雅思阅读分析：Elephant Communication

光华启迪英语组-薛老师

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题目部分
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1 O'Connell-Rodwell, a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University, has traveled to Namibia's first-ever wildlife reserve to explore the mystical and complicated realm of elephant communication. She, along with her colleagues, is part of a scientific revolution that started almost 20 years ago. This revolution has made a stunning revelation: elephants are capable of communicating with one another over long distances by means of low-frequency sounds, also known as infrasound, which are too deep for humans to hear.
2 As might be expected, African elephants' ability to detect seismic sound may have something to do with their ears. The hammer bone in an elephant's inner ear is proportionally huge for a mammal, but it is normal for an animal that uses vibrational signals. Thus, it may be a sign that elephants can use seismic sounds to communicate.
3 Other aspects of elephant anatomy also support this ability. First, their massive bodies, which enable them to give out low-frequency sounds almost as powerful as the sound a jet makes during take-off, serve as ideal frames for receiving ground vibrations and transmitting them to the inner ear. Second, the elephant's toe bones are set in a fatty pad, which might help focus vibrations from the ground into the bone. Finally, the elephant has an enormous brain that sits in the cranial cavity behind the eyes, in line with the auditory canal. The front of the skull is riddled with sinus cavities, which might function as resonating chambers for the vibrations.
4 It remains unclear how elephants detect such vibrations, but O'Connell-Rodwell suggests that the pachyderms are "listening" with their trunks and feet instead of (or in addition to) their ears. The elephant trunk may be the most versatile appendage in nature: it is used for drinking, bathing, smelling, feeding and scratching. Both trunk and feet contain two types of nerve endings that are sensitive to pressure—one detects infrasonic vibration and the other responds to vibrations of slightly higher frequencies. "Our work is really at the interface of geophysics, neurophysiology and ecology," she says. "We're raising questions that have never even been considered before."
5 Scientists have long known that seismic communication is widespread among small animals such as spiders, scorpions, insects and many vertebrates, including white-lipped frogs, blind mole-rats, kangaroo rats and golden moles. Nevertheless, O'Connell-Rodwell was the first to argue that a giant land animal is also sending and receiving seismic signals. "I used to lay a male planthopper on a stem and replay the calling sound of a female; the male would exhibit the same kind of behavior that happens in elephants: he would freeze, press down on his legs, move forward a little, then stay still again. I found it fascinating, and it made me think that perhaps auditory communication is not the only thing going on."
6 Scientists have confirmed that an elephant's capacity to communicate over long distances is essential for survival, especially in places like Etosha, where more than 2,400 savanna elephants range over an area larger than New Jersey. It is already difficult for an elephant to find a mate in such a vast wilderness, and elephant reproductive biology only complicates matters. Breeding herds also adopt low-frequency sounds to warn of predators. Even though adult elephants have no enemies other than human beings, calves are vulnerable and susceptible to attacks from lions and hyenas. At the sight of a predator, older herd members clump together to protect the young before running away.
7 We now know that elephants can respond to warning calls in the air, but can they detect signals transmitted solely through the ground? To investigate, the research team designed an experiment in 2002 that used electronic devices to send signals through the ground at Mushara. "The outcomes of our study revealed that elephants could indeed sense warning signals through the ground," O'Connell-Rodwell observes.
8 Last year, an experiment was set up to pursue the problem further. It used three different recordings: the 1994 warning call from Mushara, an anti-predator call recorded by scientist Joyce Poole in Kenya, and a male-up call tone. The data observed so far simply that the elephants responded exactly as expected. However, the fascinating finding is that the anti-predator call from Kenya—unfamiliar to them—caused them to gather, tense up and rumble aggressively as well; but they didn't always flee. "I didn't expect the results to be that clear-cut."

题目部分

Questions 28-31

Label the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.

Diagram of elephant anatomy

*Diagram labels (28-31) correspond to parts of the elephant's anatomy related to seismic communication.*

28 bones in inner ear
29 an extremely large
30 toe and fatty
31 big sized brain skull with many

Questions 32-38

Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 32-38 on your answer sheet.

How the elephants sense these sound vibrations is still unknown, but O'Connell-Rodwell, a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University, proposes that elephants are "listening" with their by two kinds of nerve endings that respond to vibrations with both frequency and slightly higher frequencies. O'Connell-Rodwell's work is at the combination of geophysics, neurophysiology and .

It was known that seismic communication existed extensively within small animals, but O'Connell-Rodwell was the first person to indicate that a large land animal would send and receive too. Also, she noticed the freezing behaviour by putting a male planthopper on a stem and playing back a female call, which might prove the existence of other communicative approaches besides .

Scientists have determined that an elephant's ability to communicate over long distances is essential, especially when elephant herds are finding a or are warning of predators. Finally, the results of our 2002 study showed us that elephants could detect warning calls through the .

Questions 39-40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 39-40 on your answer sheet.

39 According to the passage, it is determined that an elephant needs to communicate over long distances for its survival

when a threatening predator appears
when young elephants meet humans
when older members of the herd want to flee from the group
when a female elephant is in estrus

40 What is the author's attitude toward the experiment using three different recordings in the last paragraph?

The outcome is definitely out of the original expectation
The data cannot be very clearly obtained
The result can be somewhat undecided or inaccurate
The result can be unfamiliar to the public

答案及解析（含关键词与词汇转变）

图表标签题（28-31）

题号 答案 关键词定位与词汇转变解析
28 hammer bone

原文定位：第2段"The hammer bone in an elephant's inner ear is proportionally huge."

