鸟儿能读懂人类的眼神

张明波

研究發现寒鸦能根据人的瞳孔颜色发现信息，从而找到食物。它们的脑容量很大，非常聪明，是鸟类中最聪明的一种。

1. jackdaw n. 寒鸦

2. pupil n. 瞳孔

3. irise n. 虹膜

4. predator n. 捕食性动物

5. goshawk n. 苍鹰

6. sophistication n. 复杂巧妙;高水平

1. How do other birds understand humans except jackdaws？

2. List the phrases ending with the preposition “to”.

Jackdaws possess human like eyes with dark pupils and light blue or silvery irises. And that may give the social birds an edge in understanding signals from friendly humans.

Hand raised birds in a study could find food in a “cooperative” situation when a familiar person s eyes looked back and forth from the food to the bird. They also responded when the person pointed to the food s location， but did not react when the person turned their head toward the food. That sensitiv ity to human eye signals contrasts with the lesser sensitivity of birds such as chickens. Many birds are sensitive to eye like patterns without showing much understanding of more subtle eye signals that communicate information.

However， the jackdaws took longer time to approach food when an unfamiliar person was watching， and in this case paid attention to where a person s head was turned. A similar delayed reaction occurred when the person kept an eye closed or was glancing away with one eye on the food， even when the researchers replaced the person with images of a person s face. The response to unfamiliar humans may reflect an evolved response to potential predators or other threats， when subtle eye signals are less important than head direction. Predator birds such as owls and goshawks tend to turn their entire head when looking—and besides， it s probably too late for any unlucky jackdaws close enough to see a predator s subtler eye movements.

Jackdaws may have evolved a response to more subtle eye signals not from threat of predation， according to the study， but instead from cooperation as social animals. The birds often form lifelong partnerships with mates， and their survival success depends on close communication. This fits with the theory that social sophistication may select for intelligence in evolution. Jackdaws are among the most intelligent birds along with parrots. If you compare them to apes， our closest relatives， they ve got exactly the same brain size relative to body size and weight. Even chimpanzees have shown themselves less responsive to eye signals， possibly because their darker eyes lack the contrast between white human eyeballs and darker pupils.

—From LiveScience

1. What contributes to the jackdaws  ability to read communicative signals？

A. Human friendliness from familiar people.

B. Their excellent social ability and big brain.

C. Their dark pupils and light blue or silvery irises.

D. The cooperative situation and close communication.

2. The example of potential predators mainly intends to show us .

A. subtle eye cues are less important than head direction for owls and goshawks

B. jackdaws evolved a response to subtle eye signals from cooperation as social animals

C. jackdaws can interpret human eye cues and even follow human gestures like pointing

D. jackdaws tend to turn their entire head when looking as well as owls and goshawks

3. The study compares jackdaws to apes and chimpanzees possibly to explain .

A. some crow cousins have demonstrated tool usage on par with that of apes

B. jackdaws have relatively big brain and they are the most intelligent birds

C. jackdaws have exactly the same brain size as the apes  and chimpanzees

D. the social sophistication which may select for intelligence in evolution

阅读研究报告时，要关注研究报告的结构。研究报告的结构是整个报告谋篇布局的整体设计，其主要组成部分是：研究发现—方法及步骤—呼吁。研究发现部分通常是研究所产生的新的结论，是读者关注的焦点;主体部分是研究的方法、研究的过程，或者是该研究具体数据的呈现和影响;呼吁部分通常是研究的结果所带来的相关影响或未来所应该采取的措施。撰写研究报告时，要根据实验的事实采用合理的结构去灵活多样地表述研究内容。

本文的篇章结构如下：

Ⅰ. 文本填空

1. And that may give the social birds________（优势） in understanding signals from friendly humans.

2. That sensitivity to human eye signals ________（与……形成对比） the lesser sensitivity of birds such as chickens.

3. Predator birds such as owls and goshawks________（往往） turn their entire head and besides， it s probably too late for any unlucky jackdaws close enough________（看见） a predator s subtler eye movements.

4. The birds often________（与……形成终生关系）  mates， and their survival success________（依賴）  close communication.

5. This________（与……一致） the theory that social sophistication may select for intelligence in evolution.

Ⅱ. 词汇总结

在英语中，很多短语都以to结尾，但是有的to是不定式符号，而有的to却是一个介词。本文就出现了以介词to结尾的短语。

Ⅲ. 写作推荐

It s probably too late for any unlucky jackdaws close enough to see a predator s subtler eye movements. 对于任何不幸的寒鸦来说，当靠捕食者过近，能看见其微妙的眼神变化时，就可能一切都太迟了。

在鸟类世界中，乌鸦、渡鸦、樫鸟，以及鸦科家族的其他成员，并不是“没有智力的笨鸟儿”，相反，它们一般被视为聪明的动物。而人类对于乌鸦“笨”的这种印象，似乎由来已久，甚至在《伊索寓言》里，也编织了一个“乌鸦喝水”的故事。 今天，科学家的研究证明，乌鸦比人类所想象的要聪明许多。一项新的研究证明，乌鸦的感知能力可与灵长类动物相媲美，与黑猩猩、大猩猩相比，它们的智力也毫不逊色。这份研究报告是由英国剑桥大学动物行为与实验心理学系的两位研究人员共同完成的，发表在《科学》杂志上。