Question

【題目】 Humans and elephants don’t always get along. In Africa and Asia, elephants damage infrastructure (基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施), farmers’ crops, and natural habitat critical for other species. If an elephant becomes a problem, humans may kill it. So local people and conservationists are trying to find better ways to keep elephants away from sensitive places. Now, researchers think they have a good tool to stop elephants: honeybee pheromones (信息素).

“Elephants hate being stung (刺) in the trunk, so it’s an extremely sensitive organ. Imagine being stung in your nose by a bee, and multiply that a few thousand times.” said Mark Wright, a professor of entomology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Kenyan farmers have long known that if they hang live beehives around their farms, they will repel elephants. “The problem is logistical, how do you manage hundreds of thousands of hives, if you have a huge area to protect? And then the idea came up to look at the alarm pheromones, which are chemicals that the bee release to launch an attack on something that’s damaging the hive.” Because elephants have a highly developed sense of smell, Wright and his team thought they might be able to use the bees’ alarm signal to affect elephant behavior.

So the researchers tested out a synthetic blend (合成混合物) of chemicals that imitates honeybees’ alarm pheromones. In Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa, the team hung white socks treated with the synthetic mixture as well as untreated control socks around an elephant watering hole, and then observed the animals’ behavior. “Elephants are really curious organisms, they’ll walk along and see something like a sock hanging on a branch in the environment, and they’ll inspect it. And if it’s not treated with the alarm pheromones, they’ll pick it up, throw it around, try to taste it, things like that. And in the case of the treated ones, we found that they would show immediate signs of unease or uncertainty, and they’d eventually back off from them. Very seldom would they go to pick them up and play with them.” The study is in the journal Current Biology.

【1】What will the researchers do to prevent elephants from damaging human’s habitat?

A.Kill them.B.Scare them away.

C.Apply honeybee pheromones.D.Rebuild a new ecosystem.

【2】What does Mr. Wright think of Kenyan farmers’ method if it’s applied to a huge area?

A.Scientific.B.Flexible.C.Awesome.D.Impractical.

【3】Why did the researcher conduct the study?

A.To confirm what they thought.

B.To attract the elephants’ attention.

C.To preserve the elephants’ habitat.

D.To test out honeybee’s alarm pheromones.

【4】What’s the main idea of the text?

A.Elephants and humans don’t get along well.

B.Honeybee pheromones can keep elephants away.

C.Elephants have a highly developed sense of smell.

D.Honeybees release pheromones to launch attacks.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】A

【4】B

【解析】

這是一篇說明文。人類和大象并不總是和睦相處。在非洲和亞洲，大象破壞了基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施、農(nóng)民的莊稼和對其他物種至關(guān)重要的自然棲息地。如果大象成為一個問題，人類可能會殺死它。為了讓大象遠離敏感區(qū)域，研究人員發(fā)明了蜜蜂信息素。

【1】推理判斷題。由第一段中的researchers think they have a good tool to stop elephants: honeybee pheromones(科學(xué)家認為他們有好的工具來阻止大象：信息素)與最后一段中科學(xué)家們進行的實驗(大象遇到被信息素處理過的襪子，它們會立即表現(xiàn)出不安或不確定的跡象，最終他們會退出）可知，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)的信息素在驅(qū)逐大象方面很有用，所以可以推知科學(xué)家們將用這種信息素來驅(qū)逐大象。故選C。

【2】細節(jié)理解題。由文章第三段中的The problem is logistical, how do you manage hundreds of thousands of hives, if you have a huge area to protect?(問題是在組織管理上，如果你要保護一個很大的區(qū)域，你該如何管理成千上萬的蜂巢？)可知，Mr. Wright認為農(nóng)民的這個辦法是不太實用的。A. Scientific科學(xué)的；B. Flexible靈活的；C. Awesome很棒的；D. Impractical不實用的。故選D。

【3】推理判斷題。由文中的Because elephants have a highly developed sense of smell, Wright and his team thought they might be able to use the bees’ alarm signal to affect elephant behavior. So the researchers tested out a synthetic blend of chemicals that imitates honeybees’ alarm pheromones.(因為大象有高度發(fā)達的嗅覺，Wright和他的團隊認為，他們可以利用蜜蜂的化學(xué)警報信號，來影響大象的行為。因此，研究人員測試了一種合成混合物，這種混合物可以模仿蜜蜂的報警信息素)可知，研究人員進行實驗的目的是來驗證他們的想法。故選A。

【4】主旨大意題。這是一篇說明文，文章第一段最后一句就提出了本文的說明對象：為了讓大象遠離敏感區(qū)域，研究人員發(fā)明了蜜蜂信息素。其后的段落都是針對信息素這個想法是如何產(chǎn)生的，以及它的實驗效果如何展開的。所以本文的中心內(nèi)容就是：信息素的確可以驅(qū)趕大象。故選B。

主旨大意題是篇章閱讀一個主要的考察方式，文章中心題是其一種典型的考察形式。文章中心題的解題技巧是不要被文章細節(jié)所干擾。一般有兩種方式解題：一是看首尾段，根據(jù)首尾段內(nèi)容總結(jié)文章中心；二是看每段段首句，根據(jù)所有段首句總結(jié)文章中心。本題中的第四題就是文章中心題，由于這是一篇說明文，所以從第一段就可以找到本文的說明對象：為了驅(qū)趕大象，科學(xué)家發(fā)明了信息素。然后其余段落都是對信息素這個想法是如何產(chǎn)生的，以及它的實驗效果如何的詳細論述。所以在找文章中心時，記得借助篇章結(jié)構(gòu)的知識。