prior coaching, the chicks scuttled to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance. They were doing some very simple arithmetic, claim the researchers.
Why these skills evolved is not hard to imagine, since it would help almost any animal forage for food. Animals on the prowl for sustenance must constantly decide which tree has the most fruit, or which patch of flowers will contain the most nectar. There are also other, less obvious, advantages of numeracy. In one compelling example, researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid - and add any in the nest laid by an intruder - before making any decisions about adding to them. Exactly how ancient these skills are is difficult to determine, however. Only by studying the numerical abilities of more and more creatures using standardised procedures can we hope to understand the basic preconditions for the evolution of number.
* a group of fish
Questions 1-7
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
选项
答案
surface area
解析
The fourth paragraph says ’The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall[= total]surface area and luminance[= brightness]...’.
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/I3EYFFFM
本试题收录于:
雅思阅读题库雅思(IELTS)分类
0
雅思阅读
雅思(IELTS)
相关试题推荐
Onereasonwhyasheep,alesswell-understoodexperimentalsubjectthanthelaboratorymouse,shouldhaveprovedeasier
Akeyfeatureofquantuminformationscienceistheunderstandingthatgroupsoftwoormorequantumobjectscanhavesta
Whiletheambitiontodrawanimmediateconclusionis______,itisnotnecessarilycorrect,forthesearchforthetruthdepends
Relativismamountstothedenialofanobjectiveworldaboutwhichtrueandfalsestatementscanbemade;thereisnoabs
Sendingarobotintospacetogatherinformationiscertainlyaviableoption,Linebutshouldberegardedonlyasthat--anopt
ThispassageisadaptedfromTheAmericanRepublic:Constitution,Tendencies,andDestinybyO.A.Brownson,1866.Thean
Governmentofficialsauthorized______becausetheywanttohaveacompleteenumerationofthecountry’spopulation.
Unlikethewildturkey,whichcansuccessfullyflyforshortdistances,thedomesticatedturkeyiscompletely______flight.
QueenElizabethIhasquitecorrectlybeencalleda____ofthearts,becausemanyyoungartistsreceivedherpatronage.
随机试题
A.生长激素B.糖皮质激素C.肾上腺素D.甲状腺激素影响神经系统发育最重要的激素是
阻塞性无精子症时
现代医学模式指的是
某资源联合开采企业为增值税一般纳税人,2009年1月生产经营情况如下:(1)专门开采的天然气5千立方米,开采原煤450万吨,采煤过程中生产天然气0.28千立方米;(2)销售开采的原煤200万吨,取得不含税销售额23400万元;
OWC的中文含义是什么?CY-CY运输条款能否允许集装箱在码头堆场拆箱?
患者,男,38岁,失血性休克抢救过程中出现呼吸困难、发绀,吸氧无效,PaO2持续降低。诊断是休克肺,首先应采取的护理措施是()。
中国共产党、全国人大、国务院、人民政协的地位、作用及其相互关系如何?
计算=_______。
行政领导者通过一定方式在组织与外部环境之间,组织内部各单位之间,组织的成员之间建立分工合作,协调一致的和谐关系,以实现行政执行目标的管理活动是指()。
委托方对资产评估报告书的使用,可以有以下几种具体的用途()。
最新回复
(
0
)