Scientifically speaking, it seems clear why dogs act like dogs. Like most domesticated animals, dogs are the descendants of an intensely social species. Their instinct to seek the company of human beings is an attempt to reconstitute an ancestral social structure that is etched in their genes. But cats defy all normal rules about domesticated animals. The cat’s wild progenitor, the African wildcat, is completely solitary in its natural state. I suppose this explains why I’ve never seen any Seeing Eye cats, Frisbee-catching cats, or slipper-fetching cats. But by the same reasoning, their ought to be no lap-sitting cats or treat-begging cats – and certainly no cats like Shawn, my orange barn cat.
Which of the following would be LEAST appropriate to add to the list in lines 9-10? (it has asterisks around it)
a. search-and-rescue cats
b. sled-pulling cats
c. luggage-sniffing cats
d. mouse-hunting cats
e. sheep-herding cats
Please explain what the correct answer is and why it is correct.
What do the items in the passage have in common? They CONTRAST with the previous sentence’s “solitary.” So you just have to pick the answer that is the most solitary, that requires the least teamwork or cooperation.
I feel like the author is listing activities that cats would do with humans. The author says “But cats defy all normal… blah blah”. The author is therefore comparing cats to dogs… so the list would most likely be activities that dogs would do but cats would not.
D is the correct answer because all of the other activities are actions that result from domestication. Cats mouse-hunt in their natural state.
Yeah, good call, @bsdsj22 - mouse-hunting isn’t a trained behavior and doesn’t require any interaction or cooperation with people, whereas luggage-sniffing (presumably for drugs or explosives) requires training and handling by cops.
@staticjava I had the same reasoning when I approached that question as that of @bsdsj22 - and yes - I do believe you need general information to be able to answer that question corrrectly.
The fact that seeing-eye dogs are guide dogs for the blind may not be exactly a part of common knowledge, but you don’t even need to read the passage to answer that question: choice d) is the odd one out because all the other listed activities are associated almost exclusively with dogs (as @bsdsj22 rightfully noted).