Question

Have you stroked (抚摸) a cute dog recently? If that dog touched you with its nose, you might find how wet and cold it was. If dogs are so warm and fluffy (毛茸茸 的), then why are their noses so cold?

Before, people thought that dogs had cold noses to help them control their body temperature. But, a new study in the journal Scientific Reports has shown some interesting findings about dogs’ noses. The study found that when the air temperature was 30 ℃, the tip of a dog’s nose is about five degrees cooler than the air. But why is this?

The researchers believed that the tip of a dog’s nose has a special sensory function (探测功 能). So, they did an experiment to test it. The study showed that dogs could find weak heat sources—like a small animal—with their noses from 1.5 meters away.

The research team studied three dogs named Charlie, Delfi and Kevin. For the experiment, the dogs had to tell the difference between two objects. The two objects were heated to different temperatures. Amazingly, all three dogs were able to sense the temperature difference between both objects.

The study also found that the heat from the objects in the experiment “was too weak to be felt by human hands, even at very short distances”. The dogs were able to sense these heated objects from a distance, but humans were only able to feel the warmth of the object if they touched it.

To know more about it, the research team also studied the brain activity of 13 dogs. When a warm object was put near their noses, there was an increase in brain activity.

“From the two complementary (互补的) experiments, we can know that dogs are indeed able to sense heat from warm-blooded animals, and a special region of the brain is made to be active by such heat.” said Anna Balint, the leader of the study.

1.What did the new study published in the journal Scientific Reports find about dogs?

A.What makes dogs loyal. B.Why dogs have cold noses.

C.How dogs feel heat better. D.How a dog’s temperature influences its brain activity.

2.Which of the following words has the closest meaning to “region”?

A.Way. B.Area. C.Type. D.Change.

3.What happened to the dogs when a warm object was put near their noses?

A.They showed no change in their brain activity. B.They had different kinds of excitement.

C.Their brain activity slowed down. D.Their brains became more active.

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A.Heat sensing ability can help dogs hunt for food.

B.The tip of a dog’s nose has a special sensory function.

C.Dogs are smarter than other animals.

D.The two experiments found different results.

Answer 1