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  3. The field of animal emotions, an area of focus in the scientific discipline concerned with the study of animal minds called cogn

The field of animal emotions, an area of focus in the scientific discipline concerned with the study of animal minds called cogn

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问题     The field of animal emotions, an area of focus in the scientific discipline concerned with the study of animal minds called cognitive ethology, has changed a great deal in the last 30 years. When 1 first began my studies centering on the question, "What does it feel like to be a dog or a wolf?" researchers were almost all skeptics who spent their time wondering if dogs, cats, chimpanzees and other animals felt anything. Since feelings don’t fit under a microscope, these scientists usually didn’t find any and as I like to say, I’m glad 1 wasn’t their dog! But today the question of real importance is not whether animals have emotions, hut why animal emotions have evolved the way they have. In fact, the paradigm has shifted to such an extent that the burden of "proof" now falls to those who still argue that animals don’t experience emotions. My colleagues and I no longer have to put tentative quotes around such words as "happy" or "sad" when we write about an animal’s inner life.
    Many researchers also recognize that we must be anthropomorphic(attribute human trails to animals)when we discuss animal emotions hut that if we do it carefully and biocentrically(from the animals’ point of view), we can still give due consideration to the animals’ position. ’ As Professor Robert Sapolsky, a world renowned ethologist and neuroscientist and author of A Primate’s Memoirs notes about his anthropomorphic tendencies when he describes baboon behavior: "One hopes that the parts that are blatantly ridiculous will be perceived as such. I’ve nonetheless been stunned by some of my more humorless colleagues—to see that they were not capable of recognizing that. The broader answer, though, is I’m not anthropomorphizing. Part of the challenge in understanding the behavior of a species is that they look like us for a reason. That’ s not projecting human value’s. That ’ s primatizing the generalities that we share with them. " No matter what we call it, researchers agree that animals and humans share many traits, including emotions. Thus, we’re not inserting something human into animals, but we’re identifying commonalities and then using human language to communicate what we observe. Being anthropomorphic is doing what’s natural and necessary to understand animal emotions.
    Over the years, I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon that I call anthropomorphic double-talk. If someone says that an animal is happy, no one questions it, but if someone says that an animal is unhappy, then charges of anthropomorphism are immediately raised and sceptics ask, "How do you know this?" This is especially true of people who try to justify keeping animals in zoos or using them for invasive research. Of course, seeing positive emotions is as anthropomorphic as seeing negative emotions, but some people just don’t get it.
The author feels less unrestrained when talking about animal emotions because ______.
选项 A、most animals have emotions as strong as human beings do
B、most colleagues are on his side when talking about animals
C、animals usually have mixed, and even conflicting emotions
D、the view of animal emotions has become much more popular
答案D
解析 根据第一段最后三句“But today the question…is not whether animals have emotions，but…I no longer have to put tentative quotes around such words as‘happy’or‘sad’when we writeabout an animal’s inner Iife”，D应为答案。
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