Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝)—either recorded or real—may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer’s crops.

In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.

Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next,Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family.

From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.

Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.

1.We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of .

A. loud noises B. some crops

C. video cameras D. angry bees

2.As mentioned in the passage, Lucy .

A. works by herself in Africa

B. needs to test more elephant groups

C. has stopped elephants eating crops

D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms

3.Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?

A. To record the sound of bees.

B. To make a video of elephants.

C. To see if elephants would run away.

D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.

4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.

B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.

C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.

D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.

Time Travel

If you could travel in time, where would you go? Perhaps you would watch an originalperformance of a Shakespeare’s play in Elizabethan England?

What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period? Or maybe you’d voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds.

The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing. Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the best known example is science fiction novel The Time Machine, which was written by H.G.Wells and published in 1895 for the first time. It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term “time machine”, coined by

Wells, is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.

But could time travel actually be possible? Some scientists say yes, in theroy. They propose using cracks in time and space called“wormholes”,which could be used as shortcuts to other periods.Einstein's theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances.And British physicist Stephen Hawking says you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship—going at nearly the speed of light.Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task.

Even if you could travel into the past, there is something called the “grandfather paradox”.It asks what would happen if a time traveler were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason, and therefore prevent himself from being born.If the time traveler wasn't born, how would he travel back in time?

And would you really like to visit the future?In H.G.Wells' book,the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs.He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles(触角).

If that's what's in store, maybe we are better just living in the present day after all.

1.The novel The Time Machine mentioned in Paragraph 2 aims to show___________.

A.People's interest in time travel

B.the special feature of the book

C.the long history of time travel

D.the contribution of H.G.Wells

2.Einstein's and Hawking's theories_________.

A.have similarities in many ways

B.push the invention of the first spaceship

C.have proved wrong by some time travelers

D.suggest the possibility to invent the time machine

3.In Paragraph 4,“grandfather paradox”probably refers to the idea that__________.

A.the traveler is prevented from meeting his grandfather

B.the traveler goes back in time to seek for his grandfather

C.the grandfather's death makes the traveler's birth impossible

D.The reunion of the traveler and his grandfather brings happiness

4.According to the passage, what is probably the author's attitude towards time travel?

A.Unclear. B.Skeptical.

C.Supportive.D.Unconcerned.

A

You've probably heard about sports coaches, fitness coaches, voice and music teachers, career counselors, psychiatrists(精神病医师) and other specialists who teach skills and help us cope with daily life.

But there's a rapidly growing kind of professional who does a little bit of everything. She or he is called a “ life coach ”. People who are at crossroads in their lives, and corporations that want to give certain employees a career boost, are turning to them for help.

The idea that one person’s success story can change other people’s lives for the better goes back at least to the 1930s. Dale Carnegie’s famous self-improvement program “How to Win Friends and Influence People” came along soon thereafter.

But this new style of life coaches includes more than enthusiastic speakers or writers. They use their own experiences in business, sports, military service, or psychotherapy (心理疗法)to help others make critical life decisions.

They often give their approach a slogan, such as “energy coaching” or “fearless living” or “working yourself happy”.

Dave Lakhani in Boise, Idaho, for instance, works with salespeople to develop what he calls a “road map”. He says an ongoing relationship with a coach is like having a personal fitness trainer for one’s career and life outside work.

Lakhani’s Bold Approach coaching firm also donates some of its time to help people who are anything but successful---including battered women and struggling single mothers.

But others in the so-called “helping professions” are not thrilled about the life-coaching movement. They say that anyone, trained or untrained, can call himself or herself a life coach, and that slick(华而不实的) promoters who mess with people’s lives can do more harm than good.

1.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Working Yourself Happy.

B. Life Coaches Help with Tough Decisions.

C. How to Cope with Daily Life with Life Coaches.

D. The Life-Coaching Movement.

2.The underlined phrase “life coach” in Paragraph 2 means“_______”.

A. The career counselor who teaches skills

B. The psychiatrist who helps us cope with daily life

C. The fitness coach who teaches us lessons

D. The specialist who helps us make important life decisions

3.The last paragraph is mainly about__________.

A. the introductions of life coach

B. the disagreements of life coach

C. the effects of life coach

D. the experiences of life coach

4.What is the author’s attitude towards life coaches?

A. Cautious. B. Approving.

C. Casual. D. Disapproving.

Three Japanese tourists taking a holiday in Australia got stuck when their GPS told them they could drive from the mainland to an island,failing to mention the 15 kilometres of water and mud in between.

As they drove their hired car from Moreton Bay to nearby North Stradbroke Island,they started to notice the firm surface they were driving on giving way to the well-known bay mud.However, being confident that their GPS would direct them to a road soon,they decided to drive on,managing to travel around 500 metres before their car was up to its tires in mud.To make matters worse,the tide(潮汐)started to come in and soon forced them to seek help and abandon the vehicle.Just four hours later the car was trapped in,two metres of water—to the great amusement of onlookers on the shore and passengers on passing boats and ferries.

Yuzu Noda,21,said she was listening to the GPS and“it told us we could drive down there.It kept saying it would navigate(导航)us to a road.But we got stuck…there’s lots of mud.”She and her travel companions Tomonari Saeki,22,and Keita Osada,21,instead had to give up their plans for a day trip to the island and headed back to the Gold Coast of a lift from the RACQ tow truck(吊车)driver who was called to the trapped car.No such luck for the hired car though—after assessing the situation,no attempt was made to recover it. The students from Tokyo,who are due to return home tomorrow, said the experience would not put them off returning to Australia for another visit.Mr.Tomonari said,“It has rained every day on our six day holiday.Hopefully next time we come back it will be sunny.”

The car was covered by insurance,but the tourists will have to pay up to about$1 500 in extra charges.

1.The three Japanese tourists got stuck because________.

A.there was no way to the island

B.their GPS had given the wrong information

C.their GPS was broken during their journey

D.their car was not made in Japan

2.They didn’t abandon their car until___________.

A.some onlookers went to save them

B.they got stuck in the mud

C.there came the tide

D.they managed to travel around 500 metres

3.How did these Japanese students get back?

A.They had to walk back to their living place.

B.They had to repair their GPS and drove back.

C.They had to turn to pass

engers on boats and ferries.

D.They had to take a lift from the tow truck driver.

4.From the passage we can know that__________.

A.The car was left where it was trapped

B.The passengers saved these students in the end

C.Mr.Tomonari got very down after the journey

D.No money has to be paid thanks to insurance

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网