TPO 42 - Question 4

1、question key words：explain the examples, the prairie dog, the concept of habituation
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　　2、answering points：

　　(1)Briefly state the main idea of the reading passage.

　　(2)Concentrating on the lecture given by the speaker. When orally summarizing the lecture, test takers are supposed to include the main points and the example as well.
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　　3、reading points：

　　(1)Habituation is a form of learning that is quite common among animals.

　　(2)It refers to animals instinctively run away or give off signals of warning to its community members when they consider the situations are dangerous.

　　(3)But then they find continuous and prolonged exposure is safe, they will stop responding to the situation altogether.

　　(4) Thus a natural or instinctive behavior gradually changes to form a habituation.
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　　4、lecture points：

　　(1)Prairie dogs are small animals that live in numbers in grassy areas of North America land and generally they don’t contact with human beings but every now and then they do.

　　(2) Assume that some prairie dogs happen to live in a human crowed area.

　　(3)At the first time when they see human beings they will instinctively run away and give off dangerous signals to remind their partners that there is potential threat.

　　(4)But they will gradually stop these responding actions when they find that human beings could not cause any potential threatening possibility to harm them.

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　　5、templates：

　　(1) In this set of materials, the reading passage introduced the concept of habituation and the listening material is a lecture by a professor on the same topic.

　　(2) The reading passage explained the process of how habituation is formed

　　(3) In the lecture, the speaker introduced an example of group animals called prairie dogs

transcripts:

　　Now, listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

　　Professor: Prairie dogs are small animals you’re likely to find on wide, relatively flat, grassy areas of land in North America. They tend to live together in large numbers. Now, generally these animals don’t come into contact with human beings but every now and then they do. So, let’s assume that some prairie dogs happen to live in an area where human beings frequently come and go. Now, the first time the animals would see a human being, they’d instinctively react by making a sharp barking sound like a dog and jumping up and down essentially warning or alerting other prairie dogs that are nearby of this potential threat, exactly the same way they’d react if they came upon or were threatened by a snake or a hawk, an animal that preys on them. Their instinctive reaction would be one of fear. They’d keep an eye on the human beings until these scary, possibility threatening individuals are gone. And…they’re likely to react this way every time they see a human being. However, if people pass through the area day after day, without threatening them or trying to harm them, well, it turns out that the prairie dogs will gradually stop barking and jumping up and down when they see a human being passing through the area. At some point, they’d stop reacting to humans as though as they were a threat.

sample answers:

In the lecture, the professor mainly talked about the theory that through habituation a natural behavior gradually changes. To reinforce the theory, the professor gave an example in his speech. That is, assume prairie dogs live in an area where human beings frequently come and go.

The first time the animals see a person, they’d react by barking like a dog and jumping up and down instinctively to warn or alert other prairie dogs nearby, they’d do the same to the animal that preys on them, such as a snake or a hawk. This kind of reaction is out of their fear. And they’d keep an eye on the human beings until these possible threatening individuals are gone.

However, if people pass through the area day by day without hurting them, then the prairie dogs will gradually stop barking and jumping up and down when they see a person passing through the area, they’d stop reacting to humans as a threat. And that's the example the speaker presented to explain his idea.