2017-2020年上海市高考真题汇编—概要写作.docx

2017~2020年上海高考真题汇编—概要写作 2020年秋考 Are people unique? It is human beings’ pride that we are the only species on the Planet that can speak and think. However, recent research casts doubt on that common belief. Zuberbuhler, a psychologist at St. Andrews University, and his colleagues recorded thousands of calls made by Diana monkeys and noticed that the monkeys adapted their calls to change the meaning to warn one another about different situations. For example, they made a ‘krack’ alarm call at the sight of tiger. However, when they merely repeated calls made by other monkeys they added an ‘oo’. The researchers found that the same calls would be recognised by other species, like Campbell’s monkeys. So they are communicating across species. ‘And since then we have found that hornbill birds can understand these calls and they too can understand all the different meanings’, said Zuberbuhler. What is also surprising is that signs of intelligence have been found in birds, whose small brains were long assumed to be a complete barrier to intelligence. However, all that is changing fast. A few years ago Irene Pepperberg of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology taught a parrot to recognise and count up to six objects, which couldn’t have been achieved if birds were unable to memorize. Last year, that was topped by Alex Kacelnik, a professor of behavioral ecology at Oxford, who discovered that crows (乌鸦) are capable of using tools in complex orders, the first time such behaviour has been observed in non-humans. In an experiment seven crows successfully grabbed a piece of food placed out of reach using three different lengths of stick. Crucially, they were able to complete the task without any special training, suggesting the birds were capable of a level of abstract reasoning normally associated only with humans. All this is powerful evidence against the idea that people are unique. 参考范文： Scientists have discovered signs of language and intelligence in monkeys and birds