理工類考試：閱讀理解Young Female

　　Young Female Chimps Outlearn Their Brothers

　　問題1. Why do young female chimps learn faster than young male chimps at fishing for termites？

　　1.Young female chimps are faster and better learners than young male chimps， suggests a new study， echoing differences seen in human girls and boys.

　　2.While young male chimps pass their time playing， young female chimps carefully study their mothers. As a result， they learn how to fish for tasty termite(白蟻) snacks over two years before the boys.

　　A.Because young female chimps dont play with their bothers.

　　B.Because young female chimps begin to study their mothers earlier.

　　C.Because young male chimps never learn to fish for termites.

　　D.Because young male chimps are not interested in termites.

　　問題2.What are the tools with which chimps fish for termites？

　　3.Elizabeth Lonsdorf， now at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago， US， and colleagues at the University of Minnesota， Saint Paul， spent four years， watching how young chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park in Tanzania learned “cultural behavior”。

　　4.The sex differences in learning behavior were “consistent and strikingly apparent”， says the team. The researchers point out that similar differences are seen in human children with regard to skills such as writing. “A sex-based learning difference may therefore date back at least to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans，” they write in the journal Nature.

　　5.Chimps make flexible tools from vegetation and then insert them into termite mounds(土堆，土丘)， extract them and then munch(大口咀嚼)the termites clinging onto the tool. The researchers used video cameras to record this feeding behavior and found that each chimp mother had her own technique， such as how she used tools of different lengths.

　　A.Tree branches

　　B.Vegetables.

　　(Vegetations=plants)(此題課本中的答案出現錯誤，如果選項B正確，那么Vegetables 就應當改為Vegetations)

　　C.Fruits

　　D.Grass

　　問題3.Which of the following is true about chimps fishing for termites according to paragraph 6？

　　6.Analysis of the six infants whose ages were known showed that girl chimps were an average of 31 months old when they succeeded in fishing out their termites， where the boy chimps were aged 58 months on average. Females were also more skillful at getting out more termites with every dip and used techniques similar to their mothers while males did not.

　　A.Males often compete with females in fishing for termites.

　　B.Males could get out more termites with every dip.

　　C.Females could get out more termites with every dip.

　　D.Males are good at mastering techniques for fishing for termites.

　　問題4.How did the researchers explain the fact that boy chimps spent more time on playing？

　　7.Instead of studying their mothers， the boy chimps spent a significantly greater amount of time frolicking(嬉戲，嬉鬧)around the termite mound. Behaviors such as playing or swinging might help the male infants later in life when typically male activities like hunting or fighting for dominance become important， suggest the researchers.

　　A.They like hunting.

　　B.They enjoy fighting.

　　C.It helps them to stay fit. (保持健康)

　　D.It will make them good fighters and hunters in the future.

　　問題5.According to the last paragraph， which of the following is NOT true？

　　8.Lonsdorf adds that there are just two main sources of animal protein for chimps — the termites or colobus monkeys(疣猴)。 “Mature males often hunt monkeys up trees， but females are almost always either pregnant or burdened with a clinging infant. This makes hunting difficult，” she says. “Adult females spend more time fishing for termites than males.” So becoming proficient at(熟練地干…)termite fishing could mean adult females eat better， “They can watch their offspring at the same time. The young of both sexes seem to pursue activities related to their adult sex roles at a very young age.”

　　A.Adult chimps hunt monkeys while young chimps fish for termites.

　　B.The main source of animal protein for male chimps is colobus monkeys.

　　C.The main source of animal protein for male chimps is termites.

　　D.Female chimps fish for termites while watching their children.

　　本題印證了：一般說來，閱讀理解的出題順序和文章的敘述順序是一致的。例如，在上面的閱讀理解試題中，第一題答案出現在第2段，第二題的答案出現第5段，第三題的答案出現在第6段，第四題的答案出現在第7段，第五題的答案出現在第8段。