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Word Count 213
After so many studies have been carried out, the interest in knowing more about what's
going on in our brains never dies down, What interests scientists more is the animals' brains.
Take birds' brains for example. Birds are in fact smarter than we thought. A story goes
like this: A smart crow collects rocks and throws them into the bottle, and in the end he gets the
water. Now, it is not just a story. Studies show that crows are great toolmakers and they are
able to choose the tool that is of best use. As for parrots
, the idea that they just pick up the sound
without understanding the meaning is not true. Their language ability is surprising. Here comes
a famous example. Alex was the gray parrot, whose owner was a scientist at Harvard University.
He was trained to understand over 100 English words, with which he was able to make simple
sentences. On the night he died, the last words he gave to his owner were "YOU BE GOOD SEE
YOU TOMORROW I LOVE YOU.”
No birds or other animals are going to take man's place as the smartest being on the planet.
However, we might not be 100% correct in the understanding of brains - The bigger, the smarter.
brain 6 scientist ** crow parrot , ability
) 38 Which is NOT said about crows in the reading?
(A) They know where to find the most food.
B. They are great at making tools.
10) They can use tools to get water.
D. They are able to tell which tool is the most useful.
39. What do we know about Alex the gray parrot from the reading?
(A) He lives at Harvard University with his owner.
(B) He knew more English words than his owner.
(C) He was able to show his feelings to his owner by words.
(D) He could make more than 100 simple sentences.
40. What can we learn from the reading?
YA) Having answered all the questions about man's brain, scientists have more interest in
other animals'.
YB It was commonly believed that animals with larger brains were smarter than those
with smaller ones.
© With long-time training, birds may become smarter than all the other animals except
Ba
man.
(D) Knowledge about how smart birds can be may make more people want to keep one
as a pet.
