Question

You may have seen a talking parrot on a TV show, in a movie, or even in someone’s home. The parrot has learned to copy sounds that people make. Birds are not the only animals that can copy the noises they hear. Dolphins, bats, and some apes also copy sounds. Now we can add elephants to this list of copycats.

Dr. Joyce Poole is a zoologist. She studies the sounds of elephants. While she was in Kenya, she would hear strange noises made by Mlaika after sunset. Mlaika was a 10-year-old African elephant.

Mlaika lived near a highway. Dr. Poole says, “I could not tell the difference between Mlaika’s call and the distant truck noise.” She and other scientists studied Mlaika’s sounds. It turned out that Mlaika was copying the sounds of the trucks driving by. Why would Mlaika copy trucks that she heard going by on the highway? Animals that are able to copy sounds may enjoy practicing new sounds. When they are kept outside of their natural environment, they may copy unusual sounds. That may be why an elephant would copy the sound of a truck.

“Mlaika was not the only copycat elephant,” Dr. Poole says. Calimero is a 23-year-old male African elephant. He spent 18 years with two female Asian elephants. Asian elephants make chirping sounds (sounds made by birds) to talk with one another. African elephants usually do not make chirping sounds. But Calimero now does. He is copying his Asian elephant friends. Dr. Poole says that elephants need to form bonds with their family and friends. She says, “They make sounds to communicate with each other. When they are separated, they use sounds to keep in contact.”

Parrots, dolphins, humans, and elephants show that being a copycat is one way that animals and people make new friends and keep old ones.

1.According to Dr. Poole, what does Mlaika copy?

A. The sound of people.

B. The sound of trucks.

C. The sound of Calimero.

D. The sound of birds.

2. From paragraph 4, we can know ________.

A. Calimero is a 23-year-old male Asian elephant

B. African elephants never make chirping sounds

C. Asian elephants make chirping sounds to talk with birds

D. Elephants make sounds to keep in touch with each other

3. According to the passage, animals like to be copycats because they need_______.

A. To keep in touch with nature.

B. To please people and other animals.

C. To make new friends and keep old ones.

D. To avoid danger from the outside world.

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.C

【解析】

试题分析：本文介绍了动物的模仿现象。除了鹦鹉，海豚会模仿声音外，大象也会模仿。在文中作者提到了会模仿拖拉机声的大象，还有会模仿亚洲象声音的非洲象。这些动物模仿的原因是它们需要和其他动物的交流，是建立和保持友谊的一种方法。

1.B细节理解题。It turned out that Mlaika was copying the sounds of the trucks driving by.可知大象模仿的是拖拉机的声音，选B。

2.D细节理解题。“Mlaika was not the only copycat elephant,”可知作者提到Mlaika只是为了用另外的例子来进行证明，选D。

3.

【名师点拨】

所谓细节题，是指原文提到了某事物、现象或理论，题干针对原文具体叙述本身发问。一般包括直接理解题（在原文中可直接找到答案，常用who, what, when, where, why和how等提问。）语义转化题（需要将题目信息与原文相关信息进行语义上的转换，两者存在表达上的差异，有时需要进行加工或整理后方能得出结论）、数字计算题、排列顺序题、图表图画题等。抓住文段中的事实和细节是做好该题型的关键，也是做好其它类型问题的基础。3.4. dolphins, humans, and elephants show that being a copycat is one way that animals and people make new friends and keep old ones. 动物喜欢成为模仿者，因为它们需要结交新朋友，保持旧的朋友。故选C。

考点：考查故事类短文阅读