Question

【题目】 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 were 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 had 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】What is the meaning of the underlined word “trepidation” in Paragraph 5?

A.fear and hesitationB.doubt and uncertainty

C.curiosity and eagernessD.excitement and happiness

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

A.are scared away at the male faces

B.can only read the expressions on partial faces

C.are uninterested in telling facial expressions

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

【4】What is the best title for this passage?

A.Dogs and Their OwnersB.Dogs’ Mood Research

C.Dogs Identify the MoodsD.Mood Changes Influence Dogs

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】A

【3】D

【4】C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。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变化。

【1】细节理解题。根据文章第二段内容“For this study, biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy.”可知，这次实验是通过给那些狗看一些女士生气或高兴的图片来进行的。故选D项。

【2】词义猜测题。根据上文“They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting, causing them to back away quickly.( 他们猜测，这可能是因为狗觉得愤怒的脸令人恶心，所以它们会迅速后退。)”可知生气的面庞会使狗害怕而立刻远离，而划线单词所在句 “However”转折副词，说明前后是转折关系，因此可推知划线单词所在句“the trepidation seemed to disappear”表达狗不再害怕，即害怕或恐惧消失。因此“the trepidation”可理解为选项A“fear and hesitation(恐惧和犹豫)”。故选A项。

【3】推理判断题。根据文章最后一段内容“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 had been observed in previous studies—dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.( 研究人员还注意到，只有拥有男性主人的狗在理解这些表情方面更加困难。由于触屏模特都是女性，这证实了之前的研究中所观察到的情况——狗更善于识别与主人性别相同的人的面部表情。)”可知，狗擅长识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D项。

【4】主旨大意题。文章结构为总分结构，第一段提出本文的中心话题。根据第一段内容“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变化。选项C“Dogs Identify the Moods”合理概括了文章主题，可作最佳标题。故选C项。

归纳标题题

阅读理解文章多是议论文和说明文，这两种文体的结构可归纳为：提出问题——论述问题——得出结论或者阐明观点。对于这类文章，抓主题句是快速掌握文章大意的主要方法。主题句一般出现在文章的开头或结尾。一般而言，以演绎法撰写的文章，主题句往往在文章的开头，即先点出主题，然后围绕这一主题作具体的陈述。判断第一句是否为主题句，可具体分析段落的首句与第二，三句的关系；如果从第二句就开始对第一句进行说明，论述或描述，那第一句就是主题句。

比如文章第4小题：

4. What is the best title for this passage?

A. Dogs and Their Owners B. Dogs’ Mood Research

C. Dogs Identify the Moods D. Mood Changes Influence Dogs

本题要求选出最佳标题，文章为说明文，因此主题句出现在文章的开头，即首段。通过阅读第一段内容“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，第一句应是主题句，第二句对第一句进行说明，解释其根据。第一句的核心应是“their dogs can read their moods perfectly”，对应选项C“Dogs Identify the Moods”。故答案为C项。