29 Ekim 2011 Cumartesi

Success Intermediate Unit 6 Reading Text (Vocabulary Ptactice) on p.52

 a  ability  also  an  and  appearance  are  be  biologists  bookshelf  brains   can creature each Earth   enemies   great   have   holes   is   jars   legs list lunch  mammals  most need   nobody objects   octopus  octopuses   of   one  over   plankton ravens choolchild scientists  second seem study  that   the  they this  to understand   usually   which  

    It looks like an alien, can copy other animals and can change colour, shape and size in a second. Alec Peters investigates a mysterious creature that might be too intelligent for humans to understand.

As intelligent as ...?

Ask a biologist what the most intelligent creatures are on [1] _______, and they´ll probably come up with a fairly similar [2] _______: larger mammals such as horses, dogs, dolphins, pigs, the [3] _______ apes as well as some birds like crows and [4] _______. But now some scientists believe that one of the [5] _______ intelligent beings on Earth is in fact the octopus - which doesn´t belong to any of these groups. Every [6] _______ knows that octopuses ( or octopi ) have eight [7] _______ and can shoot ink while trying to escape from [8] _______. But there are many other unusual things about octopuses. [9] _______ example, the legs of some octopuses can grow to [10] _______ nine metres in length and are extremely strong. If [11] _______ octopus loses a leg, it can grow a new [12] _______. It also has three hearts and complex eyes, which [13] _______ to belong to a mammal rather than a sea [14] _______. Octopuses also seem to be experts at escaping - [15] _______ have extremely soft, flexible bodies and can escape through [16] _______ not much bigger than their eyes. There are many [17] _______ who have stories about walking into the laboratory after [18] _______ to find their octopus had escaped from its aquarium [19] _______ was now hiding in a teapot or climbing a [20] _______! However, even until quite recently, little was known about [21] _______ intelligence. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, octopuses [22] _______ live at the bottom of river mouths and seas - areas which are not attractive to researchers. Secondly, they [23] _______ not social animals so it can be difficult to [24] _______ their interaction with others. Perhaps most importantly, octopus intelligence [25] _______ not easy for humans to understand. When we observe [26] _______ such as rats or dogs we can often instinctively [27] _______ their behaviour. Octopuses, however, can seem like aliens. Scientists [28] _______ to have a lot of imagination to be able [29] _______ understand what an octopus is thinking! In the 1950s, [30] _______ US Air Force sponsored scientists to study the way [31] _______ use their brains. They hoped that they could use [32] _______ knowledge to help them build better computers. However, their [33] _______ were so complex that the scientists quickly gave up. [34] _______ even today the octopus brain is a mystery. Octopuses [35] _______ a very complex nervous system and recent research suggests [36] _______ they have some of their intelligence inside each arm, [37] _______ means that each arm can think´ for itself. It [38] _______ appears that they have good memories, perhaps similar to [39] _______ cat´s. Some octopuses in laboratories seem to play with [40] _______ as if they were toys - a sure sign [41] _______ intelligence. Others could pick up complicated skills like opening [42] _______. Perhaps the most striking thing about octopuses is their [43] _______ to change their colour and body pattern. They do [44] _______ to camouflage themselves and also to communicate with others. [45] _______ can completely change their appearance in less than a [46] _______ - a striped octopus can suddenly become spotted. It [47] _______ change its skin to look like rocks, sand or [48] _______. A scientist once observed an octopus that changed its [49] _______ nearly 1,000 times during seven hours of feeding! It [50] _______ change its appearance to look like a dangerous predator - and can even copy its style of swimming. Some [51] _______ have even suggested that these different patterns and colours [52] _______ in fact a very sophisticated language - and that [53] _______ design is a different verb, adjective or noun. But [54] _______ has been able to work out what they might [55] _______ saying. It seems like the problem isn´t the limitation [56] _______ the animals.. but the limitations of humans!

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