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TOEFL【Integrated Writing】TPO51

Humans have long been fascinated by elephants, the largest land animal in the modern world. Social animals that live in herds, elephants are native to both Africa and Asia. Their large ears, long trunk, and long life span have made elephants one of the most captivating creatures on Earth. Our long-standing interest in elephants has led to several beliefs about surprising elephant behaviors.

Elephants Are Aware of Approaching Death

One of the popular beliefs is that when elephants become old and weak, they know that they are nearing the end of their lives. They demonstrate this by breaking away from their herds and going off alone to certain locations often found near bodies of water - so called "elephant graveyards" - to die alone. The idea that old elephants seem aware that they will die soon is supported by the discovery of many sites containing bones exclusively of elderly elephants.

Representing Objects through Art

Additionally, elephants seem to have artistic ability. Elephants can be taught to hold a paintbrush in their trunk and use it to paint on a canvas. Some elephants have been known to paint drawings that represent recognizable things: flowers, other elephants, even themselves. This talent makes elephants the only animal other than humans to produce art representing the world around them.

Fear of Mice

Finally, it has long been believed that elephants have a fear of mice. In 77 C.E., the Roman philosopher and scientist Pliny the Elder wrote that elephants are more afraid of mice, small mammals that can do elephants no harm, than of the much more dangerous animals with which elephants normally share an environment, such as lions or tigers. In a recent scientific experiment in which a herd of elephants was confronted with several mice, the elephants backed away from the mice and left the area to avoid them.

Personal Writing

The passage says that elephants are aware of death, art, and fear. However, the professor considers these arguments unconvincing.

First, awareness of death. The passage says that going away from herbs, old elephants, before dying, stay alone in many sites near water, proved by elephant graveyards only containing old-elephant bone. However, the professor argues that reasonable reason of the old elephants is the condition of their teeth. She explains that their teeth become more down to cause difficulty in chewing, making them have to feed on soft vegetations, often close to water, until their death to form elephant graveyards.

Second, awareness of art. The passage states that elephants can be taught how to draw recognizable thing like flowers, a talent only present in elephants other than humans. However, the professor argues that elephants do not know patterns representing animals or flowers, but the lines trained to paint. By touching elephants’ sensitive ears, she emphasizes, trainer can encourage elephants to remember and repeat the certain patterns.

Third, awareness of fear. The passage claims that elephants are afraid of mice, backing away from mice, animals small and harmless than dangerous animals sharing the same environments with elephants. However, the professor argues that the fear comes from the lack of knowing mice— natural instinct to be careful about unfamiliar animals. She adds that the elephants living in places where mice are common like zoos would not regard mice as threat, ignoring mice without fear. 

Word: 242

note：

Reading ： elephant know 

argument 1：death  →  old alone, water / "EG", bone

argument 2：art → recognizable thing /  EPH only 

argument 3：fear  → mice X harm > dangerous ani. /  back

Listening ：  X

argument 1： D → teeth↓, X chew  / soft, water= "EG" 

argument 2：A → sensitive ears, rem pattern / line, X pattern

argument 3：F → unknow , natural / common= zoo, X mind

Listening script

Elephants are fascinating but the beliefs you just read about are based on misunderstandings of elephant behavior.

First, we should not assume that old elephants are aware that they will die soon just because they break away from their herds. There is a very practical reason why old elephants leave their herds. You see, when elephants get old enough, their teeth become more down and they have difficulty chewing. So elderly elephants wander away from their herds to look for soft vegetation that’s easier to eat. Soft vegetation is usually found near water. That’s why many old elephants graze near water and eventually die there, an area we’ve come to call “elephant graveyards”.

Second, the issue of whether elephants have artistic ability. If you want elephants trained to paint, you’ll notice that human trainers stroking the elephants’ ears whenever the elephant moves the paintbrush. Elephant ears are very sensitive and touching them in certain ways can be used to train the elephants to do tricks. The trainer teaches the elephant to remember certain patterns of paintbrush strokes and then encourages the elephant to repeat the brushstrokes by touching its ears. So an elephant using a paintbrush is just painting lines it’s been trained to paint. It doesn’t necessarily know that the lines are supposed to represent flowers or animals.

Third, Pliny the Elder and others are misinterpreting the reaction of elephants to mice. Elephants that react fearfully to mice aren’t reacting to the mice themselves but to the fact that mice are unfamiliar to them. Being cautious about unfamiliar animals is a natural instinct. But elephants that live in environments where mice are common, like elephants in zoos don’t react with fear to the mice. Clearly, once elephants become familiar with mice and realize that they don’t pose a threat, they don’t mind them.