单选题
Research on animal intelligence always makes me wonder just how smart humans are.
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the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer"s piece in the
Science Times
on Tuesday. Fruit-flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit-flies
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to live shorter lives. This suggests that
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bulbs burn longer, that there is a(n)
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in not being too terrifically bright. Intelligence, it
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, is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow
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the starting line because it depends on learning—a
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learning— instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they"ve apparently learned is when to
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. Is there an adaptive value to
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intelligence? That"s the question behind this new research. I like it. Instead of casting a wistful glance
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at all the species we"ve left in the dust I. Q. wise, it implicitly asks what the real
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of our own intelligence might be. This is
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the mind of every animal I"ve ever met. Research on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments animals would
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on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner,
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, is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that
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animals ran the labs, they would test us to
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the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for terrain. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really
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, not merely how much of it there is.
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, they would hope to study a
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question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in?
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the results are inconclusive."
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查动词辨析。文章第一句说Research on animal intelligence always．makes me wonder just how smart humans are．“对动物智慧的研究总是让我对人类到底有多聪明感到好奇”。接着就举果蝇实验的例子，该句要选择的动词应与上句在语义上衔接。consider意为考虑，细想，放在句首，该句意为“细想一下……果蝇实验”合文意，所以本题选择B。suppose认为，假定；observe观察；imagine想象。
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查固定搭配。本题各选项与to搭配含义不同，end to to do sth．易于，往往会……；fear to do sth．害怕做某事；happen to碰巧做某事；threaten to威胁要做某事。Fruit-flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit-flies to live shorter lives．原文讲述的是实验的结果，即“受训变得更聪明的果蝇的寿命往往比普通果蝇短”，故选A。
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查名词辨析和固定搭配。本题能与in搭配的名词。选项A．tendency意为趋势，倾向，后面常接介词for或动词不定式，即a tendency for sth．或a tendency to do sth．。意为(做)某事的倾向；B项advantage优势，后常接介词in，即an advantage in sth．在某方面具有优势；C．inclination倾向，后常接介词for或动词不定式，即an inclination for sth．或an inclination to do sth．意为想做某事；D．priority优先权，后常接over，如：take priority over sth．/sb．意为(比某事/某人)具有优先权，所以此题选择B。
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查介词辨析。空格所填的词体现与the starting line(起跑线)的逻辑关系。B．behind和C．over用于体现空间位置关系，可以首先排除。D．along指“沿着起跑线徘徊”，这与后面的process意思不符；选项A．off有“离开”之意，slow off the starting line表示“离开起跑线慢了”，即“起步慢了”，但仍在进步，与后文逻辑一致，故选A。
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查名词辨析。由上文的Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they"ve apparently learned is when to ______可知，聪明需要学习，很多物种都能够学习，但都没有变聪明，这是因为它们还学会了适时停止学习。因此选C项stop。fight斗争；doubt怀疑；think考虑，思考。
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查副词辨析。本题的A、B和D项是表示方向的副词，C项表示时间。空白处后面的we"ve left in the dust I．Q．wise作定语修饰the species，由句子用现在完成时可判断是回头看已经发生的事情，所以选择D项backward。cast a glance at...意为“对……投以目光”。
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查名词辨析。本题选择名词，做宾语从句的主语…．it implicitly asks what the real ______ of our own intelligence might be．“这项实验含蓄地提出一个问题：人类智慧的真正……可能是什么。”前文已经提到Intelligence...is a high-priced option，因此应选D项costs代价。features特征；influences影响；results结果。
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查固定搭配。本题选择介词，与mind搭配。on one"s mind或on the mind of sb．是固定短语，意为“有心事，总是想着”，其他三项均不能与mind构成固定搭配。
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查介词短语辨析。本题选择介词短语做插入语，表明逻辑关系。前文已讲到作者好奇如果动物有机会的话，会对人类进行何种实验。本句接着说Every cat with an owner, is running a small scale study...“每一只有主人的猫都在进行一项小规模研究。”这是以cat为例进一步论述动物对人进行实验，因此应选择表示举例的介词短语，故选D．for instance“例如”。by chance偶然；in contrast与……相比；as usual像往常一样。
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 考查逻辑衔接。前两句已提出如果动物有机会在人身上做实验的设想，这句中又说animals ran the labs, they would...，可知本句为上两句话题的延伸，且使用了虚拟语气，是对动物可能对人类进行实验进行了假设，故选A项if。unless除非；as因为；lest唯恐。
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查动词辨析及固定搭配。to...the limits of...为实验的目的，实验的目的当然是确定某些内容，所以选择C项determine确定。此答案也可从下一句话They would try to decide...中decide一词推出。moderate缓和；overcome克服；reach达到。
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查逻辑衔接。本题选择逻辑关系词，体现前后句子之间的逻辑关系。前面两句解释了假设动物对人类进行实验所进行的内容，本句与前两句构成并列，they would hope to study a question“它们希望研究一个问题”，与前两句应为顺承关系，表示强调或递进，所以选择A项Above all首先，尤其是。after all毕竟；however但是，然而；otherwise否则。
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查形容词辨析。由Are humans actually aware of the world they live in?“人类是否真正了解他们生活的这个世界?”可知他们希望研究的应该是个最基本的问题，故选A项fundamental基本的。comprehensive综合的；equivalent相等的；hostile敌对的。
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查逻辑衔接及介词短语。本题选择短语体现与前面句子的逻辑关系。前面句子提出一个问题，本句讲the results are inconclusive(……结果是不确定的)。因此，选项C．so far“迄今为止”最符合题意，by accident偶然；in time及时；better still更好。