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 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.
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 |
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. |
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. |
第四部分:阅读理解(共20小题,每小题2分,满分40分)阅读下列短文,从每小题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项
This story took place in Central Africa more than 30 years ago. One day two Europeans got to a small village in which the Negroes lived. One of them looked like the boss, the other was his assistant. The boss looked Sambo up and down said,“Young fellow, you look strong. Would you like to work for me? I will give you more money than at the rubber plantation(橡胶园).”At first Sambo wasn’t able to make up his mind, but a few minutes later he agreed.
Sambo’s new work wasn’t hard. He had only to carry light parcels from the village to the camp of the Europeans. He went a short distance along the road, then into the forest and straight to the camp. On the fifth day, when he went through the woods, he saw a big cage with a lion in it. He hesitated a little and went on. All of a sudden the cage was opened and out jumped the lion with a horrible roar(吼叫).
Sambo dropped the parcel and ran as fast as possible, so as to reach the camp in time. for the white man there were armed with guns. All at once Sambo saw two men high up in the tree. They were the two Europeans for whom he was doing. The assistant was turning the handle of the camera with a smile. It was now clear to him that he had been cheated. His eyes were filled with hatred. He wished to kill them, but it was too late.
1. The young man named Sambo was probably _____.
A. the assistant of the two Europeans
B. an African who worked at the rubber plantation
C. an African who acted as a hunter in the forest
D. the servant of the two Europeans.
2. The two Europeans went to the African village_____.
A. so as to take some photos for the villagers there
B. in order that they could write a book on travels.
C. to take a picture which showed how a real lion ate a real man
D. in order to save Sambo in time of danger
3. What did the boss say to Sambo?
A. He asked Sambo to serve as his servant in his country.
B. He wanted Sambo to guard against the lion.
C. He asked Sambo if he was afraid of a lion.
D. He told Sambo that he would be well paid if he would work for him
4. Not until Sambo _____ did he find out that he was cheated.
A. caught sight of the lion
B. saw the cage with a lion
C. found the white men on the branch of the tree
D. ran before the lion as fast as he could
5. In this story the writer mainly told us_____.
A. how Negroes were not so clever as the white
B. how cruel the two white men were
C. what a silly young man Sambo was
D. Sambo carted so much for money that he lost his life at last
If you go into the forest with friends, stay with them. If you don‘t, you may get lost. If you get lost, this is what you should do. Sit down and stay where you are. Don’t try to find your friends—let them find you. You can help them find you by staying in one place. There is another way to help your friends or other people to find you. You can shout or whistle three times. Stop. Then shout or whistle three times again. Any signal given three times is a call for help. Keep up shouting or whistling. Always three times together. When people hear you, they will know that you are not just making a noise for fun. They will let you know that they have heard your signal. They will give you two shouts or two whistles. When a signal is given twice, it is an answer to a call for help. If you don’t think that you will get help before night comes,try to make a little house with branches. Make yourself a bed with leaves and grass. When you need some water,you have to leave your little branch house to look for it. Don’t just walk away. Pick off small branches and drop them as you walk in order to go back again easily. When you are lost,the most important thing to do is to stay in one place.
1. Which signal is a call for help?
A.shouting here and there
B.crying twice
C.shouting or whistling three times together
D. whistling every where in the forest
2.When you hear two shouts or two whistles,you know that ___________.
A. someone is afraid of an animal B. people will come to help you
C. someone needs helpD. something terrible will happen
3.The main idea of the passage is_______________.
A. how to travel in the forest
B. how to spend the night in the forest
C. what you should do if you want to get some water
D. what you should do if you are lost in the forest
May : Happenings from the past
May 5,1884
Isaac Murphy , son of a slave and perhaps the greatest horse rider in American history , rides Buchanan to win his first Kentucky Derby . He becomes the first rider ever to win the race three times .
May 9 , 1754
Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette produces perhaps the first American political cartoon (漫画), showing a snake cut in pieces, with the words “ Join or Die” printed under the picture.