关键词：bones in inner ear（内耳骨骼）→ 原文"hammer bone in an elephant's inner ear"（大象内耳的锤骨）。

词汇转变：bones in inner ear/hammer bone（内耳骨骼/锤骨）为同义替换；原文直接使用专有名词"hammer bone"。
29 body

原文定位：第3段"Their massive bodies, which enable them to give out low-frequency sounds... serve as ideal frames for receiving ground vibrations."

关键词：an extremely large...（极其大的...）→ 原文"massive bodies"（庞大的身体）。

词汇转变：extremely large/massive（极其大的/庞大的）为同义替换；body/bodies（身体/身体）为单复数转换。
30 pad

原文定位：第3段"the elephant's toe bones are set in a fatty pad."

关键词：toe and fatty...（脚趾和脂肪...）→ 原文"toe bones are set in a fatty pad"（脚趾骨位于脂肪垫中）。

词汇转变：fatty pad/fatty pad（脂肪垫/脂肪垫）为原词复现；toe/toe bones（脚趾/脚趾骨）为上下义替换。
31 sinus cavities

原文定位：第3段"The front of the skull is riddled with sinus cavities, which might function as resonating chambers."

关键词：big sized brain skull with many...（大型脑颅骨有许多...）→ 原文"skull is riddled with sinus cavities"（颅骨布满鼻窦腔）。

词汇转变：many sinus cavities/riddled with sinus cavities（许多鼻窦腔/布满鼻窦腔）为同义替换；skull/skull（颅骨/颅骨）为原词复现。

摘要填空题（32-38）

题号 答案 关键词定位与词汇转变解析
32 trunks and feet

原文定位：第4段"O'Connell-Rodwell suggests that the pachyderms are 'listening' with their trunks and feet instead of (or in addition to) their ears."

关键词：listening with their...（用它们的...听）→ 原文"'listening' with their trunks and feet"（用它们的鼻子和脚"听"）。

词汇转变：listening with/are 'listening' with（用...听/用...听）为原词复现；trunks and feet/trunks and feet（鼻子和脚/鼻子和脚）为原词复现。
33 infrasonic

原文定位：第4段"one detects infrasonic vibration and the other responds to vibrations of slightly higher frequencies."

关键词：vibrations with both... frequency（...频率的振动）→ 原文"detects infrasonic vibration"（检测次声振动）。

词汇转变：frequency/infrasonic vibration（频率/次声振动）为上下义替换；both... and/slightly higher（两者都.../稍高的）为结构对应。
34 ecology

原文定位：第4段"Our work is really at the interface of geophysics, neurophysiology and ecology."

关键词：combination of geophysics, neurophysiology and...（地球物理学、神经生理学和...的结合）→ 原文"interface of geophysics, neurophysiology and ecology"（地球物理学、神经生理学和生态学的交叉领域）。

词汇转变：combination/interface（结合/交叉领域）为同义替换；ecology/ecology（生态学/生态学）为原词复现。
35 seismic signals

原文定位：第5段"O'Connell-Rodwell was the first to argue that a giant land animal is also sending and receiving seismic signals."

关键词：send and receive...（发送和接收...）→ 原文"sending and receiving seismic signals"（发送和接收地震信号）。

词汇转变：send and receive/sending and receiving（发送和接收/发送和接收）为动词形式转换；seismic signals/seismic signals（地震信号/地震信号）为原词复现。
36 auditory communication

原文定位：第5段"perhaps auditory communication is not the only thing going on."

关键词：other communicative approaches besides...（除...外的其他交流方式）→ 原文"auditory communication is not the only thing"（听觉交流不是唯一的方式）。

词汇转变：other communicative approaches/not the only thing（其他交流方式/不是唯一的方式）为同义替换；auditory communication/auditory communication（听觉交流/听觉交流）为原词复现。
37 mate

原文定位：第6段"It is already difficult for an elephant to find a mate in such a vast wilderness."

关键词：finding a...（寻找...）→ 原文"find a mate"（寻找配偶）。

词汇转变：finding/find（寻找/寻找）为动词形式转换；mate/mate（配偶/配偶）为原词复现。
38 ground

原文定位：第7段"the elephants could indeed sense warning signals through the ground."

关键词：detect warning calls through the...（通过...检测警告叫声）→ 原文"sense warning signals through the ground"（通过地面感知警告信号）。

词汇转变：detect/sense（检测/感知）为同义替换；warning calls/warning signals（警告叫声/警告信号）为同义替换；through the ground/through the ground（通过地面/通过地面）为原词复现。

选择题（39-40）

题号 答案 关键词定位与词汇转变解析
39 A

原文定位：第6段"Breeding herds also adopt low-frequency sounds to warn of predators."

关键词：communicate over long distances for its survival（为生存进行长距离交流）→ 原文"warn of predators"（警告捕食者）。

选项对应：A选项"when a threatening predator appears"（当有威胁性的捕食者出现时）与原文"warn of predators"直接对应。

词汇转变：threatening predator/predators（威胁性的捕食者/捕食者）为同义替换；communicate/warn（交流/警告）为功能对应。
40 A

原文定位：第8段"I didn't expect the results to be that clear-cut."

关键词：author's attitude toward the experiment（作者对实验的态度）→ 原文"didn't expect the results to be that clear-cut"（没想到结果如此明确）。

选项对应：A选项"The outcome is definitely out of the original expectation"（结果完全超出最初预期）与原文表述一致。

词汇转变：out of the original expectation/didn't expect（超出最初预期/没想到）为同义替换；result/outcome（结果/结果）为同义替换。