托福阅读真题+题目+答案：Animal Behavior

托福阅读真题+题目+答案：Animal Behavior

By the early 1900s the field of animal behavior had split into two major branches. One branch, ethology, developed primarily in Europe. To ethologists, what is striking about animal behaviors in that they are fixed and seemingly unchangeable? For example, kittens and puppies play in characteristic but different ways. Present a kitten with a ball of yarn and invariably it draws back its head and bats the yarn with claws extended. Kittens are generally silent as they play, and their tails twitch. Puppies, by contrast, are most likely to pounce flat-footed on a ball of yarn. They bit and bark and their tails wag. Ethologists came to believe that ultimately even the most complex animal behaviors could be broken down into a series of unchangeable stimulus/response reactions. They became convinced that the details of these patterns were as distinctive of a particular group of animals as were anatomical characteristics. For well over half a century, their search for and description of innate patterns of animal behavior continued.

1. The word “ultimately ” in the passage is closest in the meaning to

A. noticeably

B. importantly

C. some of the time

D. in the end

2. According to paragraph 1, what do ethologists think is the most notable characteristic of animal behavior?

A. Animal responses in most situations are predictable and do not vary

B. In similar situations, different animal species often behave in similar ways.

C. Even in ordinary situations, animal behavior can be unusually complex.

D. Animal behavior may sometimes include stimulus/response reactions.

Meanwhile, mainly in North America, the study of animal behavior took a different tack, developing into comparative behavior. Of interest to comparative behaviorists was where a particular came from, that is, its evolutionary history, how the nervous system controlled it, and the extent to which it could be modified. In 1894, C. Lloyd Morgan, an early comparative behaviorist, insisted that animal behavior be explained as simply as possible without reference to emotions or motivations since these could not be observed or measured. In Morgan’s research, animals were put in simple situations, presented with an easily described stimulus, and their resultant behavior described.

3. According to paragraph 2, C. Lloyd Morgan agreed with which of the following statements about animal behavior?

A. Only those elements of animal behavior that could be observed and measured should be used to explain it.

B. Any study of animal behavior should include an explanation of emotions and motivations.

C. Emotions and motivations can be measured indirectly using simple experimental situations.

D. Experimental situations are less than ideal if researchers want to develop a comprehensive explanation of animal behavior.

4. According to paragraph 2, comparative behaviorists were interested in finding answers to all of the following questions EXCEPT

A. How has animal behavior changed over time?

B. How can emotions causing a specific behavior in one animal species help explain behavior in other animal species?

C. To what degree can animal behavior be changed?

D. How does the nervous system regulate animal behavior?

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