# Respecting otherness - 科目：雅思听力真题（Part 4） - 考频：中频 - 题目数：10 - 来源页：https://www.yaquan.site/paper/61b29042-ede9-4f5d-abce-c52dc8cdb6b9（在线机考练习与音频请访问该页面） - 数据更新：2026-10-29 ## 题目原文 00:00:00,680 Now listen carefully and answer questions thirty-one to forty. 00:00:08,440 Several times a year, newspaper readers all over the world can expect to read a story that goes roughly like this: Researchers have just discovered that monkeys or elephants or dolphins or raccoons in fact have the ability to count or add, subtract, create sentences, solve problems, make tools or whatever. 00:00:32,670 The most recent example of this phenomenon occurred a few weeks ago with a widely reported account of new research showing, or rather claiming to show, that monkeys can count. What happened was that some monkeys were carefully trained up to place groups of one to four items according to size. So they'd put the smallest group in one place, the next smallest group in another place, and so on to the group containing the highest number. They later showed, surprise, surprise, that without any further training, they could do exactly the same with bigger groups containing five to nine items. It hardly needs me to point out that an experiment like that might suggest the animals concerned can recognize size, but does not prove that they can count like humans do. Far from it. 00:01:29,660 Other experiments have involved training apes to push certain keys on a computer keyboard to write out sentences like, "Please give sweets." According to published data, ninety-six percent of the so-called sentences produced are for immediate rewards such as food, toys, or tickling. The problem, as I'm sure you are aware, is that simply labeling a button with a symbol and linking it closely to a reward does not add up to language production in any accepted sense. 00:02:08,380 Of course, it's only human for us to observe animal behavior and then to interpret it in terms of our own thoughts, our own mental processes and emotions. It's hard for us to grasp that there is a profound otherness about the minds of animals. Dogs, for example, live in a universe of odors, and pigeons navigate by the magnetic pull of the Earth. 00:02:35,160 We human beings, by contrast, are visual animals, and it's because of this that we rate other animals with good eyesight as being intelligent. 00:02:46,120 To give you an example, rats always used to be considered to be less clever than monkeys. Why? Simply because they did less well than monkeys on tests where they had to distinguish visual symbols from each other. However, when the rats were given a second try, this time with the task of distinguishing and remembering different smells, they passed the tests with flying colors. 00:03:16,760 Since the nineteen sixties, a new model for animal understanding has become popular. This model, sometimes called the cognitive or informational model, in my opinion, provides us with the key. Instead of going for similarity or difference alone, it takes a more balanced approach and focuses attention on what makes animals both very similar to us and at the same time wholly different. This model accepts that animals think. Like us, they take information from their environment, process it, and produce decisions. The amazing thing, however, is that they do this without using language, at least as we understand the term. 00:04:04,720 Horses, for instance, can find their way home by recognizing landmarks along a familiar trail. They're not using language for that. Some birds can categorize pictures of different species of moths, which look pretty well the same to the human eye. Sheep can recognize large numbers of people by their faces. Yet most of us would have the greatest difficulty telling one sheep from another, wouldn't we? Herbert Terrace, a scientist involved in experiments on animal intelligence, makes the important point that studying how animals perform these tasks is a much more relevant and interesting research activity. 00:04:46,480 Of course, the model accepts that there is some degree of continuity between animal and human thought. Human beings, for instance, can accurately kick a football while running towards someone else who is also running. It's clear that animals can perform similar feats of coordination. You only have to think of the coordination necessary for a bird to catch an insect in midair. 