Question

A mother goat is able to pick out her own baby from its voice alone by the time the kid is just five days old.

Researchers from University of London played kids’ bleats to female goats and studied their responses. They were surprised to find that the animals were able to pick out their own kids’ voices.

“A mother and the kid rely a lot on smell to recognize one another and, in the wild, during the first week of their lives, the animals hide in grass and don’t call much. It’s a strategy they use to avoid enemies,” Dr Elodie Briefer, who led the research, explained to BBC News. “The mother call to the kids when she want them to come and feed, so we expected that kids would recognize the mothers’ voices.” In fact, this was the case for deer, which also use this hiding strategy, although they do not belong to the same family of species as goats.

She and her team recorded and played back young kids’ calls to the female goats and recorded their responses.She explained, “Even when the calls came from kids that are five to six days old, we could see the mothers responding more to the voices of their own babies.” Hearing the voice of their own kids, the females would look towards the speaker that the sound was coming from, moving around and calling in response.

The scientists say that understanding how goats behave and communicate is very important. “This helps us understand just how smart these animals are,” said Dr. Briefer. “Farmers might be able to change their way to raise goats considering this natural behaviour.”

1.What does the underlined word “bleats” means?

A. habits    B. voices

C. responses    D. videos

2.During the first few days of the baby deer, the mother and the kid mainly depend on ______to recognize each other when they are hiding in grass.

A. voice    B. touch

C. videos    D. smell

3.In the experiment, what does a mother goat do when hearing her kids’ voice?

A. Making voice in response.    B. Jumping over and over.

C. Hiding herself somewhere.    D. Behaving just as usual.

4.The passage is mainly written for ______ to read.

A. teachers    B. writers

C. farmers    D. lawyers

Answer

1. B

2. D

3. A

4. C

【解析】

这是一篇新闻报道。短文报道了母山羊能够从小山羊宝宝发出的叫声中分辨出自己的孩子。

1.词义猜测题。由第二段“Researchers from University of London played kids’ bleats to female goats and studied their responses. They were surprised to find that the animals were able to pick out their own kids’ voices.”可知， 来自伦敦大学的研究人员对母山羊播放小羊的叫声，并研究他们的反应。他们惊讶地发现，这些动物能够分辨出自己孩子的声音。所以划线单词“bleats”是voices“声音”的意思。故B选项正确。

2.细节理解题。由第三段“A mother and the kid rely a lot on smell to recognize one another and, in the wild, during the first week of their lives，In fact, this was the case for deer...”可知，在小羊出生的第一周，在野外时，羊妈妈和小羊依靠气味来彼此识别对方。事实上鹿也是这种情况。所以在小鹿出生的几天内，母鹿和小鹿躲在草丛里，主要靠气味来辨认对方。故D选项正确。

3.细节理解题。由第四段“Hearing the voice of their own kids, the females would look towards the speaker that the sound was coming from, moving around and calling in response.”可知，听到自己孩子的声音时，母羊会看着来自扬声器的声音，四处走动，并以叫声做出回应。所以在实验中，母羊听到自己孩子的声音时，会以声音回应。故A选项正确。

4.推理判断题。由最后段“Farmers might be able to change their way to raise goats considering this natural behaviour.”可知，考虑到羊的这种自然行为，农民也许可以改变他们养羊的方式。所以判断出，这篇短文主要是写给农民，供他们阅读的。故C选项正确。