TPO11托福阅读Passage2Orientation and Navigation文本+题目原文+答案解析

Orientation and Navigation

To South Americans, robins are birds that fly north every spring. To North Americans, the robins simply vacation in the south each winter. Furthermore, they fly to very specific places in South America and will often come back to the same trees in North American yards the following spring. The question is not why they would leave the cold of winter so much as how they find their way around. The question perplexed people for years, until, in the 1950s, a German scientist named Gustave Kramer provided some answers and. in the process, raised new questions.

Kramer initiated important new kinds of research regarding how animals orient and navigate. Orientation is simply facing in the right direction; navigation involves finding ones way from point A to point B.

Early in his research, Kramer found that caged migratory birds became very restless at about the time they would normally have begun migration in the wild. Furthermore, he noticed that as they fluttered around in the cage, they often launched themselves in the direction of their normal migratory route. He then set up experiments with caged starlings and found that their orientation was. in fact, in the proper migratory direction except when the sky was overcast, at which times there was no clear direction to their restless movements. Kramer surmised, therefore, that they were orienting according to the position of the Sun. To test this idea, he blocked their view of the Sun and used mirrors to change its apparent position. He found that under these circumstances, the birds oriented with respect to the new "Sun." They seemed to be using the Sun as a compass to determine direction. At the time, this idea seemed preposterous How could a bird navigate by the Sun when some of us lose our way with road maps? Obviously, more testing was in order.

So, in another set of experiments, Kramer put identical food boxes around the cage, with food in only one of the boxes. The boxes were stationary, and the one containing food was always at the same point of the compass. However, its position with respect to the surroundings could be changed by revolving either the inner cage containing the birds or the outer walls, which served as the background. As long as the birds could see the Sun, no matter how their surroundings were altered, they went directly to the correct food box. Whether the box appeared in front of the right wall or the left wall, they showed no signs of confusion. On overcast days, however, the birds were disoriented and had trouble locating their food box.

In experimenting with artificial suns, Kramer made another interesting discovery. If the artificial Sun remained stationary, the birds would shift their direction with respect to it at a rate of about 15 degrees per hour, the Sun's rate of movement across the sky. Apparently, the birds were assuming that the "Sun" they saw was moving at that rate. When the real Sun was visible, however, the birds maintained a constant direction as it moved across the sky. In other words, they were able to compensate for the Sun's movement. This meant that some sort of biological clock was operating-and a very precise clock at that.

What about birds that migrate at night? Perhaps they navigate by the night sky. To test the idea, caged night-migrating birds were placed on the floor of a planetarium during their migratory period. A planetarium is essentially a theater with a dome-like ceiling onto which a night sky can be projected for any night of the year. When the planetarium sky matched the sky outside, the birds fluttered in the direction of their normal migration. But when the dome was rotated, the birds changed their direction to match the artificial sky. The results clearly indicated that the birds were orienting according to the stars.

There is accumulating evidence indicating that birds navigate by using a wide variety of environmental cues. Other areas under investigation include magnetism, landmarks, coastlines, sonar, and even smells. The studies are complicated by the fact that the data are sometimes contradictory and the mechanisms apparently change from time to time. Furthermore, one sensory ability may back up another.

Paragraph 4:So, in another set of experiments, Kramer put identical food boxes around the cage, with food in only one of the boxes. ■The boxes were stationary, and the one containing food was always at the same point of the compass. ■However, its position with respect to the surroundings could be changed by revolving either the inner cage containing the birds or the outer walls, which served as the background. ■As long as the birds could see the Sun, no matter how their surroundings were altered, they went directly to the correct food box. ■Whether the box appeared in front of the right wall or the left wall, they showed no signs of confusion. On overcast days, however, the birds were disoriented and had trouble locating their food box.In experimenting with artificial suns, Kramer made another interesting discovery. If the artificial Sun remained stationary, the birds would shift their direction with respect to it at a rate of about 15 degrees per hour, the Sun's rate of movement across the sky. Apparently, the birds were assuming that the "Sun" they saw was moving at that rate. When the real Sun was visible, however, the birds maintained a constant direction as it moved across the sky. In other words, they were able to compensate for the Sun's movement. This meant that some sort of biological clock was operating-and a very precise clock at that.

