托福tpo28听力lecture2 Mirror Self-Recognition

托福tpo28听力lecture2 Mirror Self-Recognition，那么接下来就跟着常春藤的小编详细了解一下吧。

Mirror Self-Recognition托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Mirror Self-Recognition托福听力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in an animal behavior class.FEMALE PROFESSOR:As you know,researchers have long been interested in discovering exactly how intelligent animals are.Today we are going to talk about a particular cognitive ability some animals seem to have—the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror.FEMALE STUDENT:Oh.I've heard about that.Chimpanzees have it...FEMALE PROFESSOR:Right.Chimpanzees and other primates,—chimps,gorillas,orangutans,..and of course,humans.But it's also been found in elephants and bottlenose dolphins,a bit of a surprise.It's very rare.Most animals don't have it.And it's called mirror self-recognition,or MSR.FEMALE STUDENT:Well,how does it work?I-I mean...how do researchers know if elephants or chimps recognize themselves?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Researchers give them a mirror mark test.In the mirror mark test,researchers put a mark on the animal where the animal is unable to see it or smell it or feel it,like on the side of their head,without looking in the mirror.

Now,typically,when animals first see themselves in the mirror,they think they are seeing another animal.Often they will look for this animal behind the mirror.They may even exhibit aggressive behavior.

But some animals,after this period of exploration,exhibit behaviors that show they know they are looking at themselves.For instance,elephants will touch the mark on their heads with their trunks.Now,it's been assumed that primates and some other mammals stood alone at the top of the hierarchy of cognitive evolution.But recently,birds have been found to possess some of the same cognitive abilities!In particular,researchers have discovered these abilities in corvids,birds of the corvidae family.Corvids include ravens,jays,crows and magpies among others.And what kinds of cognitive abilities are we talking about?Well,corvids and some mammals have the ability to plan for the future,to store food for instance,in places where they can find it later.It's been suggested in fact that jays—corvids known for stealing each other's food,may hide their food precisely because they are projecting their own tendency to steal onto other jays.So let's talk about a study recently conducted with magpies.As I said,magpies are corvids.And because corvids have these other cognitive skills,researchers wanted to see if they were also capable of mirror self-recognition.So they gave them the mirror mark test,placing yellow sticker on the birds...black throat feathers.

At first,the magpies all engage in the same social behaviors that other animals do—looking behind the mirror,etc.But eventually,some of the birds,while looking in the mirror,kept scratching at the mark until they got rid of it.And they didn't scratch at it when there was no mirror around.So they passed the test.MALE STUDENT:Wow!Do any other birds have this ability?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,not that we know of.There was a study using pigeons,where researchers attempted to reduce MSR to a matter of conditioning,that is,they claimed that the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror could be learned.So these researchers basically trained some pigeons to pass the mirror mark test.

But two things are noteworthy here.One,no one's ever replicated the study.But more importantly,it misses the point.The issue isn't whether some behavior can be learned.It's whether a species has developed this ability spontaneously.MALE STUDENT:So what does the test tell us about corvids or chimpanzees?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Good question.For one thing,it is important because it sets animals with a sense of self apart from those without a sense of self.But more importantly,many researchers believe that MSR is indicative of other advanced cognitive abilities.

Self-awareness,even in its earliest stages,might entail an awareness of others,the ability to see their perspective,to look at the world from another's point of view.This is crucial,because it implies a high level of cognitive development.It's perhaps the first stage toward the development of empathy.MALE STUDENT:But birds...brains are so small,compared to primates...FEMALE PROFESSOR:True.Though corvids do have unusually large brains for birds.But size isn't the whole story.It's thought that primates are so intelligent because of a certain part of their brains,which birds simply don't have.

But there is an area in birds'brains that researchers believe governs similar cognitive functions.So primates'and birds'brains have evolved along different tracks,but ended up with similar abilities.

二、Mirror Self-Recognition托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：在动物行为课上听讲座的一部分。女教授：如你所知，研究人员长期以来一直对发现动物到底有多聪明感兴趣。今天，我们将讨论一种特殊的认知能力，一些动物似乎具有在镜子中识别自己的能力。女学生：哦。我听说过。黑猩猩有…女教授：对。黑猩猩和其他灵长类动物——黑猩猩、大猩猩、猩猩……当然还有人类。但在大象和宽吻海豚身上也发现了这种病毒，这有点令人惊讶。这是非常罕见的。大多数动物都没有。它被称为镜像自我识别，或MSR。女学生：那么，它是如何工作的？我是说……研究人员如何知道大象或黑猩猩是否认出自己？女教授：研究人员给他们做了镜像标记测试。在镜子标记测试中，研究人员在动物无法看到、闻到或感觉到它的地方做了一个标记，就像在他们的头部侧面，而不看镜子。

