Question

【題目】

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(黏糊糊的東西) 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：本文介紹的是對(duì)螞蟻死了還是活著的判斷，作者結(jié)合埃德·威爾遜20世紀(jì)50年代在哈佛大學(xué)的研究，介紹了螞蟻如何通過(guò)發(fā)出化學(xué)物質(zhì)的氣味來(lái)告訴同類具體的死亡信息。

【1】題意：作者說(shuō)的這個(gè)問(wèn)題不在每個(gè)人的嘴邊，因?yàn)?/span> 考查細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。A. it is easy to answer很容易回答；B. it is a foolish and difficult question這是一個(gè)愚蠢而困難的問(wèn)題；C. it is less talked about很少談?wù)?/span>；D. only scientists ask such a question只有科學(xué)家問(wèn)這樣一個(gè)問(wèn)題。根據(jù)問(wèn)題How do ants know when another ant is dead? 螞蟻怎么知道另一只螞蟻死了，可知很少有人思考這個(gè)問(wèn)題，故選C。

【2】題意：下劃線的單詞“a refuse pile”可能是指_____的地方�？疾樵~義理解題。A. injured ants were treated傷蟻治療；B. other ants lived其他螞蟻生活/居�。�C. food was stored食物被儲(chǔ)存；D. dead ants were buried死蟻被埋葬。根據(jù)下文and puts it on a pile of also dead ants. 把它放在一堆也死去的螞蟻上，可知是堆放死蟻的地方，故選D。

【3】題意：當(dāng)他在1950年代在哈佛時(shí)是什么引起了埃德·威爾遜的注意?考查細(xì)節(jié)理解題。A. An ant wasn’t carried away immediately when it died. 螞蟻死后不立即被帶走。B. Ant died with feet in the air. 螞蟻死在空中。C. Sister ants didn’t look after each other at all. 螞蟻姐妹根本不互相照顧對(duì)方。D. Ant’s dead bodies didn’t catch others’ attention. 螞蟻的尸體沒(méi)有引起其他螞蟻的注意。根據(jù)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.，可知盡管其他螞蟻看到了死掉的螞蟻但沒(méi)有別的螞蟻動(dòng)它，故選A。

【4】題意：滴了酸的螞蟻試著一遍遍地清潔自己是為了 。考查細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。A. to avoid being killed by the acid避免被酸殺死；B. to avoid being treated as the dead ant避免被視為死蟻；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。根據(jù)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.，可知身上滴酸的螞蟻被同伴當(dāng)做了死螞蟻，故選B。

【5】題意：下面哪一個(gè)能做文章的最佳標(biāo)題？考查標(biāo)題歸納題。A. Dead is what you smell, not what you see死亡是聞到的不是看到的；B. It’s funny to carry a living ant. 搬運(yùn)一只活著的螞蟻很有趣；C. The secret in an ant colony螞蟻的秘密；D. Study ants’ ability to communicate研究螞蟻的交流能力。根據(jù)主題句How do ants know when another ant is dead?，結(jié)合短文中活螞蟻對(duì)死螞蟻的判斷，可知螞蟻是根據(jù)氣味判斷生死的，故選A。