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  3. COGNITIVE MAPS IN ANIMALS (1) A

COGNITIVE MAPS IN ANIMALS (1) A

游客2024-01-02  28
问题                                             COGNITIVE MAPS IN ANIMALS
    (1) A central hypothesis of animal cognition is that many animals make use of cognitive maps—internal representations or codes—of the spatial relationships among objects in their surroundings. In a broad sense, most animals that migrate probably have some internal map of the way external objects are arranged.
    (2) The most extensive studies of cognitive maps have been made for animals that exhibit seasonal migration, the regular back-and-forth movement of animals between two geographic areas at particular times of the year. [A] Seasonal migration enables many species to access rich food resources throughout the year and to breed or winter in areas that favor survival. [B] One long-distance traveler is the gray whale. [0] During summer, these giant aquatic mammals feast on small, bottom-dwelling invertebrates that abound in northern oceans. [D] In the fall, they leave their northern feeding grounds and begin a long trip south along the North American coastline. Arriving in warm, shallow lagoons off Baja California (Mexico) in the winter months, they breed, and pregnant females give birth to young before migrating back north. The yearly round-trip, some 20,000 kilometers, is the longest for any mammal.
    (3) Among insects, the monarch butterfly has one of the most remarkable seasonal migrations. During winter, these insects decorate certain trees at the western tip of Cuba, in a few mountain valleys of central Mexico, and at a few sites along the California coast. All monarchs alive at the end of summer fly south to reach their wintering sites. With the onset of spring, monarchs mate at the wintering sites and begin migrating northward. As they arrive at summer destinations, they lay eggs and then die. Two or more generations are produced during the summer, repopulating the United States and southern Canada. With the approach of fall, the summer’s last generation of monarchs flies south to the wintering grounds. They migrate as far as 4,000 kilometers and end up at a specific site, although they have not flown the route before.
    (4) Researchers have found that migrating animals stay on course by using a variety of environmental cues. Gray whales, for instance, seem to use coastal landmarks to pilot their way north and south. Migrating south in the fall, they orient themselves with the North American coastline on their left. Migrating north in the spring, they keep the coast on their right. Whale watchers sometimes see gray whales stick their heads straight up out of the water, perhaps to obtain a visual fix on land. Many birds migrate at night, navigating by the stars the way ancient human soldiers did. In contrast, monarch butterflies migrate during the day, resting in trees and bushes at night; genetic programming may enable them to use the Sun as a compass.
    (5) Navigating by the Sun or by stars requires an ability to keep track of compass direction. Many migrators also must have an internal timing mechanism that compensates for the continuous daily movement of Earth relative to celestial objects. The timing mechanism must also allow for the apparent change in position of celestial objects as the animal moves over its migration route. Almost nothing is known yet about the nature of these timing mechanisms. At least one night-migrating bird, the indigo bunting, seems to avoid the need for a timing mechanism by fixing on the North Star, the one bright star in northern skies that appears almost stationary. Researchers have found that buntings learn a star map and fix on a stationary star when navigating at night.
     (6) Another interesting, and more or less open, question about migration is how birds continue navigating when the Sun or stars are obscured by clouds. There is strong evidence that some birds can orient themselves to Earth’s magnetic field. Magnetite, the iron-containing mineral once used by sailors as a crude compass, is probably involved in sensing the field. The mineral has been found in the heads of pigeons, in the abdomens of bees, and in certain bacteria that orient themselves to a magnetic field. Future research may show that magnetic sensing is a widespread, important part of a complex navigation mechanism in many animals. [br] An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
Animals that migrate seasonally seem to have formed cognitive maps.
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Answer Choices
(A) Important aspects of animals’ use of cognitive maps are not understood since the operation of cognitive timing mechanisms remains a mystery.
(B) When navigating by the Sun and the stars, animals need to keep track of compass direction as well as adjust to other relative changes in Earth’s movement and changes in the position of objects in the sky.
(C) It has been suggested that under cloudy conditions, certain animals that navigate using the Sun and stars are able to sense Earth’s magnetic field.
(D) During seasonal migrations, animals use environmental signs, the Sun, and stars to navigate to wintering sites and back.
(E) Some animals migrate during the day while others migrate during the night, depending on their genetic programming.
(F) Future research is likely to show that magnetic sensing alone does not explain how birds navigate when objects in the sky are not visible.
选项
答案 B,C,D
解析 文章总结题。B项“当利用太阳和星辰来导航的时候，动物需要把握指南针的方向，并适应地球运动和天体位置的其他相对变化”是对第5段第1到3句的整合，也是讲述动物内部定时机制的主旨句。C项“有人认为，在多云的情况下，某些利用太阳或星辰来导航的动物能够感知地球磁场”是对第6段的概括整合。D项“在季节性迁徙期间，动物利用环境标志、太阳和星辰的导航到越冬地并从那返回”概括了第4段的信息，而第4段又是第2、3段的延伸和总结。由此可知，B、C、D三项涵盖了本文主体段落的信息要点：A项“因为不了解动物认知定时机制的运作，我们无法理解动物使用认知地图的重要方面”，虽然第5段第4句提及的“关于这些定时机制的本质．我们几乎一无所知”符合选项引导的从句的含义，但since前的内容在原文中并无出处；相反，文中已经介绍了一些动物认知地图的重要方面，如它们根据环境线索、太阳和星辰等来导航，故不选A项。E项“有些动物白天迁徙，其他动物晚上迁徙，这都取决于它们的遗传规划”，第4段最后一句只提到黑脉金斑蝶体内的遗传规划可使其能够用太阳来作为前行的指南针，文中未提及其他鸟类的体内遗传规划，故E项在文中无依据。F项“在未来，研究可能会证明，单凭磁感应是无法解释当天空中的物体不可见时，鸟类是如何导航的”不符合原文信息，第6段提到，有力证据表明，当太阳或星辰被云层遮蔽时，一些鸟类可以根据地球磁场定位。在未来，研究可能会证明，磁感应是许多动物复杂导航机制中普遍而重要的一部分，故也排除F项。
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