Alex knew colors and shapes．He learned about 150 English words．With his language ability he made himself known as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird．

But Alex，a parrot，died two weeks ago when he was 31．Irene，a psychologist(心理学家) at Harvard University，studied and worked with the parrot for nearly 30 years．

In 1977，Irene，then an excellent student in chemistry at Harvard，bought Alex from a pet store．At that time，scientists were not quite sure whether birds could learn to communicate with humans．

But using the methods of teaching．Irene helped Alex to learn about 150 words，and to count small numbers，as well as colors and shapes．

In experiments，Irene would give Alex a small reward，like a grape．Alex learned to ask for the grape by watching what the trainer was doing to get it．The researchers then worked with the bird to help him with pronunciation．

Alex showed a surprising ability to learn．For example，when he was shown a blue paper circle．he could tell what color the paper was．what shape it was，and after touching it，what it was made of．

Like other parrots，he also picked up some words when staying in the lab，like“calm down”and“good morning”．He could also show his happiness and sadness．

Even before the week he died，Alex was working with Irene on difficult words．As she put him into his cage for the night that Thursday，Irene said that Alex looked at her and said，“You be good．See you tomorrow．I love you．”

He was found dead in his cage the next morning．

1．Alex is the name of ________．

A．an excellent student        B．a clever bird

C．a trainer                 D．a psychologist

2．How did Irene get the parrot?

A．A friend gave it to her．       B．She caught it in a forest．

C．She bought it from the market． D．The passage doesn’t mention it．

3．The underlined words“picked up”in the seventh paragraph mean ________．

A．捡到    B．挑选    C．举起    D．学到

4．The passage is probably taken from a ________．

A．history textbook    B. novel    C．newspaper      D. dictionary