[解析]
(1)细节理解题。根据第一段Despite the fact that parrots are well known for their long lives and complex cognition(认知),it remains unknown whether the two traits(特征)have influenced each other.(尽管鹦鹉以长寿和复杂的认知能力而闻名,但这两种特征是否相互影响仍不清楚。)和第二段"The problem has been sourcing good quality data," said Simeon Smeele,a doctoral student at the Max Plancl Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI﹣AB) and lead author of a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B that tried to solve this question.(马克斯•普朗克动物行为研究所(MPI﹣AB)的博士生西蒙•斯梅尔(Simeon Smeele)说:"问题在于如何获取高质量的数据。"他在《英国皇家学会学报B》(Proceedings of The Royal Society B)上发表了一项研究,试图解决这个问题。)可知,该研究的目的是弄清楚鹦鹉的认知和寿命之间的联系。故选D。
(2)推理判断题。根据第三段Scientists from the MPI﹣AB and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI﹣EvA) teamed up with Species360 to compile data from over 130,000 individual parrots sourced from over 1,000 zoos to find the average life span of 217 parrot species.(MPI﹣AB马克斯•普朗克进化人类学研究所的科学家与物种360合作,从1000多家动物园的130000多只鹦鹉个体中收集数据,以找出217种鹦鹉的平均寿命。)可知,研究者们通过分析所收集的数据的方式来实施研究。故选C。
(3)推理判断题。根据倒数第三段Because brain size relative to body size can be an indicator of intelligence,the findings suggested that the parrots with larger brains were able to survive for longer in the wild.(因为相对于身体大小的大脑大小可以作为智力的一个指标,研究结果表明,大脑较大的鹦鹉能够在野外生存更长时间。)可知,更大的大脑可能是鹦鹉长寿的原因之一。故选C。
(4)段落大意题。根据最后一段In the future,the team plan to explore if sociality and cultural learning in parrots might have also contributed to long lifespans.(未来,研究小组计划探索鹦鹉的社会性和文化学习是否也可能有助于延长寿命。)可知,未来研究小组将在现有研究的基础上,探索鹦鹉的社会性和文化学习是否也有助于延长寿命,即基于当前发现的进一步研究。故选D。