单选题 To call someone bird-brained in English means you think that person is silly or stupid. But will this description soon disappear from use in the light of recent research? It seems the English may have been unfair in associating bird's brains with stupidity. In an attempt to find out how different creatures see the world, psychologists at Brown University in the USA have been comparing the behaviour of birds and humans. One experiment has involved teaching pigeons to recognize letters of the English alphabet. The birds study in "classrooms", which are boxes equipped with a computer. After about four days of studying a particular letter, the pigeon has to pick out that letter from several displayed on the computer screen. Three male pigeons have learnt to distinguish all twenty-six letters of the alphabet in this way. A computer record of the birds' four-month study period has shown surprising similarities between the pigeons' and human performance. Pigeons and people find the same letters easy, or hard, to tell apart. For example, 92 per cent of the time the pigeons could tell the letter D from the letter Z. But when faced with U and V(often confused by English children), the pigeons were right only 34 per cent of the time. The results of the experiments so far have led psychologists to conclude that pigeons and humans observe things in similar ways. This suggests that there is something fundamental about the recognition process. If scientists could only discover just what this recognition process is, it could be very useful for computer designers. The disadvantage of a present computer is that it can only do what a human being has programmed it to do and the programmer must give the computer precise, logical instructions. Maybe in the future, though, computers will be able to think like human beings.

单选题 The writer suggests that the expression "bird-brained" might be out of use soon because it is______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：根据文中第一段的“To call someone bird-brained in English means you thinkthat person is silly or stupid．But will this description soon disappear from use in the lightof recent research?It seems the English may have been unfair in associating bird’s brainswith stupidity．”可知：在英语中，如果称某人的大脑像鸟脑袋一般，意思就是这个人没有头脑或非常愚蠢。不过最近的一项研究显示，这个用于形容人的词语可能很快会不再使用。看来英国人将鸟的大脑与愚蠢联系在一起或许是不公平的。据此可知，作者认为，“bird—brained”可能不再使用的原因是这个用词不恰当。D项正确。

单选题 Psychologists have been experimenting with pigeons to find out whether the birds______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：根据文中第二段的“In an attempt to find out how different creatures see theworld，psychologists at Brown University in the USA have been comparing the behaviourof birds and humans．”可知，美国布朗大学的心理学家将鸟类和人类的行为进行了比较，试图发现不同的生物对世界的领悟程度。据此可知，心理学家用鸽子做实验是为了发现鸟类与人类在领悟世界方面是否相同。C项正确。

单选题 U and V are confused by______.

单选题 There are similarities in observing things by pigeons and humans______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：根据文中第四段的“The results of the experiments so far have led psycholo—gists to conclude that pigeons and humans observe things in similar ways．This suggeststhat there is something fundamental about the recognition process．”可知，到目前为止，心理学家已从这些实验结果得到的结论是，鸽子和人类观察事物的方法相似。这表明，识别过程具有基本的因素。据此可知，鸽子和人类在观察事物方面相似是因为他们认识世界的基本方法相同，C项正确。

单选题 The research may help______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：根据文中第四段的“If scientists could only discover just what this recognitionprocess is，it could be very useful for computer designers．”可知，如果科学家们能够发现识别过程的构成因素，这将给电脑设计师带来很大的益处。据此可知，该项研究可能对电脑设计师有帮助，A项正确。