Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
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 Selboure” (1786), the naturalist Gilbert White tells how he surreptitiously removed one egg a day from a 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 nests if more than one egg has been removed. It has also been noted by naturalists 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 humans 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 problems by stomping their hooves the proper number of times.
Animals respond to quantities only when they are connected to survival as a species - as in the case of the eggs - or survival as individuals - as in the case of food. There is no 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 - not 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. Animals’ admittedly remarkable achievements simply do not amount to evidence of counting, nor do they reveal more than innate instincts, refined by the genes of successive generations, or the results of clever, careful conditioning by trainers.
According to information in the passage, which of the following is LEAST likely to occur as a result of animals’ intuitive awareness of quantities?
A. When asked by its trainer how old it is, a money holds up five fingers.
B. A lion follows one antelope instead of the heard of antelopes because it is easier to hunt a single prey.
C. When one of its four kittens crawls away, a mother cat misses it and searches for the kitten.
D. A pigeon is more attracted by a box containing two pieces of food than by a box containing one piece.
Đáp án D.
Key words: least, result, animals’ intuitive awareness of quantities
Clue: Research has also known that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd and even numbers of food pieces: Nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng cả chuột và bồ câu đều có thể được dạy phân biệt giữa các số lượng chẵn và lẻ của các miếng thức ăn.
A. When asked by its trainer how old it is, a money holds up five fingers: Một con khỉ giơ năm ngón tay lên khi được hỏi nó bao nhiêu tuổi.
B. A lion follows one antelope instead of the herd of antelopes because it is easier to hunt a single prey: Một con sư tử sẽ chỉ đi theo 1 con linh dương thay vì đi theo một đàn linh dương bởi vì sẽ dễ dàng săn được con mồi khi nó đi một mình.
C. When one of its four kittens crawls away, a mother cat misses it and searches for the kitten: Khi một con mèo trong đàn mèo bốn con đi mất, mèo mẹ sẽ nhớ nó và tìm kiếm con của mình.
D. A pigeon is more attracted by a box containing two pieces of food than by a box containing one piece: Một con chim bồ câu bị thu hút bởi một cái hộp chứa hai miếng thức ăn hơn là một cái hộp chứa một miếng.
Ta thấy bồ câu có thể được dạy để phân biệt số lượng chẵn lẽ của các miếng thức ăn, có thể không phải là trực giác sẵn có của chúng do đó đáp án chính xác là đáp án D.