Science is finally beginning to embrace animals who were, for a long time, considered second-class citizens.
As Annie Potts of Canterbury University has noted, chickens distinguish among one hundred chicken faces and recognize familiar individuals even after months of separation. When given problems to solve, they reason: hens trained to pick colored buttons sometimes choose to give up an immediate food reward for a slightly later (and better) one. Healthy hens may aid friends, and mourn when those friends die.
Pigs respond to human symbols. When a research team led by Candace Croney at Penn State University carried wooden blocks marked with X and O symbols around pigs, only the O carriers offered food to the animals. The pigs soon ignored the X carriers in favor of the O’s. Then the team switched from real-life objects to T-shirts printed with X or O symbols. Still, the pigs walked only toward the O-shirted people: they had transferred their knowledge to a two-dimensional format, a not inconsiderable feat of reasoning.
I’ve been guilty of prejudiced expectations, myself. At the start of my career almost four decades ago, I was firmly convinced that monkeys and apes out-think other animals. They’re other primates（灵长目动物）, after all, animals from our own mammalian class. Fairly soon, I came to see that along with our closest living relatives, whales too are masters of cultural learning, and that elephants express profound joy and mourning with their social companions. Long-term studies on these mammals helped to fuel a viewpoint shift in our society: the public no longer so easily accepts monkeys made to undergo painful procedure in laboratories, elephants forced to perform in circuses, and dolphins kept in small tanks at theme parks.
Over time, though, as I began to broaden out even further and explore the inner lives of fish, chickens, pigs, goats, and cows, 1 started to wonder: Will the new science of “food animals” bring an ethical (伦理的) revolution in terms of who we eat? In other words, will our ethics start to catch up with the development of our science?
1.According to Annie Potts, hens’ choice of a later and better reward indicates their ability of ______.
A.interaction B.analysis C.creation D.abstraction
2.The research into pigs shows that pigs ______.
A.learn letter quickly B.have good eyesight
C.can build up a good relationship D.can apply knowledge to new situations
3.What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?
A.The similarities between mammals and humans.
B.The necessity of long-term studies on mammals.
C.A change in people’s attitudes towards animals.
D.A discovery of how mammals express themselves.
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A.The Lifestyles of Food Animals B.Science Reports on Food Animals
C.The Inner Lives of Food Animals D.A Revolution in Food Animals
Enter for a Chance to Win a Montana Adventure
Imagine yourself hiking on the same route that Lewis and Clark once explored, fly fishing and white-water rafting in beautiful lakes and rivers, learning how to speak Blackfoot, digging for ancient dinosaur remains, and standing at the edge of a 6,000-year-old glacier in Glacier National Park. You have the chance to do all of this and much more with the National Geographic Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge Expedition Team. The Hands-On Explorer Challenge is heading west in 2020 to Montana.
HIKE!
Montana is the home of many species of plants and animals. Follow in the footsteps of legendary explorers and get a close-up view of waterfalls, wildflowers, and wildlife.
DIG !
Some of the most important dinosaur discoveries have been found in Montana. You'll discover treasures yourself as you dig for ancient dinosaur remains in Montana's High Plains.
CULTURE !
Montana has eleven Native American tribes-each one filled with a unique heritage and lots of rich traditions. View the world as they see it through their dances, songs, food, games, and languages.
HOW TO ENTER
1. Write an original, personal essay in English of no more than 300 words telling us how you explore your world and what it is about exploration that inspires and excites you.
2. Take a photograph of what, where, or how you explored the subject of your essay.
3. Enter by January 7, 2020. Open to kids who will be ages 9-14 as of July l, 2020.
4. Send your entry form, essay, and photo (as described in the Official Rules) to: NG Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge, National Geographic Kids magazine/CDH, 1145 17th Street NW, Washington, D. C. 20036.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO
KIDS. NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC. COM/KIDS/CONTESTS/EXPLORER-TRIP-2020.
1.What is true about Montana?
