It is 2023 now. Recently, a middle-aged Asian elephant named Pang Pha becomes popular. Why? Because she can peel bananas.

Pha was brought to the Berlin Zoo as a baby 38 years ago. At the time, her main caretaker (照看人) often fed her peeled bananas, and the caretaker would peel them in front of her. She might picked up the skill by watching her human caretakers.

The Berlin Zoo reached out to Brecht, a professor of neurobiology (神经生物学) at Humboldt University, and his team told them about their clever elephant, but when researchers arrived to watch her, they found it was hard to get Pha to always peel bananas. 

Researchers learned that they could always get Pha to peel bananas when they offered her brown-speckled (褐色斑点的) bananas. Pha doesn’t open bananas like humans do, by peeling from the stem (茎). Instead, she cracks the banana in half down the centre then slams it on the ground to let the soft fruit inside come out. After shaking the peel off, she eats the banana. 

Researchers watched Pha being fed bananas in the same place as other elephants and noticed she would eat “like a machine”, not wasting time to peel so she could snag more fruit. But when it came down to the last banana, 60 per cent of the time, Pha would save it and peel it.

As for why Pha peels bananas, researchers have no way of finding out. It’s possible she prefers the taste of peeled bananas.

1.When did Pha come to the Berlin Zoo?

A In 1985.

B In 1986.

C In 1987.

D In 1988.

解析：选A。A数字计算题。根据第二段第二句的“Pha was brought to the Berlin Zoo as a baby 38 years ago.”可知，38年前（2023-38=1985年），Pha来到了柏林动物园。故选A。

2.Which word can describe Pha?

A Smart.

B Stupid.

C Shy.

D Outgoing.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据全文描写的Pha会剥香蕉以及第三段的“told them about their clever elephant”可知，Pha很聪明。故选A。

3.What can we know about Pha from the passage?

A What can we know about Pha from the passage?

B Getting Pha to peel bananas is easy.

C Pha doesn’t like eating bananas.

D Pha only peels brown-speckled bananas.

解析：选D。D细节理解题。根据第四段第一句“they could always get Pha to peel bananas when they offered her brown-speckled bananas”可知，研究人员发现，当他们给Pha提供有棕色斑点的（很软的）香蕉时，她就会剥皮。故选D。

4.Which of the following words can take the place of the underlined word “snag”?

A Beat.

B Eat.

C Hide.

D Peel.

解析：选B。B词义猜测题。根据划线部分前面的“not wasting time to peel”可知，当Pha和其他大象在同一个畜栏里被喂食香蕉，她不会浪费时间剥皮，因此这样她就可以吃到更多的香蕉。故选B。

5.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A How elephants peel bananas.

B An elephant likes soft fruit.

C An elephant can peel bananas.

D Why elephants peel bananas.

解析：选C。C主旨大意题。本文主要描述了一只能自己剥香蕉皮的大象的相关情况。故选C。