Question

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　　Elephants that destroy crops and damage trees are a serious problem in many parts of Africa. But there could be a simple and relatively safe way to stop them in their tracks, by employing the talents of the tiny African honeybee. The number of elephants in Kenya has risen over the past decade, with some disastrous results. Not only do these huge animals attack local farms, but they trample someone to death an average of once every two weeks, fuelling calls for the beasts to be killed. Now a biologist has discovered a possible deterrent(威慑): the elephants are extremely careful of trees that house honeybee hives.

　　“I am puzzled why nobody has thought of this before,” says Fritz Vollrath at the university of Oxford.“When an elephant knocks a beehive, they run and the bees will follow them for miles.” He says that placing hives of the honeybee strategically around local farms could be an effective way to deter the animals. Vollrath put 30 unoccupied and 6 occupied beehives in some of the trees growing a hectare of bush frequently damaged by elephants on Laikipia Plateau in Kenya. On average the elephants attacked 9 out of 10 trees that didn't have hives, severely damaging a quarter. But they steered clear of all six trees with empty hives, suggesting that some had learnt not to take the risk.

　　The bees deter elephants by stinging vulnerable(易受攻击的) areas such as the eyes, belly, behind the ears and under the trunk. People could be at risk from the bees, admits Vollrath, but that may be outweighed by the risk of being killed by an elephant. Preliminary(初步的) experiments by Vollrath show that elephants also avoid the sound of angry bees played from loudspeakers.

1．What is NOT a disastrous result of the numerous elephants?

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A．Local farms are attacked and destroyed by the elephant.

B．The elephants often walk on persons and cause them to death.

C．The number of the bees is increasing rapidly.

D．About two dozen people were caused to death thanks to numerous elephants.

2．The underlined phrase “steered clear of” can be replaced by ________.

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A．attacked

B．kept away from

C．feared

D．cut down

3．We can infer that ________.

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A．African people are very afraid of elephants

B．bees can be used to drive away large elephants

C．bees don't sting people in Africa

D．sounds of bees played from loudspeaker can also frighten large elephants away

4．Which of the following is NOT true?

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A．Bees and elephants often attack each other.

B．The trunk of an elephant is seldom stung by the bees.

C．The elephant dare not go near the beehives.

D．We should deter elephants instead of killing them.

Answer 1

答案：C;B;D;A
解析：

1．C　　本文介绍了一种驱赶损坏庄稼的大象的方法－蜜蜂驱赶法。根据“Not only do these huge animals attack local farms, but they trample someone to death an average of once every two weeks,”可知，A、B、D项所述叙的事实正确，而C项并没有提到。 　　2．B　　根据“But they steered clear of all six trees with empty hives, suggesting that some had learnt not to take the risk.”可知，尽管这6个蜂箱是空的，没有蜜蜂，但大象还是不敢冒险，可以推出，大象不敢靠近这6个空蜂箱，他们避开了空蜂箱。故B正确。 　　3．D　　根据“Preliminary(初步的) experiments by Vollrath show that elephants also avoid the sound of angry bees played from loudspeakers.”可以断定，高音喇叭放出的蜜蜂声也能把大象吓跑。 　　4．A　　B、C和D项原文均有提及，而A项不符合题意。