A.Lewis and Clark used to live there.
B.Many dinosaurs have been discovered there.
C.Its Native American tribes share the same culture.
D.It is home to many species of plants and animals.
2.If you want to enter the contest you must
A.be over 14 years old
B.send a photo with your essay
C.have rich exploration experience
D.write an English article over 300 words
3.What is the purpose of the passage?
A.To provide travel information.
B.To describe Montana's scenery.
C.To announce a kid competition.
D.To suggest some outdoor activities.
Directions: Write an English composition in between 100 and 120 words according to the situation given below in Chinese.
假设你是明启中学（Ming Qi Middle School）英语报通讯员李华，拟从所给的三个主题中任选其一，为该报写一篇报道。
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.电子产品有助于英语学习这一想法已被广泛接受。(The idea …)
2.对一些学生而言，可以自由支配自己的业余时间远比拥有足够的零花钱更有意义，难道不是吗？(than)
Directions: Read the following job ad and complete the sentences that follow. Write one word or more in each space.
1.If Angela’s Pet Shop is open for 8 hours every day, the assistant will get $__________ after a full day’s work.
2.Angela’s Pet Shop is looking for an assistant who can work for it every __________.
3.The assistant’s duties include taking care of pets and dealing with __________ in the shop as well as on the phone.
4.One who has __________ is more likely to be chosen than those who haven’t.
Here is one of the world’s largest indoor ski-slopes. It covers an area of 22,500m2, about the same size as three football fields, and the temperature is a constant -1℃ to -2℃. However, the strangest thing about this place is that it’s in the middle of the desert! It’s called Ski Dubai and the outside temperatures can rise to more than 40℃!
It sounds crazy, but it just shows how serious people are about having fun. We spend huge sums on sports facilities. We pay our sports stars ridiculous amounts of money. And we spend hour after hour playing games! I wonder if all the sports-lovers and game-players in the world aren’t a little crazy. I know I am. I was once driving past a football field where some kids were playing. I turned to watch and crashed my car. I know it’s stupid but I can do nothing about it. As someone said, “Football isn’t a matter of life and death. It’s much more important than that!”
Of course, it isn’t that important really. No game is. But the problem is that games are addictive (使人上瘾的). From the tennis court to the golf course, you’ll find participants and spectators who can’t live without the drug of their choice. It could be a good thing. After all, despite being addictive, it’s true that sports and games help us to relax. Maybe if it wasn’t for sport, our societies would be more violent. Perhaps sport is a substitute for war? It’s hard to think of a quieter, more peaceful game than chess, and what’s the objective? Capturing your opponent’s king. And surely, it’s better to have wars in athletics stadiums rather than on battlefields.
What’s more, playing is natural. Kittens chase balls of wool and puppies pretend to fight. Games help us perfect our skills and prepare us for the serious contest of survival.
But do all games help us relax and stay away from violence? What about computer games? A recent article in New Scientist suggests that playing violent video games (and most of them are extremely violent) makes people more aggressive and more likely to commit violent crimes.
Are these games a rehearsal (彩排) for life or a substitute for life? Do we play instead of facing up to our real problems? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I need a break. Something to help me relax. Skiing would be nice. I wonder how much it costs to get to Dubai?
1.According to the author, the most surprising thing about Ski Dubai is its ________.
A.slopes B.size
C.location D.facilities
2.The expression “the drug of their choice” in the 3rd paragraph refers to ________.
A.the game they are keen on B.the medicine they take
C.the activity good for health D.the sport in place of war
3.Which of the following statements does the author most probably agree with?
A.Sports stars should be paid more to play well.
B.Sports are more important than life and death.
C.Chess is too peaceful to be considered a sport.
D.Games can make one relaxed as well as violent.
4.What does the author mainly talk about in the passage?
A.The relationship between games and crimes.
B.Human natural craze for having fun with games.
C.Serious concerns about time that is spent on games.
D.Real problems facing game players in everyday life.
