新高级阅读前（双语）3（701）

PASSAGE THREE

Smarter than a monkey

1.Goffin’s cockatoos, a kind of small parrot native to Australasia, have been shown to have similar shape-recognition abilities to a human two-year-old.

2.Though not known to use tools in the wild, the birds have proved skilful at tool use while kept in the cage.

3.In a recent experiment, cockatoos were presented with a box with a nut inside it.

4.The clear front of the box had a “keyhole” in a geometric shape, and the birds were given five differently shaped “keys” to choose from. Inserting the correct “key” would let out the nut.

5.In humans, babies can put a round shape in a round hole from around one year of age, but it will be another year before they are able to do the same with less symmetrical shapes.

6.This ability to recognize that a shape will need to be turned in a specific direction before it will fit is called an “allocentric frame of reference”.

7.In the experiment, Goffin’s cockatoos were able to select the right tool for the job, in most cases, by visual recognition alone.

8.Where trial-and-error was used, the cockatoos did better than monkeys in similar tests.

9.This indicates that Goffin’s cockatoos do indeed possess an allocentric frame of reference when moving objects in space, similar to two-year-old babies.

10.The next step, according to the researchers, is to try and work out whether the cockatoos rely entirely on visual clues , or also use a sense of touch in making their shape selections.

第三篇

比猴子更聪明

1.戈芬凤头鹦鹉是一种原产于澳大拉西亚的小鹦鹉，已经被证明具有与人类两岁孩子相似的形状识别能力。

2.虽然人们不知道这些鸟在野外会使用工具，但在笼子里，它们已经证明了它们使用工具的技巧。

3.在最近的一项实验中，研究人员给凤头鹦鹉一个盒子，盒子里有一颗坚果。

4.盒子的正面有一个几何形状的“锁眼”，鸟儿们可以从五个不同形状的“钥匙”中选择。插入正确的“钥匙”可以让坚果出来。

5.在人类中，婴儿从一岁左右就可以把一个圆形的形状放进一个圆形的洞里，但他们还需要一年才能对不那么对称的形状做同样的事情。

6.这种识别形状需要在特定方向上旋转才能适合的能力被称为“非同心参照系”。

7.在实验中，戈芬的凤头鹦鹉能够选择正确的工具来完成任务，在大多数情况下，仅凭视觉识别。

8.当使用试错法时，凤头鹦鹉在类似的测试中比猴子表现得更好。

9.这表明，当在空间中移动物体时，戈芬凤头鹦鹉确实拥有一个异心参照系，类似于两岁的婴儿。

10.根据研究人员的说法，下一步是试图弄清楚凤头鹦鹉是完全依赖视觉线索，还是也使用触觉来选择形状。