单选题 . The latest in cat research reveals that the lovely animal seems to have a basic grasp on both the laws of physics and the ins and outs of cause and effect.
According to a newly published study, cats seem to be able to predict the location of hiding prey (猎物) using both their ears and an inborn (天生的) understanding of how the physical world works.
In a recent experiment, Japanese researchers taped 30 domestic cats reacting to a container that a team member shook. Some containers rattled (发出响声), others did not. When the container was tipped over, sometimes an object fell out and sometimes it didn't.
It turns out that the cats were remarkably smart about what would happen when a container was tipped over. When an object did not drop" out of the bottom of a rattling container, they looked at it for a longer time than they did when the container behaved as expected.
"Cats use a causal-logical understanding of noise or sounds to predict the appearance of invisible objects," lead researcher Saho Takagi says in a press release. The researchers conclude that cats' hunting style may have developed based on their common-sense abilities to infer where prey is, using their hearing.
Scientists have explored this idea with other endearing creatures: babies. Like cats, babies appear to engage in what's called "preferential looking"—looking longer at things that are interesting or unusual than things they perceive as normal.
When babies' expectations are violated in experiments like the ones performed with the cats, they react much like their animal friends. Psychologists have shown that babies apparently expect their world to comply with the laws of physics and cause and effect as early as two months of age.
Does the study mean that cats will soon grasp the ins and outs of cause and effect? Maybe. Okay, so cats may not be the next physics faculty members at America's most important research universities. But by demonstrating their common sense, they've shown that the divide between cats and humans may not be that great after all.1. What do we learn from a newly published study about cats? ______

A、 They can be trained to understand the physical world.
B、 They know what kind of prey might be easier to hunt.
C、 They have a natural ability to locate animals they hunt.
D、 They are capable of telling which way their prey flees.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】 对猫的最新研究表明，这种可爱的动物似乎基本掌握了物理定律和因果关系的来龙去脉。
根据新近发表的一项研究，猫似乎能够凭借耳朵以及天生对物理世界运作方式的理解来预测隐藏猎物的位置。
在不久前进行的一项实验中，日本研究小组的成员在30只家猫面前摇动容器，并录制下家猫对此所作出的反应。有些容器发出了响声，其他的不发声。当容器翻倒时，有时会掉出个物件来，有时却不会。
事实证明，猫非常聪明，它们知道容器翻倒后会发生什么。如果物件没有从有响声的容器底部掉出来，它们观察的时间，相比那些符合预期结果的容器，会更久一些。
“猫通过对噪声或声音的因果逻辑理解来预测看不见的物件的出现，”首席研究员高木佐保(Saho Takagi)在一份新闻稿中如是说。研究人员得出结论，猫的捕猎方式可能是基于它们利用听力推测猎物位置的常识能力发展而来。
科学家们已经在其他可爱生物(婴儿)身上探讨这个观点了。像猫一样，婴儿似乎也具备所谓的“偏好观察”——他们观察有趣或不寻常东西的时间要比观察他们认为正常的东西要久。
与在猫身上进行过的实验类似，当婴儿的预期被打破时，他们的反应就非常像其“动物朋友”。心理学家已经表明，婴儿早在两个月大时就明显希望他们的世界能符合物理定律和遵从因果关系。
这项研究是否意味着猫很快就会掌握因果关系的来龙去脉?或许是吧。好了，猫可能不是美国最重要研究型大学的下一任物理教员。但通过展示其常识，它们已经表明，猫与人类之间的鸿沟可能并没有那么大。
根据题干中的a newly published study定位至第2段。
本题询问根据新近发表的研究，我们可得知猫的什么信息。第2段提到，根据新近发表的一项研究，猫似乎能够凭借耳朵以及天生对物理世界运行方式的理解(an inborn understanding of how...works)来预测隐藏猎物的位置(predict the location of hiding prey)，C“它们天生具有确定猎物位置的能力”与此处意思一致，C中的natural与locate animals they hunt分别对应原文的inborn与predict the location of hiding prey，故为答案。
A“经过训练，它们能够理解物理世界”，而原文说的是“它们天生(inborn)就能理解物理世界的运行方式”，不需要训练，A与原文相矛盾，可排除。原文只提到猫能预测猎物的位置，据此无法推断出B“它们知道哪种猎物更容易猎取”和D“它们能辨别猎物逃跑的路线”，故这两项均可排除。