Sheep Smarter than Thought
London—Sheep, like turkeys and ostriches, are not considered the most clever animals. British scientists said last Wednesday humans may have underestimated the woolly creature. They could be much smarter than we think.
Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, southern England, have shown that the animals have a good memory system and are extremely good at recognizing faces—which they think is a sure sign of intelligence.
Behavioral scientist Keith Kendrick and his friends trained 20 sheep to recognize and distinguish 25 pairs of sheep faces and used electrodes (電極) to measure their brain activity , which showed they could remember 50 faces for up to two years .
“If they can do that with faces, they have to have reasonable intelligence; otherwise, what is the point of having a system for remembering faces and not remembering anything else?” Kendrick said in an interview.
So hours of seemingly mindless eating grass may not be so mindless after all.
Kendrick believes sheep got their reputation as dumb (unable to speak, unintelligent) animals because they live in large groups and do not appear to have much individuality and are frightened of just about everything.
“All animals, including humans, once they are frightened, don’t tend to show signs of intelligent action,” he explained.
In research reported in the science journal Nature, Kendrick and his team showed that sheep, like humans, have a specialized system in the brain which allows them to distinguish between many different faces which look extremely similar.
“The most important finding (of the study) is that they are able , both from a behavioral point of view and from looking at the way the brain is organized , to remember a large number of individuals for a very long time,” said Kendrick. “It is a very strange system. They are showing similar abilities in many ways to humans.”
1.From the first paragraph we can find that______. .
A．people used to think sheep are smarter than the other animals
B．people used to raise sheep in a wrong way
C．people don’t consider sheep as clever animals
D．people have done a lot of research on sheep
2.From what Kendrick said in the interview we learn that_____. .
A．scientists have learned everything about sheep’s intelligence
B．scientists have learned a little about sheep’s intelligence
C．scientists can’t do anything more about sheep’s memory
D．scientists do not have to research animals’ memory
3.As is known in the passage,__________.
A．sheep are among the week animals
B．it is not right for people to raise sheep in groups
C．when sheep eat grass in the field their minds may be active
D．if people feel frightened, they may become braver
閱讀快車系列答案科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Farming was once the chief way of life in nearly every country. People cannot live without food, and nearly all their food comes from crops and animals raised on farms. Not many people farm for a living any more, but farming remains the most important work in the world.
Before the nineteenth century, the typical American family lived on a small farm. They raised pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, and planted corn, fruits, garden vegetables, and wheat. Everyone worked long and hard, but the results were often poor. Families barely harvested enough food for themselves. This situation began to change during the last half of the 1800's and it changed remarkably(明顯地) in the next century.
Scientific methods and labor-saving machinery have made farming increasingly productive. The development of improved plant varieties and fertilizers has helped double and even triple the production of some major crops. More scientific animal care and animal raising have helped increase the amount of meat and products that animals produce. At the same time, the use of tractors and other modern farm equipment has sharply reduced the need for farm labor.
As farming has become less important as a way of life in the United States, it has become more important as a source which offers materials to industry. Today's successful farmers are experts not just in agriculture but also in accounting, marketing, and finance. Farms that are not run in a similar way have great difficulty surviving.
We are told in the first paragraph about ____.
A. the history of farming B. the importance of farming
C. the development of farming D. the changes of farming
Which of the following describes American farming before the 19th century?
A. Farmers didn’t work hard on their farms.
B. Farmers used tractors to help them.
C. Farming was the main way of living for most people.
D. Farmers could supply materials to industry.
Crop production has increased greatly now thanks to all the following EXCEPT __.
A. scientific methods B. labor- saving machinery
C. farmers’ hard work D. chemical fertilizers
The passage mainly talks about_____.
A. the advantages of American farming B. the changes in American farming
C. the situation of American farms D. how rapidly farming has developed
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Do you know Australia? Australia is the largest island in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is in the south of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is not large. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.
The government has made enough laws to fight pollution. The cities in Australia have got little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish swimming in the rivers. Plants grow very well.
Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flowers’ exhibition. There we saw a large number of wild flowers we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. In spring every year Perth has the wild flowers’ exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent the day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves. Suddenly we heard bells ringing at the top of the hill. What we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to the car as quick as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us down the path.
Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos(袋鼠). After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere are sheep.
Australia is __________.
A.the largest country in the world B. as large as Shanghai
C. not as large as China D. the largest island in the north of the earth
The government had made _________.
A. not enough laws to fight pollution
B. so many laws that it can fight pollution
C. enough laws that it can hardly fight pollution
D. enough laws because the pollution is very serious
Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers
B. Perth is bigger than any other city in Western Australia
C. Perth lies in the west of Australia
D. No other city is larger than Perth in Australia
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科目：高中英語 來源：2014屆四川省實驗學校高二3月月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解
A private group of scientists has announced plans to make an exact copy of a human being. An American member of the team says he and the others will soon begin a serious effort to clone humans. Panos Zavos says the team hopes to manufacture the world’s first cloned baby within the next two years.
In recent years, scientists have produced exact genetic copies of sheep and a few other animals. They created these clones from a single cell of an adult animal.
