It is found that rotating ears help many animals direct their attention to the approaching of a possible attacker. Scientists say these rotary ears have become a useful communication tool. Their studies of animal behavior build up a picture of how communication and social skills developed.

“We’re interested in how they communicate,” said lead researcher Jennifer Wathan. “And being sensitive to what another individual is thinking is a fundamental skill from which other more complex skills develop.”

Ms Wathan and her colleagues set up a behavioral experiment where 72 individual horses had to use visual clues from another horse in order to choose where to feed. They led each horse to a point where it had to select one of two buckets. On a wall behind this decision-making spot was a life-sized photograph of a horse’s head facing either to left or right. In some of the trials, the horses’ ears or eyes were covered.

If the ears and eyes of the horse in the picture were visible, the horses being tested would choose the bucket towards which its gaze - and its ears - were directed. If the horse in the picture had either its eyes or its ears covered, the horse being tested would just choose a feed bucket at random.

Like many mammals that are hunted by other attackers, horses can rotate their ears through almost 180 degrees - but Ms Wathan said that in our “human-centered” view of the world, we had overlooked the importance of these very mobile ears in animal communication.

“It seems there’s something in the visual clues - from both the eyes and the ears - that are really important,” she told BBC News. “Horses have quite rich social lives and relationships with other horses, so they’re a good species to look at this in. And the more we look at communication across different species, the more we can consider what might have promoted the evolution of sophisticated communication and social skills.”

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1.What causes a horse to rotate its ears?

A Being curious about what the other horse is thinking.

B Telling each other where they can go for the buckets.

C Expressing its hope to build up social relations with others.

D Warning the other horse when an attacker is coming closer.

解析：选D。D。细节理解题。根据文章第第一段首句help many animals direct their attention to the approaching of a possible attacker可知，马儿转动耳朵的目的是为了警告另外的马儿，有狩猎者正在靠近。

2.What was the purpose of the researchers using the life-sized photograph of a horse in the experiment?

A To provide clues for other horses in the study of horse behaviors.

B To help develop horses’ complex skills.

C To study how horses made decisions on choosing the buckets.

D To lead other horses to feed themselves.

解析：选A。A。细节理解题。根据文章第三、四段可知，利用马的图片是研究动物的实验中为其他的马提供信息交流线索的。

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A Other mammals also use ears to communicate with each other.

B There hadn’t been research into horses’ rotary ears before.

C Horses are smart animals with complex skills.

D The horses in the experiment took the photograph for a real horse.

解析：选B。B。推理判断题。根据文章第五段…in our “human-centered” view of the world, we had overlooked the importance of these very mobile ears in animal communication可知，人们向来认为人类主宰这个世界，因此忽视了对其他动物交际方式的观察和研究。由此判断，之前，人们几乎没有关于马的转动耳朵所具有的交际功能的研究。

4.Where can you most probably come across this article？

A TV show.

B Newspaper.

C Science fiction.

D Radio program.

解析：选D。D。推理判断题。根据文章最后一段…she told BBC News可以判断，这是一个访谈节目，属于电台节目，因此选D。

5.What can be the best title of the passage?

A Fundamental Skills of Horses.

B Horses Have More Social Skills than Other Species.

C Rotary Ears Serve As Communication Tools.

D Experiments with Horses’ Ears.

解析：选C。C。主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文介绍了马耳朵是一种交流工具的研究结果，因此选C项。