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Sheep Smarter than Thought
London—Sheep, like turkeys and ostriches, are not considered the most clever animals. British scientists said last Wednesday humans may have underestimated the woolly creature. They could be much smarter than we think.
Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, southern England, have shown that the animals have a good memory system and are extremely good at recognizing faces—which they think is a sure sign of intelligence.
Behavioral scientist Keith Kendrick and his friends trained 20 sheep to recognize and distinguish 25 pairs of sheep faces and used electrodes (電極) to measure their brain activity , which showed they could remember 50 faces for up to two years .
“If they can do that with faces, they have to have reasonable intelligence; otherwise, what is the point of having a system for remembering faces and not remembering anything else?” Kendrick said in an interview.
So hours of seemingly mindless eating grass may not be so mindless after all.
Kendrick believes sheep got their reputation as dumb (unable to speak, unintelligent) animals because they live in large groups and do not appear to have much individuality and are frightened of just about everything. 
“All animals, including humans, once they are frightened, don’t tend to show signs of intelligent action,” he explained.
In research reported in the science journal Nature, Kendrick and his team showed that sheep, like humans, have a specialized system in the brain which allows them to distinguish between many different faces which look extremely similar.
“The most important finding (of the study) is that they are able , both from a behavioral point of view and from looking at the way the brain is organized , to remember a large number of individuals for a very long time,” said Kendrick. “It is a very strange system. They are showing similar abilities in many ways to humans.”
9．From the first paragraph we can find that______.         
A．people used to think sheep are smarter than the other animals 
B．people used to raise sheep in a wrong  way 
C．people don’t consider sheep as clever animals
D．people have done a lot of research on sheep 
10．From what Kendrick said in the interview we learn that_____.        
A．scientists have learned everything about sheep’s intelligence 
B．scientists have learned a little about sheep’s intelligence 
C．scientists can’t do anything more about sheep’s memory 
D．scientists do not have to research animals’ memory 
11．As is known in the passage,__________.
A．sheep are among the week animals 
B．it is not right for people to raise sheep in groups 
C．when sheep eat grass in the field their minds may be active 
D．if people feel frightened, they may become braver
D
Fear and its companion pain are two of the most useful things that men and animals possess, if they are properly used. If fire did not hurt when it burnt, children would play with it until their hands were burnt away. Similarly, if pain existed but fear didn’t, a child would burn himself or herself again and again, because fear would not warn himself or herself to keep away from the fire that had burnt himself or herself before. A really fearless soldier—and some do exist, is not a good soldier because he is soon killed; and a dead soldier is of no use to his army. Fear and pain are therefore two guards without which men and animals might soon die out. 
In our first sentence we suggested that fear should be properly used. If, for example, you never go out of your house because of the danger of being knocked down and killed in the street by a car, you are letting fear rule you too much. Even in your house you are not absolutely safe: an aeroplane may crash on your house, or ants may eat away some of the beams in your roof so that the latter falls on you, or you may get cancer!
The important thing is not to let fear rule you, but instead to use fear as your servant and guide. Fear will warn you of dangers; then you have to decide what action to take. 
In many cases, you can take quick and successful action to avoid the danger. For example, you see a car coming straight towards you. Fear warns you, you jump out of the way, and all is well.
In some cases, however, you decide that there is nothing that you can do to avoid the danger. For example, you can’t prevent an aeroplane crashing onto your house. In this case, fear has given you its warning; you have examined it and decided on your course of action, so fear of this particular danger is no longer of any use to you, and you have to try to overcome it.
12. Children would play with fire until their hands were burnt away if _________.
A. they were given no warning beforehand   
B. they had never burnt themselves
C. they had no sense of pain     
D. they were fearful of the fire
13. A really fearless soldier _____________.
A. is of great use to the army    B. is not a real soldier
C. is nothing but a dead soldier  D. easily gets killed in a battle
14. People sometimes succeed in timely avoiding the danger because _________.
A. they have gained experience   
B. they jump out of the way in time
C. they are calm in the face of danger
D. they are warned of the danger by fear and take quick action
15. What's the writer's suggestion when the danger can't be avoided?
A. You have to try to overcome it.   B. Fear can really help you to run away.
C. Fear always helps you stay safe.  D. Fear is of great use to you.
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