May 11,1934
The first great dust storm of the Great Plains Dust Bowl , the result of years of drought(干旱),blows topsoil all the way to New York City and Washington , D.C. .
May 19, 1994
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis , former first lady and one of the most famous people of the 1960s , died of cancer in New York City at the age of 64 .
May 24, 1844
Samuel F.B. Morsr taps out the first message , “ What Hath God Wrought ,” over the experimental long-distance telegraph line which runs from Washington, D.C. , to Baltimeore , Md .
1. We know from the text that Buchanan is_____________.
A Isaac”s father B a winnning horse
C.a slave taking care if horses D.the first racing horse in Kentucky
2. What is the title of the first American political cartoon ?
A.Join or Die B.Pennsylvania Gazette
C.What Hath God Wrought D.Kentucky Derby
3. In which year did the former first lady Jacqueline die ?
A. 1934 B. 1960 C . 1964 D. 1994
4.Which of the following places has to do with the first telegram in history ?
A. Washington , D. C. B. New York City
C. Kentucky. D. Pennsylvania
Doctors say anger can be an very harmful emotion(情绪)unless you learn how to deal with it. They warn that angry feelings can lead to heart disease, stomach problems, headaches, emotional problems and possibly cancer.
Anger is a normal emotion that we all feel from time to time. Some people express anger openly in a calm reasonable way. Others burst with anger, losing control of themselves. But other people repress their anger. They cannot or will not express it.
For years many doctors thought that repressing anger was more dangerous to a person’s health than expressing it. They said that when a person is angry, the brain gives off the same hormones(激素)that are produced during tense situations. They speed the heart rate, raise blood pressure, or sugar into the blood and narrow the blood vessels(脉管)to the interstices(空隙). In general, the person feels excited and ready to act.
Doctors said that repressing these feelings only makes the feelings continue. And this can lead to many medical problems. Doctors thought a person could prevent these problems by letting the anger out by expressing it freely. But recently some doctors held a different view. They said that people who express anger repeatedly and violently did become, in fact, more and not less angry.
They said this,too,can cause medical problems.
Some doctors say that both repressing and expressing anger can be dangerous. They believe that those who express anger violently may be more likely to develop heart disease, and they believe that those who keep their anger inside may face a greater danger of high blood pressure.
Doctors say the solution(解决办法)is learning how to deal with anger. They say the first step is to admit that you are angry and to recognize the real cause of the anger, and then decide if the cause is serious. If it is, they say: “Do not express your anger while angry. Wait until your anger has cooled down and you are able to express yourself calmly and reasonably. ”
1. What does the phrase repress anger mean?
A.Forget one’s anger.
B.Express one’s anger openly.
C.Treat one’s anger calmly and reasonably.
D.Keep one’s anger inside.
2. Repressing anger is considered to be dangerous because of all the following except that _____.
A. the heart rate increases B. the blood pressure rises
C. the blood contains sugar D. some blood vessels become thinner
3. When you get angry,which of the following should you do for the good of health?
A. Repressing the anger. B. Expressing the anger.
C. Learning how to make a deal. D. Treating the anger properly.
4. What is the central topic of this passage about?
A.The different ways of dealing with anger.
B.The dangers of anger and the solution.
C.New medical discoveries.
D.The argument between the new and old views about anger.
English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.
However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
1. According to the passage ______.
A. sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things
B. there should be egg in an eggplant
C. pineapples are the apples on the pine tree
D. boxing rings should be round
2. Which of the following is the correct plural?
A. Beeth. B. Geese. C. Meese. D. Tooth.
3. Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?
A. A wise man and a wise guy. B. Overlook and oversee.
C. Quite a lot and quite a few. D. Hot as hell and cold as hell.
4. The underlined words “wind up” in the last paragraph probably mean “______”.
A. blow B. roll up C. get hurt D. finish
5. Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.
A. clever B. crazy C. lazy D. dull