Question

Fish have ears. Really. They're quite small and have no opening to the outside world carrying sound through the body. For the past seven years, Simon Thorrold, a university professor, has been examining fish ears, small round ear bones called otoliths.

As fish grow, so do their otoliths. Each day, their otoliths gain a ring of calcium carbonate(碳酸钙).By looking through a microscope and counting these rings, Thorrold can determine the exact age of a young fish. As a fish gets older, its otoliths no longer get daily rings. Instead, they get yearly rings, which can also be counted, giving information about the fish's age, just like the growth rings of a tree.

Ring counting is nothing new to fish scientists. But Thorrold has turned to a new direction. They're examining the chemical elements of each otolith ring.

The daily ring gives us the time, but chemistry tells us about the environment in which the fish swam on any given day. These elements tell us about the chemistry of the water that the fish was in. It also says something about water temperature, which determines how much of these elements will gather within each otolith ring.

Thorrold can tell, for example, if a fish spent time in the open ocean before entering the less salty water of coastal areas. He can basically tell where fish are spending their time at any given stage of history.

In the case of the Atlantic croaker, a popular saltwater food fish, Thorrold and his assistant have successfully followed the travelling of young fish from mid-ocean to the coast, a journey of many hundreds of miles.

This is important to managers in the fish industry, who know nearly nothing about the whereabouts of the young fish for most food fish in the ocean. Eager to learn about his technology, fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears.

1.What can we learn about fish ears from the text?

A. They are small soft rings.

B. They are openings only on food fish.

C. They are not seen from the outside.

D. They are not used to receive sound.

2.Why does the writer compare the fish to trees?

A. Trees gain a growth ring each day.

B. Trees also have otoliths.

C. Their growth rings are very small.

D. They both have growth rings.

3.The Atlantic croaker is ___________.

A. a fish research   B. a fishing company

C. an ocean area     D. a fish

4.Why is it important to study the chemistry of otolith rings?

A. The elements of the otoliths can tell the history of the sea.

B. Chemical contents of otoliths can tell how fast fish can swim.

C. We can know more about fish and their living environment.

D. Scientists can know exactly how old a fish is.

5.How would you understand “fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears”?

A. They are very interested in Thorrold's research findings.

B. They want to know where they can find fish.

C. They lend their fish for chemical studies.

D. They wonder if Thorrold can find growth rings from their ears.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.D

4.C

5.A

【解析】

试题分析：Simon Thorrold通过对鱼耳朵及耳内的年轮研究，告诉我们鱼年轮能表明鱼的年龄还能表明它的生存环境，这项研究使很多科学家感兴趣。

1.C细节推理题。根据They're quite small and have no opening to the outside world carrying sound through the body.和By looking through a microscope and counting these rings,可知鱼的耳朵很小，从外面看不到，要用显微镜观察，故选C.

2.D推理判断题。根据第二段内容可知鱼有daily rings（日轮）和yearly rings（年轮），此处作者把鱼和树相比，是因为它们都有年轮，故选D.

3.D细节推理题。根据In the case of the Atlantic croaker, a popular saltwater food fish,可知这是一种咸水鱼，故选D.

4.C推理判断题。根据 The daily ring gives us the time, but chemistry tells us about the environment in which the fish swam on any given day.我们可知鱼的轮纹既能告诉我们它的年龄，又能告诉我们它的生存环境。根据文意选C.

5.

考点：考查科普类短文阅读。