高考英语真题阅读(12)
高考英语真题阅读(12)

Monkeys seem to have a way with numbers.
A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 clearly different symbols consisting of numbers and selective letters with 0-25 drops of water or juice as a reward. The researchers then tested how the monkeys combined — or added — the symbols to get the reward.
Here’s how Harvard Medical School scientist Margaret Livingstone, who led the team, described the experiment: In their cages the monkeys were provided with touch screens. On one part of the screen, a symbol would appear, and on the other side two symbols inside a circle were shown. For example, the number 7 would flash on one side of the screen and the other end would have 9 and 8. If the monkeys touched the left side of the screen they would be rewarded with seven drops of water or juice; if they went for the circle, they would be rewarded with the sum of the numbers — 17 in this example.
After running hundreds of tests, the researchers noted that the monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time, indicating that they were performing a calculation, not just memorizing the value of each combination.
When the team examined the results of the experiment more closely, they noticed that the monkeys tended to underestimate
(低估) a sum compared with a single symbol when the two were close in value — sometimes choosing, for example, a 13 over the sum of 8 and 6. The underestimation was systematic: When adding two numbers, the monkeys always paid attention to the larger of the two, and then added only a fraction (小部分) of the smaller number to it.
“This indicates that there is a certain way quantity is represented in their brains,” Dr. Livingstone says. “But in this experiment what they’re doing is paying more attention to the big number than the little one.”


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1.What did the researchers do to the monkeys before testing them?

A They fed them.

B They named them.

C They trained them.

D They measured them.

解析:选C。细节理解题。根据第二段第一句A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 clearly different symbols…with 0-25 drops of water or juice as a reward.可知,实验开始前,研究人员先对猴子进行训练,故选C。

2.How did the monkeys get their reward in the experiment?

A By drawing a circle.

B By touching a screen.

C By watching videos.

D By mixing two drinks.

解析:选B。细节理解题。根据第三段第四句If the monkeys touched the left side of the screen they would be rewarded with seven drops of water or juice可知,猴子通过触摸屏幕得到奖励,故选B。

3.What did Livingstone’s team find about the monkeys?

A They could perform basic addition.

B They could understand simple words.

C They could memorize numbers easily.

D They could hold their attention for long.

解析:选A。推理判断题。根据第四段the researchers noted that the monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time, indicating that they were performing a calculation, not just memorizing the value of each combination可知,研究人员注意到猴子超过一半的时间都会去触摸更高的数值,表明它们在进行计算,而不仅仅是记住每个组合的值,由此可推知,猴子会进行简单的加法计算,故选A。

4.In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A Entertainment.

B Health.

C Education.

D Science.

解析:选D。推理判断题。本文主要介绍了科学家们对恒河猴进行的有关数字计算的科学实验,应出现在报纸的科学专栏中,故选D。