Passage 2
Insects may not possesshigh-order language skills, but they are quite sophisticateted communicators.They talk, and can even learn new dialects, a recent study found.
Entomologists have known fora while that insects can communicate with each other—through vibrations(振动) that they typically make using body parts like legs or wings. Somecommunicate using sound; others produce water ripples and air currents. Some ofthese vibrational signals are not loud enough for humans to hear. Other signalshumans can know quite well.
As species, insects arehighly diverse and so is the variety of signals they produce. Thei world isconstantly abuzz, but the bugs are experts at distinguishing the loudunpleasant mixture of sounds created by winds, rain and other noises aroundthem. And while the meaning of their vibrations may not be apparent to humans,flies, beetles, and grasshoppers use these communication methods to find eachother, attract a mate, and send out warnings about approaching enemies. Fruit flies,for example, alert each other when wasps(黄蜂) are nearby. The wasps deposit their eggsinto the fruit flies'larvae'(幼虫), which eventuallykills the baby fruit flies. The fruit flies fear the wasps so much that whenthey spot one, they start laying fewer eggs. Scientists at the Geisel School ofMedicine at Dartmouth found that fruit flies also use their wing movement tosend warning messages to other fruit flies--who then also lay fewer eggs, evenif they have never seen that wasp.
The team found that whiledistantly related flies did not communicate as eftectively as flies of the samespecies, after spending some time together they learned to"converse"better. Living together helped them learn new dialects made up of differentvisual and scent cues. As researchers experimented further, they found thatfruit flies use a specific part of their brain—which acts as the center of learningand memory—to pick up new dialects. Study author BalintZ. Kacsoh says that while there is a conserved fly "language"—a basic or standard set of messages fruit flies use—the team observed some"variation in communication ability"between different fruit fly species.
"We suggest thatvariation in communication ability could be compared todialects',as the termreflects natural differences between a common mode ofcommunication,"Kacsoh says. "The dialect barrier can be removedthrough socialization between species, without which, information wouldotherwise be lost in translation."
What did the recent study find?
A.Insects can pick up new dialects. B.Insects have advanced language skills. C.Insects pick up new sounds very quickly. D.Insects have a special talent for languages.正确答案A
