2015年7月11日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：How Birds Acquire Their Songs

2015年7月11日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：How Birds Acquire Their Songs 

1. Most songbirds hatch in the spring and then merely listen to the songs of adult male birds until sometime in late summer or autumn, when the adults stop singing, not to resume until the end of winter the following year. It is usually male birds that are doing the singing in northern latitudes, though female singing is common in the tropics. Many young songbirds do no singing of their own until nearly a year after their birth. With the coming of their second spring, their testosterone levels rise and this in turn prompts them to begin singing, with their song development following a predictable pattern over a period of weeks. At first, their songs may be a quiet, jumbled series of chirps and whistles. Over time, young birds begin to use the syllables of their species' songs, though the order in which these syllables appear will vary. Finally, their songs crystallize (take form) into the clear, orderly song of their species.

2. There is a songbird, called the white-crowned sparrow, whose song development follows this general script while providing some variations that are instructive about the interplay of internal influences and learning in birdsong. White-crowned sparrows raised in captivity will follow the pattern of song acquisition just described: they listen to songs in their first spring and summer but do not themselves begin singing until they are perhaps six months old. In nature, however, things are different. For example, the white-crown found year-round in the San Francisco area sings a particular regional variant or dialect of the basic white-crown song and begins singing within six weeks or so of birth and may progress to fully crystallized song as early as three months after birth, meaning about September.

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托福阅读真题题目：

1..The word prompts in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. stimulates

B. strengthens

C. prepares

D. forces

2..According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true of male songbirds in the first year of life

A. They do not begin singing until sometime in late summer or autumn.

B. They begin singing earlier in the tropics than in northern latitudes.

C. They listen to songs of adults for an extended period of time before they themselves sing.

D. Their earliest songs contain the characteristic order of syllables for their species.

3..The word particular in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. popular

B. specific

C. well-known

D. complex

4..According to paragraphs 2 and 3, all of the following are true about San Francisco white-crowns EXCEPT:

A. They do not migrate to another area in spring to establish territories.

B. They completely acquire their song as early as three months after birth.

C. They establish territories in their first autumn.

D. They begin singing much earlier in captivity than they do in nature.

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