Certain animals have an intuitive awareness of quantities. They know without analysis the difference between a number of objects and a smaller number. In his book The Natural History of Selbourne (1786), the naturalist Gilbert White tells how he surreptitiously removed one egg a day to make up plover’s nest, and how the mother laid another egg each day to make up for the missing one. He noted that other species of birds ignore the absence of a single egg but abandon their nest if more than one egg has been removed. It has also been noted by naturalist that a certain type of wasp always provides five-never four, never six-caterpillars for each of their eggs so that their young have something to eat when the eggs hatch. Research has also shown that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd and even numbers of food pieces.

These and similar accounts have led some people to infer that creatures other than human can actually count. They also point to dogs that have been taught to respond to numerical questions with the correct number of barks, or to horses that seem to solve arithmetic problem by stomping their hooves number of times.

Animals respond to quantities only when they are connected to survive as a species-as in the case of the eggs-or survive as individuals -as in the case of food. There is on transfer to other situations or from concrete reality to the abstract notion of numbers. Animals can “count” only when the objects are present and only when the numbers involved are small-no more than seven or eight. In lab experiments, animals trained to count one kind of object were unable to count any other type. The objects, not the numbers, are what interest them. Animal’s admittedly remarkable achievements simply do not amount to evidence of counting, nor do they reveal more than innate instinct, refined by the genes of successive generations, or the results of clever, careful conditioning by trainers.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Careful training is required to teach animals to perform tricks involving numbers
B. Animas cannot count more than one kind of object
C. of all animals, dogs and horses can count best
D. Although some animals may be aware of quantities, they cannot actually count

2. The author refers to Gilbert’s book in paragraph 1 in order to___.

A. show how attitudes have changed since 1786
B. Contradict the idea that animals can count.
C. provide evidence that some birds are aware of quantities.
D. Indicate that more research is needed in this field.

3. The word “surreptitiously” in line 4 is closest in meaning to ___.

A. quickly
B. secretly
C. occasionally
D. stubbornly

4. The author mentions that all of the following are aware of quantities in some way EXCEPT___.

A. plovers
B. mice
C. caterpillars
D. wasps

5. According to the information in the passage, which of the following is LEAST likely to occur as a result of animal’s intuitive awareness of quantities?

A. A pigeon is more attracted by a box containing two pieces of food than by a box containing one piece.
B. When asked by its trainer how old it is, a monkey holds up five fingers.
C. When one of its four kitten’s crawls away, a mother cat misses it and searches for the missing kitten.
D. A lion follows one antelope instead of a herd of antelopes because it is easier to hunt a single prey.

解析：

1.D 文章中介紹了某些動物很驚人的數字能力。但是無論怎樣，他們對數字的感覺也只是一種本能。

2.C 作者舉這個例子是為了證明他所提出的某些動物能夠認知某些東西的數量。

3.B 根據上下文以及我們的常識，觀察動物的習性是需要很長時間，而且應該是隱蔽的。

4.C It has also been noted by naturalist that a certain type of wasp always provides five-never four, never six-caterpillars for each of their eggs.

5.B When asked by its trainer how old it is, a monkey holds up five fingers.無論猴子的反應是什么樣子，都只是一種反復訓練之后的一種本能的反映。而不是真正的說出他的年齡.