SAT考试题型分为阅读、语法、数学、写作四类，2017年11月SAT北美真题阅读部分包含五部分，为帮助考生充分利用真题，
Questions 21-30 are based on the following
passage.
This passage is adapted from "Even Birdbrains Learn from Experience."©2013 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific: Research Society.
Figaro was only a birdbrain: a captive cockatoo (Cacatua goffini). But when Alice Auersperg, cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna, spied him wielding 10 tools he had spontaneously invented from twigs and splinters, she was amazed. Such innovative tool use was known to exist only in primates and New Caledonian crows.
Auersperg first saw Figaro make, shorten, and bend stick tools to rake in a small stone he had dropped through a mesh partition. She replaced the stone with a series of cashew nuts and observed
Figaro repeat his performance. Auersperg’s observations culminated in a study showing that cockatoos can solve elaborate multistep lock puzzles, without intermediate behavioral reinforcements, and immediately transfer their new knowledge to a novel challenge. Figaro shows that cockatoos can “plan interventions in the physical world well ahead of being reinforced,” says Auersperg’s coauthor, Alex Kacelnik, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Oxford. Figaro’s achievement raised the question, To what extent can cockatoos plan ahead, completing a series of actions toward a mentally represented distant goal—without support?Auersperg and colleagues reasoned that if a cockatoo must complete a chain of actions to receive a substantial reward at the end, and if each action leads only to the possibility of achieving the next action, then the bird could be unlikely to attain the final goal by mere distance. Randomly attempting the actions in the long order, for example, would lead to failure.
To test cockatoos’ planning and mechanical capacities, Auersperg designed a box housing a visable cashew nut blocked by five interlocking devices. The locks were concatenated so that the bird would have to solve the lock puzzle farthest from the reward before gaining access to the next, and so on. The team made each lock unique so thatthe knowledge required to open it would be novel. Auersperg’s team began by testing the cockatoos’ learning process to discern whether and to what
extent the 10 birds in their study could solve all five puzzles without intermittent rewards or observation of bird already trained. The researchers had no precedent for predicting how much time and support the cockatoos would require. In the end, only one bird, named Pipin, solved all five locks within the number of sessions, number of trials, and amount of
time that Auersperg used to define success. But Pipin completed the entire puzzle, utterly unassisted, in only 100 minutes----a “rapid route to perfection,” Auersperg notes. The team supported the other nine birds with reinforcement until they opened the five locks.
The team then subjected all 10 birds to an experiment designed to reveal the nature of their newly acquired knowledge: whether it was rote, or it indicated understanding of mechanical functions.The scientists removed or resequenced parts of the original puzzle. In response, "the birds immediately approached the now most relevant piece of equipment downstream from the goal,” says Kacelnik. Instead of rigidly adhering to the originallock sequence, in other words, they strategized according to the various functions of the interlocking mechanisms.
The cockatoos explored the locks playfully, using their bills, tongues, and feet; individualsdiffered in how they opened the locks. However, all 10 birds progressed logically: Once they had solved a lock, they spent no time on that lock in future
sessions, but focused on the next challenge in the chain. This stepwise approach to the complex sequence shows that cockatoos can, without reinforcement, work backward from a distant goal.
21 The primary purpose of the passage is to
A)discuss a study of cockatoos’ cognitiveabilities.
B)profile a researcher studying cockatoos’ behavior.
C)explain a theory about cockatoos planningskills.
D)analyze data on cockatoos memorizationpractices.
22 The central idea of the passage is that cockatoos
A) can use knowledge gained from observingother species to achieve their own goals.
B) recall information from previous experiencesand apply it to wholly new situations.
C) are capable of perceiving and completingmultiple independent steps to accomplish anobjective.
D) reconcile conflicting goals by assessing whichgoal is easiest to reach.
23 In the context of the passage as a whole, the main function of the first paragraph is to
A)introduce a phenomenon first discovered in thestudies presented in the passage.
B)outline the controversy that the analysispresented in the passage is intended to settle.
C)explain the hypothesis that the experimentsdiscussed in the passage were designed to test.
D)describe an incident that helped inspire theresearch discussed in the passage.
24 Which statement about Figaro’s development of tools is best supported by the passage?
A)Figaro developed tools that were similar inappearance to those used by New Caledoniancrows.
B)Figaro developed tools that enabled him toopen the Jocks that Auersperg and hercolleagues designed.
C)Figaro developed tools without previouslyobserving other cockatoos using tools.
D)Figaro developed tools on his own initiativeand to solve a problem he had not anticipated.
25 As used in line 12,"performance"most nearly means
A)actions.
B)efficiency.
C)presentation.
D)imitation.
26 Based on the passage, one premise of the researchers’ first experiment was that presenting cockatoos with unique locks that had to be solved successively would
A)forestall the objection that the cockatoos weretrying to achieve intermediate goals rather thana single final goal.
B)bolster the claim that the cockatoos plannedtheir actions knowing they would not receivereinforcement as they progressed.
C)reduce the possibility that the cockatoos couldsucceed in the experiment without possessingthe skills being assessed.
D)ensure that the experiment was evaluatingcockatoos’ intellectual capabilities rather thantheir mechanical capabilities.
27 Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A)Lines 22-25(“Figaro’s...support”)
B)Lines 25-31(“Auersperg...chance”)
C)Lines 33-36(“To test...devices”)
D)Lines 36-38(“The locks...so on”)
28 The fourth and fifth paragraphs (lines 33-55) primarily serve to
A)describe the design and outcome of the first lock experiment.
B)summarize the views of other researchers oncockatoo intelligence.
C)contrast the first lock experiment with otherassessments of animal cognition.
D)speculate on the significance of the results ofboth lock experiments.
29 As used in line 42, “discern” most nearly means
A)differentiate.
B)determine.
C)notice.
D)question.
30 Which choice most accurately describes the results of the first lock experiment?
A)Only one of the cockatoos was able to open allof the locks, but that cockatoo required supportfrom the researchers to do so.
B)All of the cockatoos opened all of the locks,but only one cockatoo did so without supportfrom the researchers.
C)Nine of the cockatoos were unable to open anyof the locks, but one cockatoo opened some ofthe locks.
D) The cockatoos that received support opened alllocks, but the cockatoo that did not receivesupport opened only some of the locks.
答案：21-30 ACDDA CBABB
2017年11月SAT北美真题原文及答案