2019届高考英语一轮复习 第一部分 教材课文要点 Module 3 Body Language and Non-verbal Communication夯基提能作业 外研版必修4.docVIP

Module 3　Body Language and Non-verbal Communication Ⅰ.阅读理解 　　阅读下面短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。 (2017安徽皖南八校联考三,D) 　　Pigeons may only have a brain the size of a thimble (顶针), but it appears that pigeons can categorize and name objects in the same way human children learn new words. A new study from the University of Iowa has shown that the birds are capable of learning to categorize 128 different photographs into 16 basic categories. Scientists taught three pigeons to sort out different kinds of dogs or types of shoes, for example by using a particular symbol in exchange for a reward. When they were shown black and white pictures of previously unseen dogs or shoes, the birds were able to correctly match these with the corresponding symbols. The scientists behind the project say this is a similar approach taken by young children when they are first learning words for objects. However, the researchers said it took the birds around 40 days to perfect the task of learning just 16 categories. Professor Edward Wasserman, who led the work, said, “Our birds’ rate of learning appears to have been quite slow. Would children learn faster than pigeons? Almost certainly. However, our pigeons came to the experiment with no background knowledge at all. Thus, the more relevant comparison group may be newborn babies, who indeed take 6—9 months to learn their first words.” Writing in the journal Cognition, the researchers said their experiment is a very simple mirror of the way children are taught words—by their parents pointing to pictures and asking them to name the object. Pigeons are known to be smarter than many birds. Professor Bob McMurray, who also took part in the study, said the results showed that human learning is not as unique as was previously believed. He said, “Children are facing a huge task of learning thousands of words without a lot of background knowledge to go on. For a long time, people thought that such learning was special to humans. What this research sh