Question

Working with a group of baboons (狒狒）in the Namibian desert, Dr. Alecia Carter of the Department of Zoology，Cambridge University set baboons learning tasks involving a novel food and a familiar food hidden in a box. Some baboons were given the chance to watch another baboon who already knew how to solve the task, while others had to learn for themselves. To work out how brave or anxious the baboons were, Dr. Carter presented them either with a novel food or a threat in the form of a model of a poisonous snake.

She found that personality had a major impact on learning. The braver baboons learnt, but the shy ones did not learn the task although they watched the baboon perform the task of finding the novel food just as long as the brave ones did. In effect, despite being made aware of what to do, they were still too shy to do what the experienced baboon did.

The same held true for anxious baboons compared with calm ones. The anxious individuals learnt the task by observing others while those who were relaxed did not, even though they spent more time watching.

This mismatch between collecting social information and using it shows that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something that has previously been ignored in studies on how animals learn to do things. The findings are significant because they suggest that animals may perform poorly in cognitive (認 知的）tasks not because they aren’t clever enough to solve them，but because they are too shy or nervous to use the social information.

The findings may impact how we understand the formation of culture in societies through social learning. If some individuals are unable to get information from others because they don’t associate with the knowledgeable individuals，or they are too shy to use the information once they have it，information may not travel between all group members, preventing the formation of a culture based on social learning.

1.What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A. The design of Dr. Carter’s research.

B. The results of Dr. Carter’s research.

C.The purpose of Dr. Carter’s research.

D. The significance of Dr. Carter’s research.

2.According to the research, which baboons are more likely to complete a new learning task?

A. Those that have more experience.

B. Those that can avoid potential risks.

C. Those that like to work independently.

D. Those that feel anxious about learning.

3.Which best illustrates the “mismatch” mentioned in Paragraph 4?

A. Some baboons are intelligent but slow in learning.

B. Some baboons are shy but active in social activities.

C. Some baboons observe others but don’t follow them.

D. Some baboons perform new tasks but don’t concentrate.

4.Dr. Carter’s findings indicate that our culture might be formed through.

A. storing information

B. learning from each other

C. understanding different people

D. travelling between social groups

 

Answer 1

1.A

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

【文章大意】這是一篇夾敘夾議的議論文。文章通過闡述研究狒狒如何獲得食物的信息來講述社會生活中的文化是通過相互的學習來獲取的。

1.A考查主旨要義。根據文章第一段其主要闡述的是研究項目的主要內容，對象與方法也就是這個研究的設計，故A正確。

2.D考查細節理解。 根據文章第三段“The anxious individuals learnt the task by observing others”可知選D。

3.C考查判斷推理。根據文章第三段最后 “while those who were relaxed did not, even though they spent more time watching.”可知劃線部分的內容指的是“光看不做的”，故C正確。

4.B考查細節理解。 根據文章最后一段第一句“The findings may impact how we understand the formation of culture in societies through social learning”回歸文章的研究主題上即文化的獲取是通過相互的學習，故B正確。