Question

China and Western countries may have different cultural beliefs about certain animals, but when it comes to pigs, we have somehow reached an agreement—that pigs are ugly, lazy, stupid and shameless.

Just look at the idioms and phrases in our languages. In Chinese, we have the likes of “Boiling a dead pig” and “A pig looking in the mirror is still a pig”. And in English, there are expressions such as “eating like a pig” and “sweating like a pig”. None of them are exactly praise.

But truth is that pigs do have some fine qualities. And maybe there’s no better time to clear their names than now, with the arrival of Year of the Pig on Chinese Spring Festival.

For starters, science had proved that pigs aren’t stupid at all. According to a paper published last year in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology, pigs are “mentally and socially similar to dogs and chimpanzees(黑猩猩)”. By training, pigs can learn some skills, such as dancing and swimming. They like to play. They have good long-term memories. And they can tell between who treat them well and those who don’t.

There are popular pig characters in cartoons too. In the UK cartoon series Peppa Pig, the four members of the cartoon’s pig family teach children from all over the world about love, friendship, and the value of family. And in China, the adventures of McDull, a piglet who works hard toward his dreams even though he keeps failing, have been recounted in films since 2001. “People care too much about the immediate results, but McDull is slow and patient, and not afraid of repeating failure,” said McDull’s creator Brain Tse. “He has a heart of gold.”

Perhaps these are the qualities of pigs to keep in heart when we celebrate the New Year—their wisdom, cuteness, patience and bravery.

1.The writer mentioned some idioms and phrases in Paragraph 2 mainly to show________.

A. all of the idioms and phrases are exactly praise

B. people all agree pigs are ugly, lazy, stupid and shameless

C. the truth that pigs do have some fine qualities

D. there’re many idioms and phrases about pigs in our languages

2.The underlined word “immediate” in Paragraph 5 may mean “__________”.

A. 立即的 B. 長遠的 C. 緩慢的 D. 間接的

3.What do Paragraph 4 and Paragraph 5 mainly talk about?

A. Pigs aren’t stupid at all. B. Pigs are slow and patient.

C. Pigs have some good qualities. D. We have some cute cartoon pigs.

4.What does the writer write this article for?

A. Clearing the pigs’ names. B. Celebrating the New Year.

C. Introducing languages about pigs. D. Showing different cultural beliefs.

Answer 1