Three years ago, another American doctor, Richard Seed, announced plans to clone a human being. However, there is no evidence that he has been successful.
Doctor Zavos says the new international group plans to offer human cloning only to women who are currently not able to become pregnant or produce children. He says the aim is to assist people who want to have their own biological child.
The technology would be similar to that used to clone animals. It would involve cleaning genetic material from a woman’s egg. Doctors then would place genetic material from the woman’s husband into the egg before putting it into the woman’s uterus(子宮).
Doctor Zavos says his group plans to do the work in a country near the Mediterranean Sea. He did not name the country. He says an Italian reproductive expert, Sevorino Antinori, is leading the team. Doctor Antinori has led the efforts to help many older women become pregnant. He is known for establishing pregnancies in women as old as sixty.
Many medical experts and other groups are opposed to the idea of cloning humans. Several countries ban or restrict work on human cloning. Several doctors criticize the announcement by Doctor Zavos. They say doctors do not know if cloning humans is possible or safe. They say it would be irresponsible to attempt to clone a human being. That is because the chances of success are too small and the risks are too great.
1.The underlined word “manufacture” in the first paragraph means “_________”.
A．produce B．oppose C．attempt D．experiment
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．In theory, scientists are unlikely to clone humans.
B．Richard Seed has fallen behind other scientists in cloning humans.
C．Cloning human beings is good for men.
D．People have different ideas about cloning humans.
3.How do many medical experts and other groups like the idea of cloning humans？
A．They are in favour of the idea.
B．They are against the idea.
C．They have an optimistic attitude to the idea.
D．They think it is none of their business.
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科目：高中英語 來源：2014屆河北省高一4月月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解
The deserts of the world are not all covered with sand. Many of them have surfaces of rock or clay or small stones. They are not flat, either. They often have high hills and deep valleys. There is some plants’ life in many parts of the desert. There is little rain in the desert, but it does fall often enough for most plants.
The deserts of the world are not uninhabited (not lived by people). People also live outside oases(綠洲), but these people are not farmers. They have camels, goats, donkeys, sheep, etc. These animals can live on the desert plants and do not need much water.
The people of the desert have to move constantly from place to place, they must always look for grass or desert plants for their animals. They usually live in tents. When there is no more food for their animals, they fold up their tents, pat them on their camels and donkeys, and move to another place. In good years, when there is enough food for their animals, they trade their skins and their goats and camel hairs with the people of oases for wheat and fruit. But in bad years, when there is not enough food for their animals, the people of the desert would attack the oases people. But they are also hospitable, no man in the desert would ever refuse to give a stranger food and water.
1.The underlined word “hospitable” has the meaning of being _______.
|
A．brave |
B．cruel |
C．strange |
D．kind |
2.In the desert _______.
|
A．it rains in spring only |
|
B．it rains for a short time every month |
|
C．there is some rain, but far from enough |
|
D．the rainfall is just enough for the plants |
3.People live _______.
|
A．only inside the oases |
|
B．only outside the oases |
|
C．both inside and outside the oases |
|
D．in places with regular rainfalls |
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科目：高中英語 來源：江蘇省2009-2010學年高三下學期高考模擬英語試題（5） 題型：閱讀理解
Critics of cloning often repeat the question related to the controversial(有爭議的) science “Just because we can, does it mean we should?” The closer we come to being able to clone a human, the hotter the debate over it grows. For all the good things cloning may achieve, opponents say that it will do just as much harm. Another question is how to governing cloning process.
There is federal official law banning cloning in the United States, but several states have passed their own laws to ban the practice. The US Food and Drugs Administration(FDA), has also said that anyone in the United States attempting human cloning must first get its permission. In Japan, human cloning is a crime that is punished by up to 10 years in prison.
While laws are to ban cloning at this time, some scientists believe that the technology is not ready to be tested on humans. Ian Wilmut, one of the co-creators of Dolly, has even said that human cloning projects would be an irresponsible crime. Cloning technology is still in its early stages, and nearly 98% percent of cloning efforts end in failure. The embryos are either not suitable for implanting into the uterus(子宮) or they die shortly after birth.
The clones that do survive end up suffering from deadly or problematic genetic abnormalities(畸形). Some clones have been born with faulty heart, lung problems and blood vessel problems. One of the most famous cases was a cloned sheep that was born with but malformed arteries(畸形動脈) leading to the lungs.
Opponents of cloning will point out that we can enthanize(安樂死) these faulty clones of other animals, but they ask what if a human clone is born with these same problems. Advocates of cloning respond that it is now easier to pick out faulty embryos even before they are implanted into the mother. The debate over human cloning is just beginning, but as science advances, it could be the biggest moral dilemma of the 21st century.
68. Which word in the text is the opposite of the underlined word “opponents”?
A. critics B. advocates C. scientists D. co-creators
69. The writer writes this passage mainly to ________________.
A. support passing laws to ban human cloning
B. list problems with human cloning
C. introduce critics’ ideas about human cloning
D. state the debate over human cloning
70. Which of the following will Ian Wilmut probably NOT agree with?
A. Cloning technology is in its early stages.
B. Human cloning should be made illegal.
C. Very few cloning efforts are successful.
D. Cloning technology is ready to be tested on humans
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