题目内容
【题目】Empathy(同情心) lets us feel another person’s pain and drives us to help. Do any other animals feel empathy? Scientists recently found that rats(老鼠) do, too.
Most people don’t like rats. In many people’s eyes, rats are only bad. But Jean Decety and his partners at the University of Chicago did an experiment. It showed that rats are kind, warm-hearted animals. They can feel each other’s pain.
Scientists placed pairs of rats in plastic cages(笼子) for two weeks. During this time they got to know each other. Then they put one of the rats from each pair into a small container(容器) in the cages. The small container had a door. It was so designed as to fall to the side when the free rat touched it. Many of the trapped(困住的) rats squeaked(吱吱叫) to show their discomfort. The other rats of the pairs could see their suffering friends clearly.
In most pairs, the free rats would become very worried about their friends. They kept trying to save their friends again and again throughout the month. Scientists put the rats’ favorite chocolate in the cages, but the rats didn’t eat it until they had saved their friends successfully. Scientists also found that female rats seemed to act more empathetic than male rats.
“The results are the first to show that rats take action in response to another’s trouble,” Decety said. “Monkeys and chimpanzees have similar behavior. But unlike those animals, rats can be ready used in laboratory studies. They will help us to learn which parts of the brain lead to empathy and helping behavior and whether empathy is natural.”
【1】A person with empathy is often _____.
A. kind-hearted B. clever C. active D. strong
【2】What does the underline word mean in Chinese?
A. 休息的 B. 睡着的 C. 死亡的 D. 受苦的
【3】Why didn’t the free rats eat the chocolate at first?
A. Because they were full at that time.
B. Because chocolate was not their favorite food.
C. Because they wanted to save the trapped rats first.
D. Because they were afraid that the chocolate was bad.
【4】What does the passage mainly tell us?
A. Rats can feel other animals’ pain.
B. Chocolate is rats’ favorite food.
C. Female rats are more empathetic than male rats.
D. Rats are empathetic and can feel each other’s pain.
【答案】
【1】A
【2】D
【3】C
【4】D
【解析】
文章大意：同情心让我们感受到他人的痛苦并帮助他人。动物会有同情心吗？科学家最近发现老鼠也有同情心。芝加哥大学的Jean Decety和他的伙伴做了一个实验表明：老鼠是善良热心的动物，它们能感受到彼此的痛苦。
【1】细节理解题。根据Empathy(同情心) lets us feel another person’s pain and drives us to help. 可知同情心让我们感受到别人的痛苦，并促使我们去帮助他们；故答案选A。
【2】词义猜测题。根据上文Many of the trapped(困住的) rats squeaked(吱吱叫) to show their discomfort.许多被困的老鼠尖叫来表达自己的不适，可知这里的意思是“其它的老鼠能清楚地看到他们痛苦的朋友。”所以“suffering”意思应该是“痛苦的、受苦的”，故答案选D。
【3】细节理解题。根据Scientists put the rats’ favorite chocolate in the cages, but the rats didn’t eat it until they had saved their friends successfully.科学家们把老鼠最喜欢的巧克力放在笼子里，但是老鼠们没有吃它，直到他们成功地救了他们的朋友。可知这些自由的老鼠一开始没有吃这些巧克力是因为他们想救被困的老鼠；故答案选C。
【4】主题归纳题。根据文章第一段Do any other animals feel empathy? Scientists recently found that rats(老鼠) do, too.可知老鼠是善良热心的动物，它们能感受到彼此的痛苦。故答案选D。
