B
Very mobile ears help many animals direct their attention to the rustle of a possible attacker. Researchers say these mobile ears have become a useful communication tool. Their studies of animal behaviour build up a picture of how communication and social skills developed.
“We're interested in how they communicate,” said lead researcher Jennifer Wathan.“And being sensitive to what another individual is thinking is a fundamental skill from which other more complex skills develop.”
Ms Wathan and her colleague Prof Karen McComb set up a behavioural experiment where 72 individual horses had to use visual cues from another horse in order to choose where to feed. They led each horse to a point where it had to select one of two buckets. On a wall behind this decision-making spot was a life-sized photograph of a horse's head facing either to left or right. In some of the trials, the horses’ ears or eyes were covered.
If the ears and eyes of the horse in the picture were visible, the horses being tested would choose the bucket towards which its gaze - and its ears - were directed. If the horse in the picture had either its eyes or its ears covered, the horse being tested would just choose a feed bucket at random.
Like many mammals that are hunted by predators（捕食者）, horses can rotate（旋转）their ears through almost 180 degrees - but Ms Wathan said that in our "human-centric" view of the world, we had overlooked the importance of these very mobile ears in animal communication.
"It seems there's something in the visual cues - from both the eyes and the ears - that are really important," she told BBC News. "Horses have quite rich social lives and relationships with other horses, so they're a good species to look at this in." And the more we look at communication across different species, the more we can consider what might have promoted the evolution of sophisticated communication and social skills."
4. Why does a horse rotate its ears?
5. Why did the researchers use the life-sized photograph of a horse in the experiment?
6. Why are ears and eyes important to horses?
7. What can be the best title of the passage?
本题考查动物用耳朵交流的话题，推断判断题。根据第一段的首句Very mobile ears help many animals direct their attention to the rustle of a possible attacker.可知，马儿转动耳朵的目的是警告其它马儿，有狩猎者正在靠近。所以选择C选项是正确的。
推断判断题。根据第一段的首句Very mobile ears help many animals direct their attention to the rustle of a possible attacker.可知，马儿转动耳朵的目的是警告其它马儿，有狩猎者正在靠近。所以选择C选项是正确的。
不能正确理解地五段的段落大意，推断失误。
本题考查动物用耳朵交流的话题，推断判断题。根据第三段“They led each horse to a point where it had to select one of two buckets. On a wall behind this decision-making spot was a life-sized photograph of a horse's head facing either to left or right. ”可知，利用马的图片是为实验提供有关马儿的相关线索的。所以选择D选项是正确的。
推断判断题。根据第三段“They led each horse to a point where it had to select one of two buckets. On a wall behind this decision-making spot was a life-sized photograph of a horse's head facing either to left or right. ”可知，利用马的图片是为实验提供有关马儿的相关线索的。所以选择D选项是正确的。
不能正确理解地三段的倒数第二句的含义，推断失误。
本题考查动物用耳朵和眼睛交流的话题，事实细节题。根据第六段"It seems there's something in the visual cues - from both the eyes and the ears - that are really important," she told BBC News. "Horses have quite rich social lives and relationships with other horses,”马是一种善于交际的动物，马的耳朵和眼睛是一种重要的交际方式。可知C选项：用耳朵和眼睛可以和其它马儿交流是正确的，所以选项C是正确的。
事实细节题。根据第六段"It seems there's something in the visual cues - from both the eyes and the ears - that are really important," she told BBC News. "Horses have quite rich social lives and relationships with other horses,”马是一种善于交际的动物，马的耳朵和眼睛是一种重要的交际方式。可知C选项：用耳朵和眼睛可以和其它马儿交流是正确的，所以选项C是正确的。
把握不住细节，对耳朵和眼睛对马儿的重要性掌握不到位。
本题考查动物用耳朵交流的话题，推断判断题。根据第一段首句“Very mobile ears help many animals direct their attention to the rustle of a possible attacker. ”结合全文可知本文介绍的是马耳朵是马儿的一种交流工具的研究结果，所以选择A选项是正确的。
推断判断题。根据第一段首句“Very mobile ears help many animals direct their attention to the rustle of a possible attacker. ”结合全文可知本文介绍的是马耳朵是马儿的一种交流工具的研究结果，所以选择A选项是正确的。
不能正确根据全文推断文章标题，推断失误。