TPO11托福阅读Passage2 Orientation and Navigation题目

Question 1 of 14: Which of the following can be inferred about bird migration from paragraph 1?

A.Birds will take the most direct migratory route to their new habitat.

B.The purpose of migration is to join with larger groups of birds.

C.Bird migration generally involves moving back and forth between north and south.

D. The destination of birds' migration can change from year to year.

Question 2 of 14: The word “perplexed” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.defeated

B. interested

C. puzzled

D. occupied

Question 3 of 14: Paragraph 3: Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. Experiments revealed that caged starlings displayed a lack of directional sense and restless movements.

B. Experiments revealed that caged starlings were unable to orient themselves in the direction of their normal migratory route.

C. Experiments revealed that the restless movement of caged starlings had no clear direction.

D. Experiments revealed that caged starlings' orientation was accurate unless the weather was overcast.

Question 4 of 14: The word“preposterous”  in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. unbelievable

B. inadequate

C. limited

D. creative

Question 5 of 14:  According to paragraph 3, why did Kramer use mirrors to change the apparent position of the Sun?

A.To test the effect of light on the birds' restlessness

B.To test whether birds were using the Sun to navigate

C. To simulate the shifting of light the birds would encounter along their regular migratory route

D.To cause the birds to migrate at a different time than they would in the wild

Question 6 of 14: According to paragraph 3, when do caged starlings become restless?

A. When the weather is overcast

B. When they are unable to identify their normal migratory route

C. When their normal time for migration arrives

D. When mirrors are used to change the apparent position of the Sun

Question 7 of 14: Paragraph 4: Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about Kramer s reason for filling one food box and leaving the rest empty?

A.He believed the birds would eat food from only one box.

B. He wanted to see whether the Sun alone controlled the birds' ability to navigate toward the box with food.

C. He thought that if all the boxes contained food, this would distract the birds from following their migratory route.

D. He needed to test whether the birds preferred having the food at any particular point of the compass.

Question 8 of 14: Paragraph 5: According to paragraph 5, how did the birds fly when the real Sun was visible?

A.They kept the direction of their flight constant.

B.They changed the direction of their flight at a rate of 15 degrees per hour.

C. They kept flying toward the Sun.

D. They flew in the same direction as the birds that were seeing the artificial Sun

Question 9 of 14: The experiment described in paragraph 5 caused Kramer to conclude that birds possess a biological clock because

A. when birds navigate they are able to compensate for the changing position of the Sun in the sky

B. birds innate bearings keep them oriented in a direction that is within 15 degrees of the Suns direction

C. birds' migration is triggered by natural environmental cues, such as the position of the Sun

D. birds shift their direction at a rate of 15 degrees per hour whether the Sun is visible or not

Question 10 of 14: Paragraph 6: According to paragraph 6, how did the birds navigate in the planetarium's nighttime environment?

A.By waiting for the dome to stop rotating

B. By their position on the planetarium floor

C.By orienting themselves to the stars in the artificial night sky

D.By navigating randomly until they found the correct orientation

Question 11 of 14： Which of the following best describes the author's presentation of information in the passage?

A. A number of experiments are described to support the idea that birds use the Sun and the night sky to navigate.

B.The author uses logic to show that the biological clock in birds is inaccurate.

C. A structured argument about the importance of internal versus external cues for navigation is presented.

D. The opposing points of view about bird migration are clarified through the study of contrasting experiments.

Question 12 of 14：Paragraph 7: The word accumulating in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. new

B. increasing

C. convincing

D. extensive

Question 13 of 14： Look at the four squares [■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?

He arranged the feed boxes at various positions on a compass.

Question 14 of 14：Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. Gustave Kramer conducted important research related to the ability of birds to orient and navigate.

A. Because caged birds become disoriented when the sky is overcast, Kramer hypothesized that birds orient themselves according to the Sun's position.

B. In one set of experiments. Kramer placed the box containing food at the same point of the compass each time he put food boxes in the birds’ environment.

C. Kramer demonstrated that an internal biological clock allows starlings to compensate for the Sun's movement.

D. After several studies. Kramer surmised that an internal biological clock allows some species of birds to navigate at night

E.The role of environmental cues in birds' navigation is clear, for on overcast days, birds use objects besides the Sun to orient themselves.

