2011年高考英语全国卷2 - 阅读理解B

For those who study the development of intelligence in the animal world, self-awareness is an important measurement. An animal that is aware of itself has a high level of intelligence.
对于研究动物世界智力发展的人来说，自我意识是一项重要的衡量标准，有自我意识的动物拥有的智力水平较高。

Awareness can be tested by studying whether the animal recognizes itself in the mirror, that is, its own reflected image. Many animals fail this exercise bitterly, paying very little attention to the reflected image. Only humans, and some intelligent animals like apes and dolphins, have shown to recognize that the image in the mirror is of themselves.
通过研究动物是否可以认出镜子里的影像是自己来进行意识测试。很多动物没能通过在这项检测，它们几乎没有注意到反射的影像。只有人类以及一些聪明的动物，如猩猩和海豚，能够认出镜子中的影像就是自己。

Now another animal has joined the club. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report that an Asian elephant has passed the mirror self-reflection test.
现在，又有一种动物加入了这个俱乐部。《美国国家科学院院刊》上，研究人员报告说，一头亚洲大象通过了镜像测试。

“We thought that elephants were the next important animal,” said Dinana Reiss of the Wildlife Conservation Society, an author of the study with Joshua M.Plotnik and Fans B.M. de Waal of Emory University. With their large brains, Reiss said, elephants “seemed like cousins to apes and dolphins.”
“我们认为大象是下一种重要的动物，”野生动物保护协会的迪娜娜·赖斯说。她是埃默里大学的约书亚·M·普洛尼克和范斯·B·M·德瓦尔共同完成的这项研究的作者。赖斯说，大象的脑容量很大，“看起来像猩猩和海豚的近亲。”

The researchers tested Happy, Maxine and Patty three elephants at the Bronx Zoo. They put an 8-foot-square mirror on a wall of the animals’ play area (out of the sight of zoo visitors) and recorded what happened with cameras, including one built in the mirror.
研究人员对布朗克斯动物园的三头大象Happy、Maxine和Patty进行了测试。他们将一个8英尺见方的镜子放在大象玩耍区的墙上（动物园游客视线之外），并用摄像机记录发生的事情，其中包括一个内置在镜子中的摄像机。

The elephants used their long noses to find what was behind it and to examine parts of their bodies．
大象用它们的长鼻子来寻找镜子背后的东西，并检查身体对应的部位。

Of the three, Happy then passed the test, in which a clear mark was painted on one side of her face. She could tell the mark was there by looking in the mirror, and she used the mirror to touch the mark with her long nose.
三只大象中，脸一侧印有清晰标记的Happy通过了测试。它可以通过照镜子判断标记位置，并借助镜子用长鼻子触摸标记。

Diana Reiss said, "We knew elephants were intelligent, but now we can talk about their intelligence in a better way."
戴安娜·赖斯说：“我们知道大象很聪明，但现在我们可以更好地谈论它们的智力。”