Question

    While every dog owner knows their dogs can read their moods perfectly, scientists have always been a little doubtful. Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, we finally have some convincing evidence.

For this study, biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy. Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face, while the other half given their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.

Interestingly, the dogs were not provided with the entire face. Some dogs were shown only upper halves while the others observed lower halves. That's because the scientists believe humans show their eruptions on their entire face.

After some training on how to recognize small differences like the wrinkles between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions, the dogs were mostly able to identify the correct expression not only on a familiar face but on a strange face, the researchers concluded the dogs were smart enough to read human emotions.

They also found those being trained to read angry expressions took a longer time to learn. They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting, causing them to back away quickly. However, once the smart dogs realized they were getting rewarded, the trepidation seemed to disappear. In fact, the dogs had such a good time playing the computer "game"that scientists had a hard time keeping them away from the touch screens after the study was completed.

The researchers also noticed only dogs with a male owner had a harder time understanding the expressions correctly. Since the touched screen models were all females, this confirmed what has been observed in previous studies-dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.

1.How did the scientists conduct the experiment?

A. By mixing the selected dogs together.

B. By rewarding only half of the dogs touching the screen.

C. By leaving dogs to women who are either happy or angry.

D. By showing digital pictures of women's happy or angry faces.

2.The underlined word "trepidation" in Paragraph 5 probably means            .

A. fear and hesitation B. curiosity and eagerness

C. excitement and happiness D. doubt and uncertainty

3.According to the last paragraph, dogs with female owners           .

A. are scared away at the male faces

B. are uninterested in telling the emotions on the entire faces

C. have difficulty telling the moods on the faces of males

D. can only recognize emotions on partial faces

4.What is the best title for this passage?

A. Mood Changes Influence Dogs B. Dogs Identify the Moods

C. Dogs and Their Owners D. Dogs' Mood Research

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇科技报道。作者主要介绍了最新的实验发现，即狗能够识别人的面部表情的变化。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段的第一句话"For then" study biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy."可知，实验人员通过屏幕向这些狗展示了一组女性面部表情的照片，这些表情中既有快乐的，也有愤怒的。故选 D。

2.词义猜题。horror恐惧;curiosity好奇;excitement激动;doubt怀疑。根据该单词前文"They guess it may be be?cause dogs find angry faces disgusting causing them to withdraw quickly. However once the smart dogs realized they were getting the reward…"可知，狗看到生气的表情后会感到厌恶，并由此退缩，但是一旦聪明的狗意识到会有奖励之后，它们这种恐惧感就会消失。故选A.。

3.推理判断题。根据文章最后一段中的"…this confirmed what had been observed in previous studies―dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner."可知，狗擅长辨别与自己主人性别相同的人的表情，由此推断，让主人是女性的狗来辨别男性面部表情的图片是比较困难的。故选 C。

4.主旨大意题。根据第一段中While every dog owner knows their dogs can read their moods perfectly, scientists have always been a little doubtful. Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, we finally have some convincing evidence.可知，文章主要介绍了最新的实验发现，即狗能够识别人的面部表情的变化。故B项是最佳主题。