Question

Who is better at predicting earthquakes, animals or scientists with instruments? Evidence collected so far suggests that an ordinary animal—a dog, a horse, a pig—may give as reliable a warning of an_impending_earthquake as scientists.

In 1970, 200 instruments failed to predict a California earthquake that shook buildings in San Francisco, 78 miles away. But in 1974, several months before a big earthquake in China, pigs climbed the walls, hens would not roost (栖息), trained dogs did not obey commands and farmyard geese refused to fly. The Chinese scientists paid attention to these and other signs, they educated people before the earthquake struck there and saved a hundred thousand lives.

Many nations now have animals?warning centers to try to learn the animal sense so that instruments can be built to detect the same signal.

1．This passage mainly tells us ________.

A．about the big earthquake in San Francisco

B．that animals can predict earthquakes

C．that animals are better at predicting earthquakes than scientists

D．that some of the animals are clever than human beings

2．The underlined words “an impending earthquake” mean an earthquake ________.

A．that will take place very soon

B．that has just taken place

C．that will not take place

D．that will take place in a very long time

3．In 1974, many people's lives were saved in the earthquake because ________.

A．animals climbed the walls or did not obey orders

B．people knew the correct time of the earthquake

C．scientists knew an earthquake would come and people were well prepared for it

D．scientists prevented the earthquake from taking place

4．Now many countries want to predict earthquakes better ________.

A．with the help of animals

B．all by themselves

C．than animals

D．without animals

 

Answer 1

1．B　通读全文可知，本文讨论的是动物的反常行为可以成为预测地震的依据，故B项正确。文中并没有说动物在预测地震方面比科学家更强或是比人类更聪明。

2．A　由文章第二段第二句所举事例“But in 1974, several...refused to fly”可知，动物的反常行为发生在地震前的几个月，因此“an impending earthquake”应该指将要发生的地震，故A项正确。

3．C　由文章第二段可知，由于科学家们注意到了动物的反常行为，由此推测出地震发生的可能性，并告知了当地居民提前做好准备，这才挽回了很多人的生命，故C项正确。

4．A　由最后一段可知，很多国家建立了动物警报中心，通过对动物感知的研究来协助仪器进行地震的探测，以便更好地进行地震预测，故A项正确。