题目内容
Elephants are famous for their supposedly excellent memory. Now it seems that they are good at simple math too.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found an Asian elephant named Ashya can add small quantities together and correctly identify(识别）which is larger.
For example ,when researcher Naoko dropped three apples into one bucket and one apple into a second, then four more apples into the first and five into the second, Ashya correctly identified that the first bucket contained more apples and began munching(嚼）on her tasty prize.
Ashya chose the correct bucket 74% of the time "I even get confused when "I'm dropping the apple," Naoko told New Scientist magazine.
Elephants' counting abilities are far from unique. Chimps, pigeons(鸽子)and dolphins have shown the same abilities in lab tests, but what is more impressive for Elephants is that their ability to tell between two figures does not get worse when those numbers are more similar.
The elephants that Naoko tested were as good at telling the difference between five and six as they were at telling between five and one.
Naoko presented her findings last week at the International Society annual meeting in New York.
It is not obvious why elephants should need this mathematical ability in the wild." It is really tough to figure out why elephants would need to count," said Mya, a professor at Cornell University who studies elephants.
One possibility is that they use it to keep track of other members of their herd(兽群）so that no one is left behind. Asian elephants live in groups of six to eight." You really don't want to lose your group members," said Mya.
Another possibility is that the ability for simple math might be a by-product(副产品）of natural selection for a larger brain.
68.The experiments researchers have done recently show that elephants can____.
A. memorize things correctly B. munch on apples
C. do some simple math D. change small quantities into larger ones
69.What does the underlined word" tough" in Paragraph 8 mean?
A. Difficult B. Impossible C. Easy D. Useful
70.The reason why elephants need to count is possibly that_____.
A. they want to exercise their brains
B .they often count the members of their herd
C. they hope to stay in groups
D. they have taken regular training
68~70 CAB
【解析】略
My friend Jim and I finally decided to spend our 14 days off in the eastern country.We were arranged to stay with a local family, which made it possible for us to share a real life experience with the locals and in return bring ourselves a richer experience of the native culture and tradition.
In the company of one of our well-informed local tour leaders, we started one of the trips to the nearby town . As we were passing elephants, we stopped , confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by a small rope tied to their front legs . No chains, no cages. It was obvious that these elephants could, at any time, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not . My friend went up to the trainer and asked why these beautiful animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,”he said , “When they were young and much smaller we used the same size rope to tie them and at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are accustomed to believing that they can not break away. They believe that the rope can hold them, so they never try to break free. We were amazed . These animals could at any time break away from their ropes but just because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we can not do something , simply because we failed at it once before ? How many of us are being held by outdated belief that no longer serves us ? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limited belief? Worse still , how many of us are being held back by someone else’s limiting beliefs? Your attempt may fail but never fail to make an attempt.
【小题1】What was the author most interested in during his visit?
| A．The local people and elephants |
| B．The local culture and tradition |
| C．The history of the eastern country |
| D．The local food and scenery |
| A．the trainer playing skillfully with the huge animals |
| B．the trainer attracting the visitors’s attention in such a way |
| C．the huge elephants tied only by a small rope |
| D．the elephants being trained with small ropes |
| A．they believed they couldn’t break away from the small ropes |
| B．they got used to being raised and controlled by human beings |
| C．they had a very close relationship with their trainers |
| D．it was hard to break away from the strong and powerful ropes |
| A．people should never fail to make an attempt or get held by false beliefs |
| B．people should travel around and try new things |
| C．animals should be trained to obey their masters |
| D．it’s necessary to train creatures when they are young |