课程咨询

GMAT首页 GMAT课程 GMAT动态 0元讲座 GMAT模考网站

新东方在线 > GMAT > GMAT阅读 > 正文
美研留学资料领取

扫码添加助教

免费领取

备考资料大礼包

扫码关注公众号

GMAT阅读速度训练材料-6

2014-09-13 21:31:09来源：网络

　　新东方在线为大家精心整理了GMAT阅读速度训练材料的相关内容，分享给大家，供大家参考，希望对大家有所帮助!

　　【Time 6】

　　Article 3

　　Minions on the Ground May Be Leaders in the Sky

　　When a flock of birds changes direction on a dime, it's easy to imagine that the group is controlled by a single, collective mind. But in reality, the individual matters. That's the message of new research on group navigation in homing pigeons. The study used computer tracking to reveal a complex hierarchy, where even birds with a low social rank on the ground may be trusted leaders in the air.

　　In research on animal social dynamics, large mammals such as wolves and gorillas have received a lot of attention, because their groups' smaller numbers make them easier to study, says Andrew King, a behavioral ecologist at Swansea University in the United Kingdom who was not involved in the study. But when hundreds or thousands of creatures synchronize their movements, the decision-making process is harder to sort out. King says that these big groups have traditionally been viewed as hoards of anonymous agents in a democracy. "Five or so years ago, papers were saying that you should be finding consensus decisions where everybody has an equal say."

　　And yet elaborate synchronized movements arise from individuals with various abilities and social roles. Zoologist Dora Biro of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom wanted to investigate how a flock of pigeons manages to stay organized as it navigates the skies. "Different individuals within these flocks might have different ideas about where they want to go," she says "but at the same time, they want to maintain a kind of cohesive flock, because there's safety in numbers." Computerized tracking methods make this type of research possible. Remote visual sensors and GPS units on the birds can keep tabs on every bird at every moment, and complex data analysis can tease out meaningful social patterns.

　　Biro teamed up with a group of statistical physicists at Eötvös Loránd University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest to search for a leadership structure in flight and to find how it relates to the overall social structure of the flock. The team followed a single flock of pigeons in two different situations: competitive feeding on the ground and navigating in the air. This cross-context approach is "a really important contribution to the field," says behavioral ecologist Darren Croft of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom who was not involved in the work. "We knew about dominance and we knew about flight, but no one has put those two things together."

　　The team first identified the birds more likely to win out in confrontations and gain access to food. In the lab, each bird wore a unique three-colored barcode on its back, and a camera attached to the ceiling tracked the animals as they clambered around a cup of grain. A program evaluated birds in pairs and picked the dominant one based on how quickly he or she approached or avoided the other birds and who ended up reaching the snack. Dominant birds tended to be both larger and more aggressive.

　　When the same birds took to the air in a flock of 30, each wore a tiny GPS unit on its back, which took 10 position readings every second. Every time the flock made a decision—to shift directions, for example—the researchers compared the movement of each bird to the others to find who shifted first, and by how much time. "You can draw an arrow between Bird A and Bird B to show which one tends to lead the other," Biro says, "and you can draw up, basically, a network of these interactions to cover the entire flock."

　　The network that emerged was far from a perfect democracy. The birds formed a stable hierarchy, where certain individuals made decisions and others waited for cues. A leading bird might swerve first, prompting a neighbor to adopt the same direction. (Some in-between birds were both trusted leaders and devoted followers.) What's more, the leaders in flight weren't the dominant birds on the ground, meaning that the pigeons ignore their land-based social structure while in the air, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

　　An individual's leadership role in the air remained constant, regardless of the composition of its flock, suggesting that certain qualities inspire the trust and obedience of others. But exactly what makes a natural leader isn't yet clear. Biro thinks there are likely multiple factors at play, from better navigational skills and more decisive movements to motivational factors, such as eagerness to get back to a nest. Croft points out that the physical demands of flight make it more difficult to display aggression and that when birds collectively decide how to move on the ground, they might stick to their dominance structure.

　　The same approach could be used to find out how other species, from insects to primates, choose leaders to form stable and successful groups, Biro says. "We know that who you're going to elect as your next president or your prime minister is going to make a huge difference for how happy people will be in the country." The team now hopes to sort out which traits are most valuable for leadership in the animal world。

　　字数[864]

　　以上就是新东方在线为大家总结的GMAT阅读速度训练材料的相关内容，最后预祝大家在GMAT考试中取得优异的成绩!


课程推荐》》更多

  GMAT直播VIP小班    GMAT直播精讲班    GMAT录播课
（VIP小班/全科班+1对1）（全科精讲/单项备考） （全科班/单项班）
 72.5课时 ￥18800 61课时 ￥7796 134课时 ￥14680

本文关键字: GMAT阅读材料 GMAT阅读指导

添加美研助教号 回复【GMAT】

获取2024GMAT考试最新复习资料

更多资料

添加美研助教号，
回复【GMAT】获取备考必看资料包

  • 1.打开手机微信【扫一扫】，识别上方二维码；
  • 2.点击【添加美研助教】，回复对应关键字领取学习资料。
更多>>
  • GMAT阅读复习的五大步骤 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读复习的五大步骤，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　1：原来

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读背景的培养 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读背景的培养，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　一、经济学

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读复习效率不高怎么办 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读复习效率不高怎么办，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　建

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读提高速度的根本方法 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读提高速度的根本方法，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　1

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读如何避免错误 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读如何避免错误，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　要避免GMA

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读技巧的提升 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读技巧的提升，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　GMAT阅读推

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读备考的注意事项 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读备考的注意事项，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　GMAT阅

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读怎么提高自己的能力 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读怎么提高自己的能力，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　建

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读长句子的备考 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读长句子的备考，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　1 首先

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

  • GMAT阅读水平怎么提高 　　

    　　新东方在线GMAT频道为大家带来GMAT阅读水平怎么提高，希望对大家GMAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线GMAT频道!　　下面就来

    来源 : 网络 2021-01-25 13:25:00 关键字 : GMAT阅读 GMAT

更多内容

添加美研助教号

回复【GMAT】获取备考必看资料包

新东方美研备考资料
GRE录播课（全科班/单项班） GMAT6-8人直播VIP小班 托福直播精讲班（30天/60天）
更多>>
更多惊喜>>
更多>>
更多资料
我要
反馈 返回
首页
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10