00:05:10,540 Nevertheless, our human language exists on a different conceptual plane. It makes possible what philosophers call meta-representation. In other words, thoughts about thoughts, ideas about ideas. It is what, for example, makes it possible for us humans to think about whether we want to go to the movies this afternoon or read a history book. Animals, believe me, cannot think in this way. Nevertheless, there are researchers who argue that we shouldn't deny that animals can use language in more or less the same way as human beings because this reduces animals to the status of machines or robots. In my opinion, this is misguided. Instead, we should realize that the key to appreciating animals for what they are is to study them in their own terms. In other words, to study what they do well. 00:06:08,120 Human language is also intimately tied to- 00:06:14,600 That is the end of section four. You now have half a minute to check your answers. ## 题目与答案 ### 31. 31 For the speaker, reports of animals performing human's mental tasks are 31 For the speaker, reports of animals performing human's mental tasks are - exciting - unconvincing - surprising **答案**：unconvincing 原文定位：It hardly needs me to point out that an experiment like that might suggest the animals concerned can recognize size, but does not prove that they can count like humans do. Far from it ### 32. 32 Experiments in which apes made requests were questionable, because the apes were 32 Experiments in which apes made requests were questionable, because the apes were - usually very hungry - helped by computers - not really producing language **答案**：not really producing language 原文定位：The problem, as I'm sure you are aware, is that simply labeling a button with a symbol and linking it closely to a reward does not add up to language production in any accepted sense 同义替换：「questionable」↔「problem」；「not really producing language」↔「does not add up to language production」 ### 33. 33 We tend to equate intelligence with good eyesight because 33 We tend to equate intelligence with good eyesight because - experiments have linked them - sight is so important to us - eyesight is easily tested **答案**：sight is so important to us 原文定位：We human beings, by contrast, are visual animals, and it's because of this that we rate other animals with good eyesight as being intelligent 同义替换：「equate intelligence with good eyesight」↔「rate animals with good eyesight as intelligent」；「sight is so important to us」↔「We human beings, by contrast, are visual animals」 ### 34. 34 In experiments, rats did well on tests of 34 In experiments, rats did well on tests of - smell - colour - sight **答案**：smell 原文定位：However, when the rats were given a second try, this time with the task of distinguishing and remembering different smells, they passed the tests with flying colors 同义替换：「did well」↔「passed the tests with flying colors」；「tests of smell」↔「task of distinguishing and remembering different smells」 ### 35. Horses can use 35_____ to find their way home. Horses can use 35_____ to find their way home. **答案**：landmarks 原文定位：Horses, for instance, can find their way home by recognizing landmarks along a familiar trail 同义替换：「to find」↔「by recognizing」 ### 36. Sheep can recognise the faces of 36_____ . Sheep can recognise the faces of 36_____ . **答案**：people 原文定位：Sheep can recognize large numbers of people by their faces ### 37. One skill which humans share with some birds is good 37_____ . One skill which humans share with some birds is good 37_____ . **答案**：coordination 原文定位：It's clear that animals can perform similar feats of coordination. You only have to think of the coordination necessary for a bird to catch an insect in midair 同义替换：「skill」↔「feats」 ### 38. Animals don't have thoughts about 38_____ . Animals don't have thoughts about 38_____ . **答案**：thoughts 原文定位：It makes possible what philosophers call meta-representation. In other words, thoughts about thoughts, ideas about ideas;Animals, believe me, cannot think in this way 同义替换：「don't have」↔「cannot think in this way」 ### 39. Some people claim that denying animals use of language is to regard them as 39_____ or robots . Some people claim that denying animals use of language is to regard them as 39_____ or robots . **答案**：machines 原文定位：Nevertheless, there are researchers who argue that we shouldn't deny that animals can use language in more or less the same way as human beings because this reduces animals to the status of machines or robots 同义替换：「regard them as」↔「reduces animals to the status of」 ### 40. If we truly wish to understand animals, we should study what 40_____ . If we truly wish to understand animals, we should study what 40_____ . **答案**：they do well 原文定位：Instead, we should realize that the key to appreciating animals for what they are is to study them in their own terms. In other words, to study what they do well 同义替换：「wish to understand animals」↔「appreciating animals for what they are」 --- 以上内容由鸭圈雅思真题库（www.yaquan.site）提供，收录近期雅思考试真题回忆，支持在线机考模式免费练习。