Question

【题目】

How do ants know when another ant is dead? Ed Wilson, now the most famous ant scholar in the world, wanted to know.

When Ed Wilson was a young assitant professor at Harvard in 1950s , he found that when ants die, they just lie there, sometimes upside down, feet in the air, while their sister ants- almost all ants in a colony are ladies—walk right by without a look. Unitl about two days later, the dead body starts to send out a chemical signal that changes the living ants’ behaviour greatly.

All of a sudden what was once a pile of gunk(黏糊糊的东西) on the floor becomes a “Problem to Be solved”. Once the signal is in the air, any ant that happens to pass by picks up the dead body and carries it through her colony to a refuse pile and puts it on a pile of also dead ants.

Ed, who would continue the study of ants by studying their ability to communicate with smell, decided to find out what things equal “I am dead.” to an ant. Finally, after much checking and mixing, Ed discovered that a kind of acid was all the ants have to think “DEAD!” One day he took a drop of the acid and put it on an ant that had the bad luck of walking by. Then the next ant that came near grabbed it, put it on its back and put it into the refuse pile though the ant was still alive.

Though it tried to clean itself over and over, the minute it returned to the colony, it was caught and carried back on the pile. At last, it took the ant about an hour or two to get clean enough to return to regular business.

【1】The author says the question was no one on everybody’s lips because ____.

A. it is easy to answer B. it is a foolish and difficult question

C. it is less talked about D. only scientists ask such a question

【2】The underlined word “a refuse pile” probably means the place where _____.

A. injured ants were treated B. other ants lived

C. food was stored D. dead ants were buried

【3】What caught Ed Wilson’s attention when he was at Harvard in the 1950s?

A. An ant wasn’t carried away immediately when it died.

B. Ant died with feet in the air.

C. Sister ants didn’t look after each other at all.

D. Ant’s dead bodies didn’t catch others’ attention.

【4】The ant with acid tries to clean itself over and over ____.

A. to avoid being killed by the acid

B. to avoid being treated as the dead ant

C. to find out more food than anyone else

D. to find out where it got the acid

【5】Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. Dead is what you smell, not what you see

B. It’s funny to carry a living ant.

C. The secret in an ant colony

D. Study ants’ ability to communicate

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】 C

【2】 D

【3】 A

【4】 B

【5】 A

【解析】

短文大意：本文介绍的是对蚂蚁死了还是活着的判断，作者结合埃德·威尔逊20世纪50年代在哈佛大学的研究，介绍了蚂蚁如何通过发出化学物质的气味来告诉同类具体的死亡信息。

【1】题意：作者说的这个问题不在每个人的嘴边，因为 考查细节判断题。A. it is easy to answer很容易回答；B. it is a foolish and difficult question这是一个愚蠢而困难的问题；C. it is less talked about很少谈论；D. only scientists ask such a question只有科学家问这样一个问题。根据问题How do ants know when another ant is dead? 蚂蚁怎么知道另一只蚂蚁死了，可知很少有人思考这个问题，故选C。

【2】题意：下划线的单词“a refuse pile”可能是指_____的地方。考查词义理解题。A. injured ants were treated伤蚁治疗；B. other ants lived其他蚂蚁生活/居住；C. food was stored食物被储存；D. dead ants were buried死蚁被埋葬。根据下文and puts it on a pile of also dead ants. 把它放在一堆也死去的蚂蚁上，可知是堆放死蚁的地方，故选D。

【3】题意：当他在1950年代在哈佛时是什么引起了埃德·威尔逊的注意?考查细节理解题。A. An ant wasn’t carried away immediately when it died. 蚂蚁死后不立即被带走。B. Ant died with feet in the air. 蚂蚁死在空中。C. Sister ants didn’t look after each other at all. 蚂蚁姐妹根本不互相照顾对方。D. Ant’s dead bodies didn’t catch others’ attention. 蚂蚁的尸体没有引起其他蚂蚁的注意。根据he found that when ants die, they just lie there, sometimes upside down, feet in the air, while their sister ants- almost all ants in a colony are ladies—walk right by without a look.，可知尽管其他蚂蚁看到了死掉的蚂蚁但没有别的蚂蚁动它，故选A。

【4】题意：滴了酸的蚂蚁试着一遍遍地清洁自己是为了 。考查细节判断题。A. to avoid being killed by the acid避免被酸杀死；B. to avoid being treated as the dead ant避免被视为死蚁；C. to find out more food than any one else 找出比其他食物更多的食物；D. to find out where it got the acid找出它在哪里得到酸。根据Though it tried to clean itself over and over, the minute it returned to the colony, it was caught and carried back on the pile.，可知身上滴酸的蚂蚁被同伴当做了死蚂蚁，故选B。

【5】题意：下面哪一个能做文章的最佳标题？考查标题归纳题。A. Dead is what you smell, not what you see死亡是闻到的不是看到的；B. It’s funny to carry a living ant. 搬运一只活着的蚂蚁很有趣；C. The secret in an ant colony蚂蚁的秘密；D. Study ants’ ability to communicate研究蚂蚁的交流能力。根据主题句How do ants know when another ant is dead?，结合短文中活蚂蚁对死蚂蚁的判断，可知蚂蚁是根据气味判断生死的，故选A。