题目内容
.
Animals suffered at the hands of man________they were destroyed by people to make way for agricultural land to provide food for more people.
| A.in which | B.for which | C.so that | D.in that |
D
解析
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behaviour. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory , Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.
【小题1】What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A.Leading the following paragraphs. |
| B.Showing the main idea of the passage. |
| C.Introducing the background of the passage. |
| D.Giving a summary of the passage. |
| A.is weaker than | B.is stronger than | C.is better than | D.is worse than |
| A.Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving. |
| B.When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical. |
| C.A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical. |
| D.Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other. |
| A.Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places. |
| B.Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants. |
| C.Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior,and then did some tests to prove his theory. |
| D.Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own |
More than 200 scientists have completed a twoyear study to identify the most natural and undeveloped areas on Earth. Their findings are reported in a new book called Wilderness:Earth’s Last Wild Places. The book describes 37 wilderness areas around the world. Each has an area greater than 10,000 square kilometers. The study considered only areas where at least 70% of all plants are native.
North and South America are home to the largest number of wilderness areas. There are 16 such areas, from southern Argentina to Alaska and northern Canada. Africa has 8 wilderness areas, including the thick forests and the grasslands. Australia and New Guinea (几内亚) share 6 areas. Europe has 3 areas and Asia has 2.The Arabian Desert and Antarctica also are considered wilderness areas.
The largest wilderness area is the Boreal Forest (北方森林).It extends for 16million square kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. The Boreal Forest extends across Alaska, Canada, northern Europe and Russia. The smallest of the 37 wilderness areas is the Sundarbans. It is the world’s largest tidal mangrove forest (红树林).It covers 10,000 square kilometers of land at the mouth of the Ganges River in India and Bangladesh (孟加拉国).
The study found that wilderness areas cover about 46% of the Earth’s land surface. However, they are home to less than 2.5% of the world’s population. Nineteen of the wilderness areas have only about one person for each square kilometer. Native people usually live in these areas.
Wilderness areas help to influence the world’s weather systems and rainfall. They are also home to many plants and animals. Population growth and the spread of agriculture and mining operations threaten wilderness areas. But just 7% of all such areas have some form of official protection.
【小题1】What does the author think of the wilderness areas around the world in the book?
| A.Unwanted. | B.Long-lasting. | C.Valuable | D.Perfect. |
| A.are worth the public support | B.can attract readers’ attention |
| C.need to be stressed as resources | D.are seen on every continent |
| A.deserted | B.crowded | C.uncontrolled | D.undeveloped |
| A.thought more of by the governments | B.explored as natural habitats very soon |
| C.further made full use of at present | D.discovered for their advantages of nature |
| A.the importance | B.the situation | C.the development | D.the environment |
Every day we experience one of the wonders of the world around us without even realizing it. It is not the amazing complexity of television, nor the impressive technology of transport. The universal wonder we share and experience is our ability to make noises with our mouths, and so transmit ideas and thoughts to each other’s minds. This ability comes so naturally that we tend to forget what a miracle (奇迹) it is.
Obviously, the ability to talk is something that marks humans off from animals. Of course, some animals have powers just as amazing. Birds can fly thousands of miles by observing pos
itions of the stars in the sky in relation to the time of day and year. In Nature’s talent show, humans are a species of animal that have developed their own special act. If we reduce it to basic terms, it’s an ability for communicating information to others, by varying sounds we make as we breathe out.
Not that we don’t have other powers of communication. Our facial expressions convey our emotions, such as anger, or joy, or disappointment. The way we hold our heads can indicate to others whether we are happy or sad. This is so-called “body language”. Bristling (直立的) fur is an unmistakable warning of attack among many animals. Similarly, the bowed head or drooping tail shows a readiness to take second place in any animal gathering.
Such a means of communication is a basic mechanism that animals, including human beings, instinctively acquire and display. Is the ability to speak just another sort of instinct? If so, how did human beings acquire this amazing skill? Biologists can readily indicate that particular area of our brain where speech mechanisms function, but this doesn’t tell us how that part of our bodies originated in our biological history.
【小题1】According to the passage, the wonder we take for granted is .
| A.our ability to use language | B.the miracle of technology |
| C.our ability to make noises with mouth | D.the amazing power of nature |
| A.Lifting heads when sad. | B.Keeping long faces when angry. |
| C.Bowing heads when willing to obey. | D.Bristling hair when ready to attack. |
| A.Body language is unique to humans. |
| B.Animals express emotions just as humans do. |
| C.Humans are no different from animals to some degree. |
| D.Humans have other powers of communication. |
| A.the development of body language |
| B.the special role humans play in nature |
| C.the difference between humans and animals in language use |
| D.the power to convey information to others |