星火：2008年12月英语六级考试预测试题

　　Training

　　People often raise Golden Retrievers(猎犬),German shepherds or Labradors(拉布拉多猎狗) as candidates of guide dogs. Once a dog is grown up, socialized and well trained, it goes to the guide dog school for evaluation.

　　In some schools, if a dog is suited for training but not quite ready, it may go back to the puppy(幼犬) raiser for a month or so to mature. If a dog is simply not suited for training, the school will work to place the dog in another line of work, such as tracking, or find it a permanent home, usually offering it to the puppy raiser first. At Guiding Eyes for the Blind, only the top 50 percent of the puppies will stay with the school. So the school places a little over 400 puppies with raisers each year, needing only 200 dogs for the training program. Of that 200,a small percentage will become breeding stock, for Guiding Eyes or another school, and the rest will be considered for the training program.

　　Training is a rigorous process for both the instructors and the dogs, but it’s also a lot of fun. To make sure the dogs are up to the challenge, most schools test them extensively before beginning the training. The tests are designed to assess the dogs’ self-confidence level, since only extremely confident dogs will be able to deal with the pressure of guiding instruction. If a dog passes the tests, it begins the training program right away.

　　Different schools have different programs, but typically, training will last four to five months. To make sure the dogs master all the complex guide skills, the instructors have to introduce them to each idea gradually. Once they have introduced what is expected of the dog, training is essentially a matter of rewarding correct performance and punishing incorrect performance. This works with dogs because they are pack animals and have a natural need to please an authority figure. The instructor, or later the handler, is simply stepping into the place of the alpha dog, the leader of the pack.

　　Unlike ordinary obedience training, guide dog training does not use food as a reward for good performance. This is because a guide dog must be able to work around food without being distracted by it. Instead, instructors use praise or other reward systems to encourage correct performance. The standard means of correction is pulling on the dogs leash, so that it pulls a training collar, giving the dog a slight pinch(捏，掐).Using this basic reward/punishment system, instructors work through the necessary skills for guiding.

　　Forming a Team

　　The final stage of a guide dog’s training is learning to work with its new master. Guide dog training schools work very hard to match handlers with guide dogs according to the compatibility of their personalities. A very energetic dog typically does well with a young handler, while an older handler may need an especially careful partner. Schools often have a special gathering to commemorate the time when a new class of guide dogs finally meets their masters. Often, the dogs’ puppy raiser attends and meets with the new master as well. This is perhaps the most emotional time in the entire training process.

　　After this introduction, guide dog instructors typically spend a month helping the new team learn to work together. Many schools have dormitories for the handlers to stay in during this final stage of training.

　　If the handler has never used a guide dog before, a lot of the instructors work at this point are actually people training, not dog training. The handler has to learn to read the dogs movements, so he or she knows when the dog is turning or when the dog is stopping for a crosswalk or stairs. Additionally, the handler has to learn all the commands the dog knows, and must get some practice walking with the dog. The dog has to make the transition from obeying the instructor to recognizing the handler as its new master. The handler and the dog spend a lot of this time just getting to know each other, so that they are comfortable enough to work as a team. By the time they graduate from the guide dog school, they can read each others every movement.

　　1. When a handler and a guide dog walk on the street________,­ .

　　A) the handler must walk straight B) the dog must try to walk straight

　　C) both the handler and the dog should walk straight D) neither of them has to walk straight

　　2. Like other dogs, guide dogs any command from the handler.

　　A) are supposed to ignore B) are not supposed to ignore

　　C) are supposed to obey D) are not supposed to obey

　　3. Which of the following statements is not true?

　　A) The handler and the dog must work very closely together.

　　B) Dogs cannot distinguish the color of traffic lights.

　　C) If there is any danger at crosswalks, a guide dog should notify the handler.

　　D) If there is no danger, the dog proceeds across the road in a straight line.

　　4. In the work, guide dogs will enjoy .

　　A) the fun common dogs have B) their work a lot

　　C) the fun and praise common dogs have D) the satisfaction

　　5. When you see a guide dog work very well, the best thing you can do for it is to .

　　A) praise it B) reward it C) leave it alone D) feed it

　　6. A guide dog tells the time of play apart from that of work by .

　　A) the handler’s command B) its lead harness

　　C) the handler’s whistle D) its instinct