Question

Monitoring the mood of a pet dog could be used as an early warning sign that an elderly owner is struggling to cope, a new report has claimed.

Researchers placed movement sensors (探测器)on dogs to track their behaviour and identified 17 distinct activities, including chewing, barking, sitting and dig?ging.

This allowed them to map the normal behaviour of a healthy, happy dog, which means any changes can be monitored and could indicate an issue with its owner.

Nils Hammerla, part of the team from Newcastle University, said, "Humans and dogs have lived together in close relationships for thousands of years, which has led to strong emotional and social mutual bonds.

"A dog's physical and emotional dependence on its owner means that its well-being is likely to reflect that of its owner. Any changes such as the dog being walked less often, perhaps not being fed regularly, or simply-demonstrating 'unhappy ， behaviour could be an early indicator for families that an older relative needs help. This is the first system of its kind which allows us to re?motely monitor a dog's behaviour in its natural setting.，，

The team of academics, who presented their findings at the 2013 UbiComp conference in Zurich, created a hi-tech, waterproof(防水的)dog collar for the study.

Dr Cas Ladha, who led the study, said, "A lot of our research is focused on developing intelligent systems that can help older people to live independently for lon?ger. But developing a system that reassures family and carers that an older relative is well without intruding on (侵犯)the individual's privacy is difficult. This is just the first step but the idea behind this research is that it would allow us to support people without the need for cameras."

A range of dogs was used for the study, as the team needed to map distinct behaviour that correlated between different breeds.

1. From the text ， we know that Nils Hammerla .

A.    led the study and identified 17 activities of dogs

B.    thinks some activities of dogs can reflect senior owners' health

C.    studied the relationship between humans and ani?mals

D.    developed a hi-tech, waterproof dog collar

 

2. The underlined word " reassure  in Paragraph 7probably means "  

A, protect       B. comfort

C.  warn       D. recognize

3.    Which of the following is an advantage of the intelli?gent system mentioned in the text?

A.    It can indicate that people aren't well.

B.    It can identify different activities of dogs.

C.    It monitors an elderly owner without disturbing his privacy.

D.    It lets people see the dog's behaviour clearly.

4.    Which of the following could be the best title for the text?

A.    Dogs' mood can be an indicator of owners' health

B.    Strong bonds between dogs and their senior owners

C.    Signs that your older relative needs help

D.    A special way of taking care of the old

Answer 1

【文章大意】本文是一篇科普类文章，讲述了一项研究成果：狗的心情可以反映主人的健康状况，而一种监测狗的智能系统能帮助老人更好地独立生活。

B 细节理解题。根据第五段'"A dog's physical and emo?tional dependence on its owner means that its well-being is likely to reflect that of its owner.，"可知，狗对主人身体与情感的依赖能反映主人的健康状况，故选B项。

B 词义猜测题。句子"But developing a system that reas?sures family and carers that an older relative is well without intruding cm(侵犯)the individual's privacy is difficult."的意思是：可是很难开发这样一种系统——它要能够使得家人和护理老人的人确信老人在没有被侵犯隐私的情况下仍然生活得很好。protect保护，保卫，警戒；comfort使舒服，安慰， 使缓和；warn警告，提醒；recognize承认，认出。根据句意和构词法知识（sure — assure—reassure)可知，reassure的意思是"使放心，使消除疑虑"，comfort的意思最接近，故选择B项。

C细节理解题。根据倒数第二段"'This is just the first step but the idea behind this research is that it would allow us to support people without the need for cameras.，"可知，这个研究背后的想法是它能允许我们在不需要照相机的情况下来照顾家人，即不侵犯隐私，故选C项。

A 主旨大意题。根据本文第一段"Monitoring the mood of a pet dog could be used as an early warning sign that an elderly owner is struggling to cope..."可知，狗的情绪可以反映主人的健康状况，下面围绕这项研究展开，故选A项。