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
33
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
fruit flies
解析
The second paragraph says ’tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes’.
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/n3EYFFFM
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
Onereasonwhyasheep,alesswell-understoodexperimentalsubjectthanthelaboratorymouse,shouldhaveprovedeasier
Onereasonwhyasheep,alesswell-understoodexperimentalsubjectthanthelaboratorymouse,shouldhaveprovedeasier
Itmaybe______toobtainsoapthatisnotantibacterial,givenits______asahouseholdcleansingproduct,butaccordingtoa
WhereLindahasher______charm,andRoberthassenseofverveandsuavity,Pollyhasonlyhersuperficial______.
Akeyfeatureofquantuminformationscienceistheunderstandingthatgroupsoftwoormorequantumobjectscanhavesta
(Thispassagewaswrittenpriorto1950)Wenowknowthatwhatconstitutespracticallyallofmatterisemptyspa
ThispassageisadaptedfromTheAmericanRepublic:Constitution,Tendencies,andDestinybyO.A.Brownson,1866.Thean
DuringaEuropeanbroadcastin2002,televisionviewerswere(i)______byabordercollie’sabilitytocorrectlyretrievespecifi
QueenElizabethIhasquitecorrectlybeencalleda____ofthearts,becausemanyyoungartistsreceivedherpatronage.
随机试题
中国共产党作为执政党,最大的优势就是密切联系群众,最大的危险则是党内的贪污腐败问题。()
患者,女,38岁,乳腺癌术后,下列属于健康的护理诊断的是()
本案中甲、乙、丙、丁分别为未来的公司取一个名称,其中可以采用的是()。公司成立后甲要求转让出资给庚,丙表示同意,丁、戊称无所谓,但并不反对。乙以前曾与庚共过事有过恩怨,故坚决反对,但出价不如庚高。后甲将出资转让给庚,并办理了变更登记手续。乙不服
关于《宪法》对人身自由的规定,下列哪一选项是不正确的?(2013年试卷一第25题)
目前,实行货币局安排汇率制度的国家或地区是()。
甲股份有限公司(以下简称“甲公司”)2×15年、2×16年发生的有关交易或事项如下:(1)2×15年2月10日,甲公司自公开市场以6.8元/股购入乙公司股票2000万股,占乙公司发行在外股份数量的4%,取得股票过程中另支付相关税费等40万元。甲公司在取得
拟办是文秘部门参与决策,做好参谋和助手的重要途径,具体讲就是()。
洋务运动失败的标志是在中日甲午战争中()
对考生文件夹下的“学生住宿”管理数据库设计一个表单myf,表单标题为“宿舍查询”,表单中有3个文本框和2个命令按钮“查询”和“关闭”。运行表单时,在第一个文本框里输入某学生的学号(S1—S9),单击查询按钮,则在第二个文本框内会显示该学生的“姓名
Students’pressuresometimescomesfromtheirparents.Mostparentsarewell【B1】_______,butsomeofthemaren’tveryhelpfulwi
最新回复
(
0
)