Boom boom!( I’m here, come to me!) Krak krak!( Watch out, a leopard Hok hok hok!

Boom boom!( I’mhere, come to me!)

Krak krak!( Watchout, a leopard (豹)！)

Hok hokhok!( Hey, crowned eagle!)

Very good— you’ve already mastered half the basic vocabulary of the Campbell’s monkey,which lives in the forests of the Tai National Park in Ivory Coast. The adultmales have six types of call, each with a specific meaning, but they can mixtwo or more calls together into a message with a different meaning.

Havingspent months recording the monkeys’ calls in response to both natural andartificial stimuli (刺激物), a groupled by Klaus Zuberbuhler of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland arguesthat the Campbell’s monkeys have a certain form of syntax(句法).

This islikely to be controversial because despite great effort to teach chimpanzees(大猩猩) language, they showed little or noability to combine the sounds they learned into a sentence with a largermeaning. Syntax, basic to the structure of language, uniquely belongs tohumans.

“Krak” isa call that warns of leopards in the neighborhood. The monkeys give it inresponse to real leopards and to leopard shouting broadcast by the researchers.The monkeys can vary the call by adding “-oo”: “Krak-oo” seems to be a generalword for hunter, but one given in a special context – when monkeys hear butdon’t see a hunter, or when they hear the alarm calls of another species.

The“boom-boom” call invites other monkeys to come toward the male making thesound. Two booms can be combined with a series of “krak-oos”, with a meaningentirely different to that of either of its single parts. “Boom boom krak-ookrak-oo krak-oo” is the monkey’s version of “Timber!” – it warns of fallingtrees.

IfZuberbuhler is correct, the Campbell’s monkeys can both vary the meaning ofspecific calls by adding something and combine calls to make a differentmeaning.

1.What isthe passage mainly about?

A. A groupof scientists.               B.Calls of Campbell’s monkeys.

C. Thelifestyle of monkeys.                D.The importance of language.

2.Accordingto the passage, chimpanzees       .

A. don’tcommunicate by sounds        

B. onlyunderstand simple sentences

C. fail tolearn language from humans

D. are notrelated to the Campbell’s monkeys

3.If theCampbell’s monkeys hear a lion’s shouting, they will call “   ”.

  A.Krak      B. Boom        C.Boom boom krak-oo krak-oo krak-oo     D. Krak-oo    

4.According to the passage, it seems that        .

A.Zuberbuhler has spent years in the forests

B. thewriter isn’t sure of  Zuberbuhler’s opinions

C. theCampbell’s monkeys are cleverer than other animals

D. theCampbell’s monkeys can express six meanings by calls

试题答案

【答案】

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】略