英语六级阅读8

　阅读 ８

简答题：

Passage 1:

I once knew a dog named Newton who had a unique sense of humour.
Whenever I tossed out a Frisbee (飞碟)for him to chase, he'd take off in hot
pursuit but then seem to lose track of it .Moving back and forth only a
yard or two from the toy ,Newton would look all around ,even up into the
trees. He seemed genuinely puzzled. Finally ,I'd give up and head into the
field to help him out. But no sooner would I get within 10ft.of him than
he would run invariably straight over to the Frisbee ,grab it and start
running like mad ,Looking over his shoulder with what looked suspiciously
like a grin.
Just about every pet owner has a story like this and is eager to share
it with anyone who
will listen. On very short notice, TIME reporters came up with 25 stories
about what each is convinced is the smartest pet in the world. Among them
:the cat who closes the door be hind him when he goes into the bathroom;
the cat who uses a toilet instead of a litter box …and flushes it
afterward; the dog who goes wild when he sees his owner putting on blue
jeans instead of a dress because jeans mean it is time to play; and the
cat who used to wait patiently at the bus stop every day for a little
girl, then walk her the six blocks home, and so on.
These behaviours are certainly clever, but what do they mean? Was Newton
really deceiving? Can a cat really desire privacy in the toilet? In short
, do household pets really have a mental and emotional life? Their owners
think so, but until recently, animal behaviour experts would have gone mad
on hearing such a question. The worst sin in their moral vocabulary was
anthropomorphism-(拟人化) projecting human traits onto animals. A dog or a
cat might behave as if it were angry, lonely ,sad ,happy or confused, but
that was only in the eye of the viewer. What was going on ,they insisted,
was that the dog or cat had been conditioned, through a perhaps
unintentional series of punishments and re-wards, to be have a certain
way. The behaviour was a mechanical result of the training.

These behaviors are certainly clever, but what do they mean? Was Newton
really deceiving? Can a cat really desire privacy in will listen. On very
short notice, TIME reporters came up with 25 stories about what
1. What did Newton seem puzzled about?
_____________________________________________________________________
2.Why does the author say Newton had unique sense of humour?
_____________________________________________________________________
3.What made it possible for the TIME reporters to come up with so many
interesting stories about pets?
________________________

________________________________________________
4.What belief about pet behaviour was unacceptable to experts of animal
behaviour?
________________________________________________________________________
5..What is the explanation of animal behaviour experts for the "clever"
behaviour of pets?
________________________________________________________________________
Passage 2

Many parents who welcome the idea of turning off the TV and spending
more time with the family are still worried that without TV they would
constantly be on call as entertainers for their children. They remember
thinking up all sorts of things to do when they were kids. But their own
kids seem different ,less resourceful, somehow. When there's nothing to
do, these parents observe regretfully, their kids seem unable to come up
with any thing to do besides turning on the TV.
One father, for example, says, "When I was a kid, we were always
thinking up things to do, projects and games. We certainly never
complained in an annoying way to our parents, 'I have nothing to do !'"He
compares this with his own children today :"They're simply lazy. If
someone doesn' t entertain them, they 'll happily sit there watching TV
all day."
There is one word for this father 's disappointment: unfair. It is as if
he were disappointed in them for not reading Greek though they have never
studied the language. He deplores(哀叹)his children 's lack of
inventiveness, as if the ability to play were something innate (天生的)that
his children are missing. In fact ,while the tendency to play is built
into the human species ,the actual ability to play-to imagine, to invent ,
to elaborate on reality in a playful way-and the ability to gain
fulfillment from it, these are skills that have to be learned and
developed.
Such disappointment, however, is not only unjust, It is also
destructive. Sensing their parents 'disappointment ,children come to
be-1ieve that they are, indeed, lacking something ,and that this makes
them less worthy of admiration and respect. Giving children the
opportunity to develop new resources, to enlarge their horizons and
discover the pleasures of doing things on their own is, on the other hand,
a way to help children develop a confident feeling about themselves as
capable and interesting people.
1.According to many parents, without TV, their children would like them to
___.
________________________________________________________________________
2. Many parents think that, instead of watching a lot of TV, their
children should
_______________________________________________________________________________
3. The father ofte

n blames his children for not being able to entertain
themselves. This is unfair because
they________________________________________________________________
4. When parents show constant disappointment in their children ,the
destructive effect is that the children will
_________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Developing children's self-confidence helps bring them up to be _______

答案：
Passage 1:
1. where the Frisbee was/the location of the Frisbee/where to find the
Frisbee
2. Newton seemed to deceive us/Newton seemed to be deceiving us/Newton
seemed to like to deceive people
3. That the owners want others to share their stories.
4. That animals have a mental and emotional life.
5. Training/It is a mechanical result of the training/unintentional series
of punishments and rewards
Passage 2:
1. be on call as entertainers/ be entertainers/entertain themselves/act as
entertainers playing with them
2. come up with some thing to do/think up things to do projects and games
3. have to learn these skills/should learn and develop the actual ability
to play/have to learn these skills which are not innate, 另外的说法have no
condition to develop their ability to play
4. lose self-confidence/believe that they lacking something/believe that
they are less worthy of
admiration and respect
5. capable and interesting people