Question

Elephants are able to differentiate between ethnicities(种族) and sexes, and can tell an adult from a child --- all from the sound of a human voice.

This is according to a study in which researchers played voice recordings to wild African elephants.

The animals showed more fear when they heard the voices of adult Masai men.

Livestock-herding Masai people do come into conflict with elephants, and this suggests that animals have adapted to specifically listen for and avoid them.

The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Prof Karen McComb and Dr Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex led the study. They explained that in previous research they had used similar playback experiments to show that elephants could tell --- from the sound of a lion’s roar --- whether the animal was a female or a more dangerous male.

Prof McComb wanted to find out if the animals used their very sharp sense of hearing to identify a potential danger from humans.

The scientists recorded Masai men, women and children saying, in their own language, “Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming”.

They also recorded Kamba men saying this phrase.

While cattle-herding Masai people often come across free-ranging elephants, which can result in violent conflict, the Kamba people’s more agricultural lifestyle does not generally bring them into aggressive touch with the animals.

When the team played recordings of these different voices through a hidden loudspeaker, they found that elephant family groups reacted more fearfully in response to the voice of a Masai man, than to a Kamba man’s voice.

And the adult male Masai voices encouraged far more of these defensive reactions than the voices of women or boys.

1.An elephant can tell a man from a woman by sense of ________.

A. touch B. sight C. smell D. hearing

2.How did the researchers get to know the elephants’ special ability of identification?

A. By observing the elephants in the zoo.

B. By playing voice recordings to them.

C. By recording the behaviours of elephants.

D. By communicating with them in a special way.

3.We can learn from the passage that elephants are especially afraid of ________.

A. Masai men B. Masai women

C. Kamba men D. Kamba women

4.What is the best title for the passage?

A. Elephants and human beings

B. Differences between human voices

C. Elephants recognise human voices

D. Elephants conflict with human beings

Answer 1

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.C

【解析】

试题分析:一项研究证明了大象能根据人类说话的声音判断出人类是成年人还是小孩子，以及性别的不同，也证明了对于人类不同的声音对他们可能带来的危险也不同。

1. 细节理解题。从文中第六段elephants could tell --- from the sound of a lion’s roar --- whether the animal was a female or a more dangerous male.从狮子的吼叫声，就可以判断动物是雌性还是雄性，故可知大象通过听觉，来判断男人还是女人。故选D。

2. is according to a study in which researchers played voice recordings to wild African elephants.这是根据一项研究，研究者给野生非洲大象播放录制的声音。故选B。

3.The animals showed more fear when they heard the voices of adult Masai men.当他们听到成年的Masai男人的声音时，动物们就显得更加害怕。以及最后一段And the adult male Masai voices encouraged far more of these defensive reactions than the voices of women or boys.成年的Masai男人的声音比女人和男孩的声音会引发大象更多防御性地反应。故选A。

4. 主旨分析题。结合全文可知，研究表明大象可以根据人类说话的嗓音来判别是成年人还是小孩，以及可能有的危险，足以说明，大象能识别人类声音。故选C。

考点：考察科普说明类阅读