2. 外语
  3. Fighting in Nature In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly d

Fighting in Nature In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly d

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问题                     Fighting in Nature
    In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly developed. Almost every animal capable of self-defense from the smallest upwards fights furiously when it is cornered and has no means of escape.   However, in another respect the fight between hunter and hunted is not a fight in the real sense of the word: the stroke of the paw with which a lion kills his prey may resemble the movements that he makes when he strikes his rival, but the inner motives of the hunter are basically different from those of the fighter. The buffalo which the lion fells provokes his aggression as little as the appetizing turkey which I have just seen hanging in the larder provokes mine. The difference in these inner drives can clearly be seen in the expression movements of the animal: a dog about to catch a hunted rabbit has the same kind of excited happy expression as he has when he greets his master or awaits some longed-for treat. Growling, laying the ears back, and other well-known expression movements of fighting behavior occur when predatory animals are afraid of a wildly resisting prey, and even then the expressions are only suggested.   The opposite process, the counter-offensive, of the prey against the predator, is more nearly related to genuine aggression. Social animals in particular take every possible chance to attack the eating enemy that threatens their safety. This process is called "mobbing". The survival value of this attack on the hunter is self-evident. Even if the attacker is small and defenseless, he may do his enemy considerable harm. For example, if a sparrow hawk is pursued by a flock of warning wagtails, his hunting is spoiled for the time being. And many birds will mob an owl if they find one in the day-time, and drive it so far away that it will hunt somewhere else the next night.
    In some social animals such as jackdaws and many kinds of geese, the function of mobbing is particularly interesting. In jackdaws, its most important survival value is to teach the young inexperienced birds what a dangerous eating-enemy looks like, which they do not know instinctively. For just such educational reasons, geese and ducks may gather together in intense excitement to learn that a fox—anything furry, red-brown, long-shaped and slinking—is extremely dangerous.   Besides this didactic function, mobbing of predators by jackdaws and geese still has the basic, original one of making the enemy’s life a burden. Jackdaws actively attack their enemy, and geese apparently intimidate it with their cries, their thronging and their fearless advance. The great Canada Geese will even follow a fox overland in a close phalanx, and I have never known a fox in this situation try to catch one of his tormentors. With ears laid back and a disgusted expression on his face, he glances back over his shoulder at the trumpeting flock and trots slowly—so as not to lose face—away from them.   Among the larger, more defense-minded grazing animals which en masse are a match for even the biggest predators, mobbing is particularly effective;
(A) [■] According to reliable reports, zebras will molest even a leopard if they catch him on plain where cover is sparse.
(B) [■] Once, when I was out with my dog, I was obliged to jump into a lake and swim for safety when a herd of young cattle half encircled us and advanced threateningly;
(C) [■] And when he was in Southern Hungary during the First World War, my brother spent a pleasant afternoon up a tree with his Scotch terrier under his arm, because a herd of half-wild Hungarian swine, disturbed while grazing in the wood, encircled him.  
(D) [■] Fortunately, the swine dispersed after they confirmed that my brother and his dog were not offensive.
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
选项 A、The lion does not like the buffalo just as I do not like the turkey.
B、The buffalo is not a kind of dangerous animal, so it is similar to a turkey.
C、The lion considers the buffalo as food, so the buffalo causes little aggression.
D、While hunting the hunted has no way to counter-attack, so the hunter is not very aggressive.
答案D
解析 本题是句子简化题，考查考生能否理解文章中的某一复杂句，即是否具备用简化的句子表达原句基本内容的能力。原文“The buffalo which the lion fells provokes his aggression as little as the appetizing turkey which I have just seen hanging in the larder provokes mine”的意思是“一头即将被捕食的水牛不会激起狮子的进攻心理，就如同食品储藏室里我亲眼看着挂上去的美味可口的火鸡不会激起我的进攻心理一样”。作者通过这个比喻说明捕猎时动物的心理状态。D项的意思最贴切，即在捕猎中被捕动物无力反抗，因此捕食动物并没有多大的攻击性。A项说狮子不喜欢水牛，就如同我不喜欢火鸡一样，是错误信息；B项说水牛和火鸡类似，因为它并不危险，也不准确；C项虽然提到狮子对水牛的攻击心理不强，但是将原因理解成狮子把水牛当食物，也是不对的。
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托福（TOEFL）

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