16． People believe that having pets is overall a good thing for children.But does this belief
hold up to （1） B ？The new field of human﹣animal interaction aims to find out.
Ten years ago，when psychologist Joan Smith reviewed the literature on child﹣animal
relationships，she reported that interacting with animals led young children to better understand
biology than pet﹣less children.Kindergarteners who had cared for goldfish were more（2） C
when responding to questions like"does a goldfish have a heart？"They also more easily（3） A
biological information from one species to another，inferring that baby frogs get bigger just like
goldfish do.She also reports that those kids who turned to their pets for emotional support were
less（4） D than these who didn't.
The past ten years have seen some advances，but literature on the topic is still rather（5）
A .A recent paper by researcher Meg Brown at Lakeside University （6） B some important
information to the discussion.
She turned to a dataset that includes information from 7，000 kids，ranging in（7） B from
thirteen to nineteen years.For the study，both pet owning and other types of（8） D
activities，like horseback riding，were considered as human﹣animal interaction experience.
She found that adolescents with animal experience were more likely to see themselves as
important （9） C to their communities，such as doing community service.She also found that
the higher the level of（10） C between a teenager and animals，the higher they scored on
measurements of emotional connectedness in general.While causality（因果关系） cannot be
determined，Brown says that it is at least （11） A that children and adolescents can learn
about healthy social relationships from their experiences of interacting with animals."If a
connection exists between the skills required for these relationships，then it might be useful to
make use of animal relationships as a way to（12） D the development of social skills，"she
says.
Brown is aware of the limitations of her study.It can't reach any conclusions about the causal
role of animals in kids' lives，and it's limited to（13） A nationwide.Besides，the study was not
designed to （14） B any potential negative effects of human﹣animal interaction
experiences.Some other studies，for example，have shown that pet owners have higher levels of
psychological（15） D ，like depression，than non﹣pet owners.
（1）A.common sense B.scientific evidence C.universal assumptions D.natural
tendencies
（2）A.enthusiastic B.curious C.accurate D.serious
（3）A.transferred B.collected C.judged D.spread
（4）A.cautious B.vigorous C.ambitious D.anxious
（5）A.limited B.reliable C.varied D.fascinating
（6）A.owes B.adds C.restricts D.adapts
（7）A.status B.age C.height D.performance
（8）A.animal﹣
watching
B.animal﹣led C.animal﹣friendly D.animal﹣related
（9）A.donators B.delegates C.contributors D.witnesses
（10）A.difference B.isolation C.attachment D.disapproval
（11）A.possible B.questionable C.misleading D.uncertain
（12）A.block B.stress C.involve D.promote
（13）A.teenagers B.researchers C.pet﹣less children D.pet owners
（14）A.do away with B.throw light on C.take advantage of D.make up for
（15）A.needs B.tests C.explanations D.disorders
BCADA BBDCC ADABD