F. Kramer showed that night-migrating birds use the sky to navigate by the stars.

TPO11托福阅读Passage2真题解析

Question 1 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：这道题的全段内容是根据bird migration 能推断出什么。段落没有直接定位词，但是可以看到用robin birds作为一个典型的例子来引出bird migration的话题。然后说每个冬天在南美度假，会飞到南美具体的位置，也会在下一个春天返回北美的同样的树上，然后说鸟类迁徙让人类最大的问题它的迁徙路径的方向定位是怎么样的。这就是全段内容，A选项，direct信息无法得出；B选项本段没有说到；D选项和段落中的specific以及same trees句子相互矛盾，只能选择C选项。也就是鸟类迁徙通常指的是在南北之间来来回回迁徙。

Question 2 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：perplex“困惑”，所以C的puzzle正确。原句说这个问题怎么样人们很多年，直到五十年代才给出一些answer，也就是之前都没有answer，所以答案是困扰。

Question 3 of 14

正确答案：D

解析：句子简化题，高亮句进行简化之后，可以发现，主要信息就是：He then set up experiments and found that their direction was in the proper migratory direction except the sky was overcast. 四个选项中，很容易得出只有D选项符合句子简化后的主要信息。

Question 4 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：词汇题。preposterous“前后颠倒的，不合理的，荒谬的”，所以unbelievable“不值得相信的，难以置信的”正确。

Question 5 of 14

正确答案：B

解析：题目问的是为什么Kramer 用镜子来改变太阳的明显位置。根据mirror 和Kramer回归段落原文定位第四五句，说这个人认为鸟是用太阳导航的，为了验证这个观点，这个人用镜子做了一个实验，所以做这个实验的目的就是验证鸟是不是用太阳导航的，答案是B。

Question 6 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：以caged starling做关键词定位至第三句，注意此题容易误选A，但原文说填空overcast的时候鸟的migratory orientation就没方向，跟restless无关。以restless定位至第一句，说这些鸟在migration的时候开始restless，所以答案是C。

Question 7 of 14

正确答案：B

解析：题目问的是从Kramer填满一个食盒，让剩下的都空着这个行为的原因可以推断出什么。定位句在最后三句话，只要鸟看见太阳，无论周围环境如何变化，都能直飞到正确的食盒，不管盒子在哪里，都不会弄混。在阴天的时候，它们就弄不清方向，在正确定位食盒的位置上出现问题。所以实验者测试的只是太阳这个单一变体对鸟定位食盒能力的影响，对应B选项。

Question 8 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：问的是当real Sun很明显的时候，鸟是怎么飞的。定位至倒数第二句，说当真的太阳能看到的时候，鸟的飞行方向不变。A说flying direction是constant“持续的”，完全改写，是正确答案。

Question 9 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：以biological clock做关键词定位至最后一句，但这句一开始就说这意味着什么，所以往前看，说这些鸟保持飞行方向不变是因为他们能弥补太阳位置变化引起的变化，所以A是答案。

Question 10 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：根据题干定位到段落最后三句话，当planetarium的sky与外面的一样，鸟就正常迁徙；不一样的时候鸟就根据人造的sky定位，最后得出是用星星定位的，所以C是答案。

Question 11 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：提问整段的，所以看首句，说鸟是靠night sky定位的，尾句又说是靠星星，所以这段应该在说鸟在夜间定位的方法，前几段都在说白天鸟用太阳定位，所以综合起来，答案是A，分别叙述鸟在日间和夜间的定位方法。

Question 12 of 14

正确答案：B

解析：accumulate“沉积，累积”，所以B的increasing正确。本句说一系列的cue，所以是越来越多的。

Question 13 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：分析一下插入的句子，插入句主语是指代词 he，肯定是指代前句的主语； 第一方框处句子后有the compass，和插入句的a compass对比； 第三句主语是指代词 its，肯定是指代前句的主语；综上所述分析，只有放在第一个方框处才是合理的。

Question 14 of 14

正确答案：ACF

解析：because选项对应原文第三段内容，正确；Kramer demonstrate选项对应原文第五段内容，正确；Kramer showed选项对应原文第六段内容，正确。

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