It may sound a bit “Dr. Doolittle,” but it turns out kangaroos can communicate with humans. Researchers found that kangaroos communicated with humans “on purpose”--a behavior that was thought to only belong to domesticated(驯养的)animals, like dogs, horses or goats.
Experts from London's University of Roehampton and the University of Sydney set up a task. This task was known as “the unsolvable problem task”・ During the task, they presented kangaroos with food trapped inside a plastic container.
After trying, and failing, to open the boxes, the kangaroos turned their gaze(注视)on a nearby human - and sometimes even pushed or scratched(抓) them to ask for help, researchers said.
“Their gaze was pretty powerful, co-author Alexandra Green said. "We've previously thought only domesticated animals try to ask for help with a problem. But kangaroos do it too. If they can't open the box, they look at the human and back to the container. Some of them use their nose to push the human and some get close to the human and start scratching at him asking for assistance.,,
Based on these new findings, the team believe kangaroos - considered social animals, like dogs and goats --may be able to change their behavior to interact with humans.
“Through this study, we are able to see that communication between animals can be learnt and that the behaviour of gazing at humans to get food is not related to domestication lead author Alan McElligott said.
“Indeed, kangaroos showed a very similar pattern of behaviour we have seen in dogs, horses and even goats when put to the same test,“ McElligott added.
12．What have the researchers found about kangaroos?
A．Kangaroos can become domestic animals.
B．Kangaroos can communicate with humans.
C．Kangaroos can learn from domestic animals.
D．Kangaroos have the same habits as domestic animals.
13．What does the underlined word “trapped“ mean in Paragraph 2?
A．Removed. B．Hidden. C．Kept. D．Saved.
14．What are the researchers’ findings based on?
A．Observations. B．Previous data.
C．Making comparison. D．Making a survey.
15．In which part of a newspaper is this text most probably taken from?
A．Travel. B．Education. C．Technology. D．Science.
【答案】
12．B
13．C
14．A
15．D
【分析】
这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了袋关于袋鼠与人类交流能力的研究发现。
【详解】
1.细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句“Researchers found that kangaroos communicated with humans “on purpose”--a behavior that was thought to only belong to domesticated(驯养的)animals, like dogs, horses or goats.”（研究人员发现，袋鼠“有目的”与人类交流——这种行为被认为只属于驯养的动物，如狗、马或山羊。）可知，研究人员发现袋鼠可以与人类交流。故选B。
2.词义猜测题。根据“inside a plastic container”（在塑料容器内）结合上文提到的食food可推断，此处是指食物放在容器内，所以trapped和kept词义相同。故选C。
3.推理判断题。根据第三段“After trying, and failing, to open the boxes, the kangaroos turned their gaze(注视)on a nearby human - and sometimes even pushed or scratched(抓) them to ask for help, researchers said.”（研究人员说，在尝试打开盒子但失败后，袋鼠把目光转向附近的人类，有时甚至推或抓他们寻求帮助。）可知，在这些实验过程中，研究人员是通过观察袋鼠的行为得到这些发现的。故选A。
4.推理判断题。文章是讲述了对于袋鼠与人类交流能力的研究发现，所以最有可能是来自一份报纸的科学部分。故选D。
Experts from London's University of Roehampton and the University of Sydney set up a task. This task was known as “the unsolvable problem task”・ During the task, they presented kangaroos with food trapped inside a plastic container.
After trying, and failing, to open the boxes, the kangaroos turned their gaze(注视)on a nearby human - and sometimes even pushed or scratched(抓) them to ask for help, researchers said.
“Their gaze was pretty powerful, co-author Alexandra Green said. "We've previously thought only domesticated animals try to ask for help with a problem. But kangaroos do it too. If they can't open the box, they look at the human and back to the container. Some of them use their nose to push the human and some get close to the human and start scratching at him asking for assistance.,,
Based on these new findings, the team believe kangaroos - considered social animals, like dogs and goats --may be able to change their behavior to interact with humans.
“Through this study, we are able to see that communication between animals can be learnt and that the behaviour of gazing at humans to get food is not related to domestication lead author Alan McElligott said.
“Indeed, kangaroos showed a very similar pattern of behaviour we have seen in dogs, horses and even goats when put to the same test,“ McElligott added.
12．What have the researchers found about kangaroos?
A．Kangaroos can become domestic animals.
B．Kangaroos can communicate with humans.
C．Kangaroos can learn from domestic animals.
D．Kangaroos have the same habits as domestic animals.
13．What does the underlined word “trapped“ mean in Paragraph 2?
A．Removed. B．Hidden. C．Kept. D．Saved.
14．What are the researchers’ findings based on?
A．Observations. B．Previous data.
C．Making comparison. D．Making a survey.
15．In which part of a newspaper is this text most probably taken from?
A．Travel. B．Education. C．Technology. D．Science.
【答案】
12．B
13．C
14．A
15．D
【分析】
这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了袋关于袋鼠与人类交流能力的研究发现。
【详解】
1.细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句“Researchers found that kangaroos communicated with humans “on purpose”--a behavior that was thought to only belong to domesticated(驯养的)animals, like dogs, horses or goats.”（研究人员发现，袋鼠“有目的”与人类交流——这种行为被认为只属于驯养的动物，如狗、马或山羊。）可知，研究人员发现袋鼠可以与人类交流。故选B。
2.词义猜测题。根据“inside a plastic container”（在塑料容器内）结合上文提到的食food可推断，此处是指食物放在容器内，所以trapped和kept词义相同。故选C。
3.推理判断题。根据第三段“After trying, and failing, to open the boxes, the kangaroos turned their gaze(注视)on a nearby human - and sometimes even pushed or scratched(抓) them to ask for help, researchers said.”（研究人员说，在尝试打开盒子但失败后，袋鼠把目光转向附近的人类，有时甚至推或抓他们寻求帮助。）可知，在这些实验过程中，研究人员是通过观察袋鼠的行为得到这些发现的。故选A。
4.推理判断题。文章是讲述了对于袋鼠与人类交流能力的研究发现，所以最有可能是来自一份报纸的科学部分。故选D。
