Question

【题目】 Whales, like all mammals（哺乳动物）,need air, and come to the surface to breathe through a blowhole. A drone（无人机）that floats over the blowholes of humpback whales as they are making annual journey along Australia's east coast is being used by Australian scientists for collecting nasal mucus（鼻腔粘液）of whales.

Vanessa Pirotta, a biologist at Macquarie University says that nasal mucus indicates the health of the whale. “It is the biological mixture that you see as a whale takes a breath as it surfaces from the water，” she said. You can hear sounds of sharp breaths as a whale breathes because, after all, they are animals like you and I. So as they take a breath it is a lot of lung bacteria coming out from their lungs, which we can collect to provide a brief idea of whale health.

Australian researchers have attached a special dish that is used in scientific tests to a drone which flies through the whale's nasal mist. As a whale comes to take a breath—you can actually see it coming to the surface on really good weather days —the drone then lowers, the dish is then opened, collecting nasal mucus for later research.

The research could help to solve one of the secrets of another impressive creature of the deep —the Southern right whale. Its numbers have recovered on Australia's west coast since hunting became suppressed but its population on the eastern seaboard remains stubbornly low.

In the past, studies into whale health had to rely on examining whales that were either killed or those whales that had been trapped on a beach. Drones allow scientists to collect nasal mucus from free-swimming whales to gather information in a safe way.

【1】What is the drone mainly used to do?

A. To gather information for researchers.

B. To record new species of whales.

C. To guarantee the safety of whales.

D. To take photos of whales' annual journey.

【2】How can a biologist find out a whale's health condition in the study?

A. By examining liquids from its breath.

B. By checking its lungs on a machine.

C. By listening to the sounds of its breath.

D. By studying its similarity with humans.

【3】What does the underlined word “suppressed” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Commercial.B. Rewarding.

C. Hidden.D. Forbidden.

【4】Why is the Southern right whale mentioned?

A. To describe the difficulty to track it.

B. To show the increasing population.

C. To stress the urgency of doing the research.

D. To indicate the potential application of the research.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】A

【3】D

【4】D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了科学家利用无人机来收集鲸鱼的鼻腔粘液以了解它们的健康状况。

【1】细节理解题。根据第一段中的“A drone（无人机）that floats over the blowholes of humpback whales as they are making annual journey along Australia's east coast is being used by Australian scientists for collecting nasal mucus（鼻腔粘液）of whales.”可知，无人机是用来收集鲸鱼的鼻腔粘液的，也就是为研究人员收集信息，故A项正确。

【2】细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Vanessa Pirotta, a biologist at Macquarie University says that nasal mucus indicates the health of the whale.”可知，鼻腔粘液能够反映出鲸鱼的健康情况，由此可知，生物学家在研究中是通过检查鲸鱼呼出的粘液来了解鲸鱼的健康状况的，故A项正确。

【3】词义猜测题。根据画线词前的“Its numbers have recovered on Australia's west coast since hunting became”可知，自捕猎活动受到禁止以来，澳大利亚西海岸的南露脊鲸数量已经开始回升，南露脊鲸数量的回升得益于禁止非法捕猎，由此可知画线词词义为“禁止”，故D项正确。

【4】推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中的“but its population on the eastern seaboard remains stubbornly low.”可知，东部沿海的南露脊鲸的数量仍然很低，言外之意，可以利用这项研究来弄清楚东部沿海的南露脊鲸的数量低的原因，由此可知，文章提到南露脊鲸是为了指出这项研究的潜在应用，故D项正确。

词义猜测题的难度较大，对画线词上下文的理解是关键，例如本篇第3题，根据画线词前的“Its numbers have recovered on Australia's west coast since hunting became”可知，自捕猎活动受到禁止以来，澳大利亚西海岸的鲸鱼数量已经开始回升，根据常识可知，一个物种数量的回升得益于禁止非法捕猎，由此可知画线词词义为“禁止”，故D项正确。