《2025年英语同步练习与测评高中英语必修1外研版青海专版》

B
A new study suggests orcas, also known as killer whales (虎鲸), are able to imitate (模仿) human speech — an ability shared only by a few other animals, including parrots and elephants.
The findings, which were published Tuesday in *Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences*, were based on a series of voice imitation experiments conducted with a 14-year-old orca named Wilkie.
Wilkie made “recognised copies of all familiar and new” sounds made by other orcas and humans. The report says she also imitated the sounds relatively quickly — she was able to copy the sounds with no more than 10 t r i a l s for each. Sometimes she was even able to imitate on the first try.
“We wanted to see how flexible a killer whale can be in copying sounds,” said Josep Call, professor at the University of St Andrews.
Wilkie was able to imitate the words “hello” and “Amy”, as well as the sound of a human laugh “ah ha”, with even greater accuracy (准确) than some of the familiar sounds from other orcas.
The report suggests that different dialects (方言) found within various orca populations can be socially learnt by imitation. Still, further research is needed to determine how wild orcas practise vocal imitation because these trials were conducted above water with a captive whale.
Wilkie may be able to imitate human speech relatively quickly, but there’s no evidence that she understands what she’s “saying” — similar to parrots and seals.
4. Which of the findings is true according to the passage?
A. Orcas can imitate different dialects of humans.
B. Orcas practise vocal imitation very hard every day.
C. Only three kinds of animals can imitate human speech.
D. An orca can copy sounds from both other orcas and humans.
(D)
5. What does the underlined word “trials” in paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. Voices.
B. Attempts.
C. Copies.
D. Whales.
(B)
6. What can we know about Wilkie?
A. Wilkie is quick in imitating the sounds.
B. Wilkie is good at copying human’s behaviours.
C. Wilkie is much clever than other orcas.
D. Wilkie understands what she is copying.
(A)
7. We can most probably read this passage in ______.
A. a historical book
B. a science magazine
C. a personal diary
D. a novel
(B)

答案： 4.D 5.B 6.A 7.B