现在，典型的情况是，当动物第一次在镜子里看到自己时，他们会认为自己看到的是另一种动物。他们经常会在镜子后面寻找这种动物。他们甚至可能表现出攻击性行为。

但一些动物在经过这段时间的探索后，表现出的行为表明它们知道自己在看着自己。例如，大象会用鼻子触摸头上的标记。现在，人们认为灵长类和其他一些哺乳动物在认知进化的层次结构中独占鳌头。但最近，人们发现鸟类具有一些相同的认知能力！特别是，研究人员发现了这种能力存在于乌鸦科鸟类乌鸦身上。尸体包括乌鸦、松鸦、乌鸦和喜鹊等。我们谈论的是什么样的认知能力？嗯，鸦科动物和一些哺乳动物有能力为未来做计划，比如把食物储存在以后可以找到的地方。事实上，有人认为，以偷窃对方食物而闻名的松鸦可能会隐藏自己的食物，因为它们正计划着自己偷窃其他松鸦的倾向。因此，让我们谈谈最近对喜鹊进行的一项研究。正如我所说，喜鹊是乌鸦。由于鸦科动物还有其他这些认知技能，研究人员想看看它们是否也有镜像自我识别的能力。所以他们给它们做了镜面标记测试，在鸟身上贴上黄色标签……黑色的喉咙羽毛。

起初，喜鹊的社交行为与其他动物在镜子后面等时的社交行为相同。但最终，一些鸟儿在镜子里看的时候，不停地抓着印记，直到把它去掉。当周围没有镜子的时候，他们不会抓它。所以他们通过了测试。男学生：哇！其他鸟类有这种能力吗？女教授：嗯，据我们所知不是。有一项使用鸽子的研究，研究人员试图将MSR降低为条件反射，也就是说，他们声称在镜子中识别自己的能力是可以学习的。因此，这些研究人员基本上训练了一些鸽子通过镜像标记测试。

但这里有两件事值得注意。第一，没有人重复过这项研究。但更重要的是，它没有抓住要点。问题不在于是否可以学会一些行为。这是一个物种是否自发地发展了这种能力。男学生：那么这个测试告诉我们关于乌鸦或黑猩猩的什么？女教授：好问题。首先，它很重要，因为它将有自我意识的动物与没有自我意识的区别开来。但更重要的是，许多研究人员认为MSR是其他高级认知能力的象征。

自我意识，即使在最早期阶段，也可能需要意识到他人，能够看到自己的观点，能够从他人的角度看待世界。这一点至关重要，因为它意味着高水平的认知发展。这可能是发展同理心的第一阶段。男学生：但鸟类……与灵长类动物相比，大脑太小了……女教授：是的。虽然鸦科动物的大脑确实非常大，适合鸟类。但规模并不是全部。人们认为灵长类之所以如此聪明，是因为它们大脑的某一部分，而鸟类根本没有。

但研究人员认为，鸟类大脑中有一个区域控制着类似的认知功能。因此，灵长类和鸟类的大脑沿着不同的轨迹进化，但最终具有相似的能力。

三、Mirror Self-Recognition托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the main purpose of the lecture?

A.To show that some birds have cognitive skills similar to those of primates

B.To explain how the brains of certain primates and birds involved

C.To compare different tests that measure the cognitive abilities of animals

D.To describe a study of the relationship between brain size and cognitive abilities

Q2:2.When giving magpies the mirror mark test,why did researchers place the mark on the magpies'throats?

A.Throat markings trigger aggressive behavior in other magpies.

B.Throat markings are extremely rare in magpies.

C.Magpies cannot see their own throats without looking in a mirror.

D.Magpies cannot easily remove a mark from their throats.

Q3:3.According to the professor,some corvids are known to hide their food.What possible reasons does she provide for this behavior?Click on two answers.

A.They are ensuring that they will have food to eat at a later point in time.

B.They want to keep their food in a single location that they can easily defend.

C.They have been conditioned to exhibit this type of behavior.

D.They may be projecting their own behavioral tendencies onto other corvids.

Q4:4.What is the professor's attitude toward the study on pigeons and mirror self-recognition?

A.She is surprised that the studies have not been replicated.

B.She believes the study's findings are not very meaningful.

C.She expects that further studies will show similar results.

D.She thinks that it confirms what is known about magpies and jays.

Q5:5.What does the professor imply about animals that exhibit mirror self-recognition?

A.They acquired this ability through recent evolutionary changes.

B.They are not necessarily more intelligent than other animals.

C.Their brains all have an identical structure that governs this ability.

D.They may be able to understand other animal's perspective.

Q6:6.According to the professor,what conclusion can be drawn from what is now known about corvids'brains?

A.The area in corvids’brains that governs cognitive functions governs other functions as well.

B.Corvids’brains have evolved in the same way as other birds’brains,only more rapidly.

C.Corvids’and primates’brains have evolved differently but have some similar cognitive abilities.

D.The cognitive abilities of different types of corvids vary greatly.

四、Mirror Self-Recognition托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：A

A2:正确答案：C

A3:正确答案：AD

A4:正确答案：B

A5:正确答案：D

A6:正确答案：6