A 14-year-old with a vocabulary of four or five simple words may not sound impressive.However，it sure is when the speaker happens to be a killer whale!The amazing discovery was shown in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The research team，led by Jose Zamorano-Abramson，a researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile，began recording the killer whale，who lives at Marineland in Antibes，France，in 2014.The research was done to test the theory（理論） that killer whales learn sounds from social settings.Wikie，who had spent most of her life at the aquatic park，was used to imitating（模仿） her trainer's actions in exchange for fish，and was，therefore，fit for the job.
The team began by presenting Wikie with the sounds she was already used to.They then presented new sounds the killer whale had never been introduced to before.These included imitating the sound of an elephant call.And Wikie stepped up to the challenge（挑戰） each time.
After that，the researchers introduced Wikie to a few simple words："Ah，""hello，""bye-bye，""one-two-three，"and the name of her trainer，"Amy."To their surprise，she imitated"hello"immediately.Though the others took a little longer，the smart whale was finally able to imitate them all.
Wikie，of course，does not understand what she is saying.She is just copying the sounds to get the reward that follows every imitation.However，it once again shows the whales' intelligence."Imitation skills allow animals in the wild to learn from others.Learning through trial and error（反復試驗） can be very expensive.You can die just trying poisonous fish，for example，for killer whales.But if you learn from the experience of others it's safer，"Abrahamson says.The researcher believes animals that have this ability can get used to changes in their environment more easily and increase their chances of survival.
（1）Why was Wikie chosen for the research？ BB
A．She was cleverer than other killer whales.
B．She had got used to life at the aquatic park.
C．She had been trained to do imitations before.
D．She was always working alongside human trainers.
（2）Why did the researchers introduce Wikie to simple words？ AA
A．To see if she could copy human sounds.
B．To test what she would do to get the reward.
C．To check if she could tell human sounds from elephant calls.
D．To find out if she could understand the sounds she was making.
（3）What can we learn from Abrahamson's words？ CC
A．It's never a good idea to try something new.
B．Learning from others can cause serious problems.
C．Imitation skills are important for animals in the wild.
D．Animals have to be prepared to get used to changes.
（4）Where is the text probably from？ BB
A．A research plan.
B．A news report.
C．A chemistry textbook.
D．A guidebook.
【答案】B；A；C；B
【解答】
【點評】
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發布：2024/4/20 14:35:0組卷：0引用：1難度：0.5
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