Dogs have an understanding of fair play and become angry if they feel that another dog is getting a better deal, a new study has found.

The study looked at how dogs react when a companion is rewarded for the same trick in an unequal way. Friederike Range, a researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria, and her colleagues did a series of experiments with dogs who knew how to respond to the command “give the paw “. The dogs were normally happy to repeatedly give the paw, whether they got a reward or not. But that changed if they saw that another dog was being rewarded with a piece of food, while they received nothing.

“We found that the dogs hesitated significantly longer when obeying the command to give the paw,” the researchers write. The unrewarded dogs eventually stopped cooperating.

Scientists have long known that humans pay close attention to inequity. But researchers always assumed that animals didn’t share the trait. “The argument was that this is a uniquely human phenomenon,” says Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta.

That changed in 2003 when he and a colleague did a study on monkeys. The monkeys had to hand a small rock to researchers to get a piece of cucumber in return. They were happy to do this. But if they saw that another monkey was getting a more delicious reward, a grape, for doing the same job, they would throw away the food and rock, and at some point just stopped performing.

In that experiment, the monkeys considered the fairness of two different types of payment. But when Range and her colleagues did a similar study with their trained dogs, testing to see if dogs would become upset if they only got dark bread when other dogs received sausage, they found that as long as the dogs got some kind of food payment, even if it wasn’t the most delicious kind, the animals would play along.

How did the dogs in Range’s study react to the order of “giving the paw”?

A. They took the order even without being rewarded.

B. They took the order only when rewarded.

C. They turned a deaf ear to repeated orders.

D. They hesitated longer when given repeated orders.

The research by Frans De Waal in 2003 ___________.

A. originated from Range’s research on dogs.

B. showed that animals do pay attention to inequity.

C. began the argument that only humans are aware of inequity.

D. was conducted to find out how monkeys reacted to humans’ orders.

Some monkeys in the research become angry because they found another monkey _______.

A. was given less work.

B. was given more food.

C. was given the same type of food.

D. was given more delicious food.

Range found that, compared with monkeys, dogs ____________.

A. care more about whether they are rewarded.

B. care less about what they are rewarded with.

C. care more about what they are ordered to do.

D. care less about who gives them orders.

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Animals have various ways to show their anger.

B. Dogs are less intelligent than monkeys.

C. Dogs have a sense of fairness.

D. Most animals want to be rewarded equally.

A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth.

Until now,it has been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience—what psychologists call fluid intelligence—is innate and cannot be taught(though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing).

But in the new study,researchers describe a method for improving this skill,along with experiments to prove it works.

The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory—the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it.This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence,so the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.

First they measured fluid intelligence of volunteers using standard tests.Then they trained each in a complicated memory task—the child’s card game,in which they had to recall a card they saw and heard.During the course, they needed to ignore irrelevant items, monitor ongoing performance,manage two tasks at the same time and connect related items to one another in space and time.

The four groups experienced a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively.To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills,the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.

The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,were striking.Improvement in the trained groups was a lot greater.Moreover,the longer they trained, the higher their scores were.All performers,from the weakest to the strongest,showed significant improvement.

“Our results show you can increase your intelligence with proper training.” said Dr Jaeggi, a co-author of the paper.“No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops,” he added, “and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.”

The researchers thought the key to improving the intelligence was ______________.

       A.memorizing telephone numbers         B.improving working memory

       C.training in concentration              D.recalling a card

The following aspects of the training help increase intelligence EXCEPT___________.

       A.ignoring irrelevant items                  

       B.monitoring ongoing performance

       C.managing two tasks at the same time         

       D.using previous experience

When the experiment was conducted, the researchers______________.

       A.trained the four groups for the same period of time

       B.only made comparisons between the four groups

       C.compared the four groups with control groups

       D.trained the four groups together

By writing the article,the writer intends to ______________.

       A.inform the readers of a new study

       B.call on people to be trained to increase intelligence

       C.prove one’s born brainpower can be improved

       D.tell people the improved intelligence will last forever

As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food.Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.    Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping(录像) the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes.They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children.But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make.That can have an important effect on the children.“In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,” Lewis says.“And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is.”

The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings(兄弟姐妹).Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention.“Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis.“When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event.”

The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to ______.        

A.show the relationship between parents and children    

B.teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table   

C.report on the findings of a study 

D.give information about family problems

Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because ______.

       A.they are busy serving food to their children

       B.they are busy keeping order at the dinner table    

       C.they have to pay more attention to younger children   

       D.they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family

By saying “Middle children are invisible” in paragraph 3, Lewis means  that middle children ______.

       A.have to help their parents to serve dinner

       B.get the least attention from the family   

       C.are often kept away from the dinner table

       D.find it hard to keep up with other children

Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?       

       A.It is important to have the right food for children.   

       B.It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner.    

       C.Parents should talk to each of their children frequently.   

       D.Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner

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