题文

阅读理解。

Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a scientist at the University of Arizona, has worked with Alex for nineteen years, teaching Alex to speak and understand wasn't easy at first. He had to learn one word at a time. Irene and an assistant (助手) would teach Alex by showing him what a word meant. Irene would hold up an object, saying "What's this?" Her assistant would give the word-"candy", for example-while Alex watched. Irene would praise (表扬) her assistant, then ask Alex the name for the object. When he got it right, Irene would praise him and give him the object to play with as a reward. It took Alex many weeks to learn his first word. After that, each new word became easier and easier for him.      Why did Irene spend so much time getting a parrot to talk? Scientists like Irene are interested in discovering how intelligent (聪明) animals are and how their brains work. But studying animal intelligence has been difficult, partly because animals haven't been able to communicate (交流) clearly with humans. Teaching Alex to speak words that he understands has let Irene talk to him directly. She can ask him questions, and he can answer them in English. In this way, Irene is finding out what kinds of things Alex's brain can do. She has found that parrots are much smarter than scientists used to think.

1. According to the passage, how is Alex remarkable (不寻常的)?

A. He can use the English language to answer questions. B. He uses words in English instead of bird calls to call other birds. C. He can copy the pronunciations of more than 100 English words. D. Alex has a brain that is much bigger than those of other parrots.

2. How did Dr. Pepperberg teach Alex to speak with understanding?

A. She said the same word all day long so that Alex could repeat it. B. She taught Alex a special sign language. C. She gave Alex rewards if he would say what she said. D. She gave Alex a candy every time he answered correctly.

3. Why did Dr. Pepperberg teach Alex to speak with understanding?

A. She wanted to prove it could be done. B. She wanted to provide a model for people who want talking birds. C. She wanted to find out how many words parrots could remember. D. She wanted to find out what kinds of things his brain could do.

4. According to the passage, Alex has proved that _____.

A. birds are not the only animals that can learn a language. B. parrots are much cleverer than scientists used to think. C. birds are just as intelligent as humans. D. teaching parrots to speak a human language isn't very difficult.

题型：阅读理解  难度：偏难

答案

1-4 A C D B

据专家权威分析，试题“阅读理解。 Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a scientist at the Univers..”主要考查你对  科教类阅读  等考点的理解。关于这些考点的“档案”如下：

科教类阅读

考点名称：科教类阅读

• 科普类的阅读：
  科普类的阅读理解包含介绍科学知识、社会知识的短文。阅读这类短文时，要以事实为中心进行思考，抓住事物的特征、用途、相互关系等。
  如果是介绍社会现象的文章，要掌握所谈现象的内涵。

• 答题技巧：
  1. 加强整体意识，把握文章的主要内容。在阅读的时候可给段落标上序号，并给重要的句子和
     关键词做上记号，尤其是各段中心句，为答题提供更快捷更多的信息源。
  2. 审清题干，发觉和把握试题中有效的提示性信息，确认命题的角度、阅读范围和答题方式。
  3. 定位阅读，强化对应意识。同时要注意原文利用和自我加工相结合。