说到托福阅读备考，TPO是必不可少的备考神器，通过TPO练习来更好的适应阅读考试的节奏。本文小编带来的托福阅读笔记是TPO11 Begging by Nestlings的内容，希望能够与正在备考的大家一起进步。
TPO11 Begging by Nestlings
文章题材：自然学科——雏鸟的乞食行为
常见词汇：
contain[kən'tein]vt. 包含，容纳，克制，抑制vi. 自制
signal['signl]n. 信号，标志v. (发信号)通知、表示
claim[kleim]n. 要求，要求权;主张，断言，声称;要求物
secure[si'kjuə]adj. 安全的，牢靠的，稳妥的vt. 固定
species['spi:ʃiz]n. (单复同)物种，种类
vigorous['vigərəs]adj. 精力充沛的，元气旺盛的，有力的
pressure['preʃə]n. 压力，压强，压迫v. 施压
advantageous[.ædvən'teidʒəs]adj. 有利的，有助的，有益的
intensity[in'tensiti]n. 强烈，强度
frequency['fri:kwənsi]n. 频繁，频率
易错题解析：
Paragraph 2: Further evidence for the costs of begging comes from a study of differences in the begging calls of warbler species that nest on the ground versus those that nest in the relative safety of trees. The young of ground-nesting warblers produce begging cheeps of higher frequencies than do their tree-nesting relatives. These higher-frequency sounds do not travel as far, and so may better conceal the individuals producing them, who are especially vulnerable to predators in their ground nests. David Haskell created artificial nests with clay eggs and placed them on the ground beside a tape recorder that played the begging calls of either tree-nesting or of ground-nesting warblers. The eggs “advertised” by the tree-nesters' begging calls were found bitten significantly more often than the eggs associated with the ground-nesters' calls.
5. The experiment described in paragraph 2 supports which of the following conclusions?
A. Predators are unable to distinguish between the begging cheeps of ground-nesting and those of tree-nesting warblers except by the differing frequencies of the calls.
B. When they can find them, predators prefer the eggs of tree-nesting warblers to those of ground-nesting warblers.
C. The higher frequencies of the begging cheeps of ground-nesting warblers are an adaptation to the threat that ground-nesting birds face from predators.
D. The danger of begging depends more on the frequency of the begging cheep than on how loud it is.
题型：事实信息题。答案是(C)。
解析：题干的关键词为The experimen，可将信息定位在倒数第一、二句话。这个实验旨在解释本段的第二、三句，而C项正是对这两句话的改写与总结。故答案选C。
A选项原文完全没有对应，原文没提到predator区分两类叫声的信息，B原文也没有对应， predator在两种eggs之间没有更prefer哪一个之说。D选项也不对，根据第三、四句话可知，ground-nesters的叫声frequency更高，但传得不远。所以才不容易被predator发现，也就让它们更safe。所以本选项说“begging的危险性更多取决于frequency而不是how loud it is”是错误的。
易错选项：(D)。
Paragraph 4: Given that predators can make it costly to beg for food, what benefit do begging nestlings derive from their communications? One possibility is that a noisy baby bird provides accurate signals of its real hunger and good health, making it worthwhile for the listening parent to give it food in a nest where several other offspring are usually available to be fed. If this hypothesis is true, then it follows that nestlings should adjust the intensity of their signals in relation to the signals produced by their nestmates, who are competing for parental attention. When experimentally deprived baby robins are placed in a nest with normally fed siblings, the hungry nestlings beg more loudly than usual—but so do their better-fed siblings, though not as loudly as the hungrier birds.
Paragraph 5: If parent birds use begging intensity to direct food to healthy offspring capable of vigorous begging, then parents should make food delivery decisions on the basis of their offsprings’ calls. Indeed, if you take baby tree swallows out of a nest for an hour feeding half the set and starving the other half, when the birds are replaced in the nest, the starved youngsters beg more loudly than the fed birds, and the parent birds feed the active beggars more than those who beg less vigorously.
10. It can be inferred from paragraphs 4 and 5 that parent songbirds normally do not feed
A. nestlings that are too weak to beg for food as vigorously as their nestmates
B. more than one hungry nestling during a single visit to the nest
C. offspring that were fed by the parents on the previous visit to the nest
D. nestlings that have been removed and then later put back into their nest
题型：推论题。答案是(A)
解析：由do not feed定位第五段第一句，句中的 make food delivery decisions是do not feed的同义改写。接下来的实验结果的描述给出了答案，the parent birds feed the active beggars more than those who beg less vigorously，即parent更多的给叫得欢的幼鸟喂食，对应A中乞食太弱就得不到食物。B项说反了，C项文章未提及，D项由原文推断不出，所以不对。
易错选项：(D)。
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