首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Fighting in Nature In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly d
Fighting in Nature In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly d
admin
2012-01-14
20
问题
Fighting in Nature
In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly developed. Almost every animal capable of self-defense from the smallest upwards fights furiously when it is cornered and has no means of escape. However, in another respect the fight between hunter and hunted is not a fight in the real sense of the word: the stroke of the paw with which a lion kills his prey may resemble the movements that he makes when he strikes his rival, but the inner motives of the hunter are basically different from those of the fighter.
The buffalo which the lion fells provokes his aggression as little as the appetizing turkey which I have just seen hanging in the larder provokes mine.
The difference in these inner drives can clearly be seen in the expression movements of the animal: a dog about to catch a hunted rabbit has the same kind of excited happy expression as he has when he greets his master or awaits some longed-for treat. Growling, laying the ears back, and other well-known expression movements of fighting behavior occur when predatory animals are afraid of a wildly resisting prey, and even then the expressions are only suggested. The opposite process, the counter-offensive, of the prey against the predator, is more nearly related to
genuine
aggression. Social animals in particular take every possible chance to attack the eating enemy that threatens their safety. This process is called "mobbing". The survival value of this attack on the hunter is self-evident. Even if the attacker is small and defenseless, he may do his enemy considerable harm. For example, if a sparrow hawk is pursued by a flock of warning wagtails, his hunting is spoiled for the time being. And many birds will mob an owl if they find one in the day-time, and drive it so far away that it will hunt somewhere else the next night.
In some social animals such as jackdaws and many kinds of geese, the function of mobbing is particularly interesting. In jackdaws, its most important survival value is to teach the young inexperienced birds what a dangerous eating-enemy looks like, which they do not know
instinctively
. For just such educational reasons, geese and ducks may gather together in intense excitement to learn that a fox—anything furry, red-brown, long-shaped and slinking—is extremely dangerous. Besides this didactic function, mobbing of predators by jackdaws and geese still has the basic, original one of making the enemy’s life a burden. Jackdaws actively attack their enemy, and geese apparently intimidate it with their cries, their thronging and their fearless advance. The great Canada Geese will even follow a fox overland in a close phalanx, and I have never known a fox in this situation try to catch one of his tormentors. With ears laid back and a disgusted expression on his face, he glances back over his shoulder at the trumpeting flock and trots slowly—so as not to lose face—away from them. Among the larger, more defense-minded grazing animals which en masse are a match for even the biggest predators, mobbing is particularly effective;
(A) [■] According to reliable reports, zebras will molest even a leopard if they catch him on plain where cover is sparse.
(B) [■] Once, when I was out with my dog, I was obliged to jump into a lake and swim for safety when a herd of young cattle half encircled us and advanced threateningly;
(C) [■] And when he was in Southern Hungary during the First World War, my brother spent a pleasant afternoon up a tree with his Scotch terrier under his arm, because a herd of half-wild Hungarian swine, disturbed while grazing in the wood, encircled him.
(D) [■] Fortunately, the swine dispersed after they confirmed that my brother and his dog were not offensive.
The word predatory in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.
选项
A、herbivorous
B、insectivorous
C、flesh-eating
D、ferocious
答案
C
解析
本题是词汇题,考查考生根据上下文对单词predatory的理解。根据原文,可以判断predatory的意思是“食肉的,捕食其他动物为生的”,而herbivorous的意思是“食草的”,insectivorous的意思是“食虫的”,ferocious的意思是“残忍的,凶残的”。因此,只有选项C 的意思最贴切。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/gLyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Lookatthefollowingstatements(Questions8-11)andthelistofpeoplebelow.Matcheachstatementwiththecorrectperson,A,B
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes33-40
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes33-40
Completethesummarybelowusingwordsfromthebox.Writeyouranswersinboxes9-13onyouranswersheet.WhiletheNutcracker
HistoryofRefrigerationRefrigerationisaprocessofremovingheat,whichmeanscoolinganareaorasubstancebelowthee
Completethechartbelow.Matchtheadvantagesofjoiningalearningcircle(I-VI)totheperson.NOTE:therearemorea
Completethechartbelow.Matchtheadvantagesofjoiningalearningcircle(I-VI)totheperson.NOTE:therearemorea
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.LaughterThenatureofla
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.MuseumofAnthropologyThemuseumisnotopenon______inwinter.
Whyisthemanunfamiliarwiththebookstore’spolicy?
随机试题
在Excel中,若要快速选择正在处理的整个工作表内容,先将鼠标指针移动到表格中有效内容的任意位置,按下()
产后身痛血虚证的用方是产后身痛肾虚证的用方是
正常人动脉血氧饱和度(SaO2)的参考值为
某仓库房地产,建筑面积为800m2,容积率为0.8,对应的土地单价为850元/m2,现拟变更为商业用地,容积率为2.0,并已取得规划、国土等管理部门的许可。假定改为商业用地后楼面地价为2000元/m2,则理论上应补地价的数额为()万元。
三相五线供电机制下,单相负载A的外壳引出线应()。
企业所得税的税率为()。
影响创新成功的过程因素有()。
根据所给资料,回答问题。2010年,全省规模以上工业企业实现利润总额1231.33亿元,比上年增长55.6%,增幅同比提高20.0个百分点。从经济类型看,国有企业增长最快,2010年实现利润48.20亿元,比上年增长4.59倍:总量较大的外商及港
在对一组记录(50,40,95,20,15,70,60,45,80)进行希尔排序时,假定d0=9,d1=4,d2=2,d3=1,则第二趟排序结束后前4条记录为()。
给定关系模式R(U,F),U={A,B,C,D},F={A→C,A→D,C→B,B→D},F中的冗余函数依赖为(18)。
最新回复
(
0
)