Question

    One day, gardeners might not just hear the buzz of bees among their flowers, but the whirr of robots, too. Scientists have managed to turn an unassuming drone (无人机) into a remote-controlled pollinator (授粉媒介) by attaching horsehairs coated with a special, sticky gel to its underbelly.

Animal pollinators are needed for the reproduction of 90% of flowering plants and one third of human food crops. Chief among those are bees — but many bee populations in the United States have been in steep decline in recent decades. Thus, the decline of bees isn't just worrisome because it could disrupt ecosystems, but also because it could disrupt agriculture and economy. People have been trying to come up with replacement techniques, but none of them are especially effective yet.

Scientists have thought about using drones, but they haven't figured out how to make free-flying robot insects that can rely on their own power source without being attached to a wire. “It’s very tough work,” said senior author Eijiro Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. His particular contribution to the field involves a gel, one he’d considered a mistake 10 years before and stuck in a storage cabinet. When it was rediscovered a decade later, it hadn’t dried up or degraded at all. “I was so surprised because it still had high viscosity,” Miyako said.

The chemist noticed that when dropped, the gel absorbed an impressive amount of dust from the floor. Miyako realized this material could be very useful for picking up pollen (花粉). He and his colleagues chose a drone and attached horsehairs to its smooth surface to mimic a bee’s fuzzy body. They coated those horsehairs in the gel, and then controlled the drones over lilies, where they would pick up the pollen from one flower and then deposit the pollen at another one, thus fertilizing it.

The scientists looked at the hairs under a scanning electron microscope and counted up the pollen grains attached to the surface and found that the drones whose horsehairs had been coated with the gel had about 10 times more pollen than those that had not been coated with the gel.

Miyako does not think such drones would replace bees altogether, but could simply help bees with their pollinating duties. There’s a lot of work to be done before that's a reality, however. Small drones will need to become more controllable and energy efficient, as well as smarter, with better GPS and artificial intelligence.

1.What does the underlined word “viscosity” in Para.3 probably mean?

A.Hardness. B.Stickiness.

C.Flexibility. D.Purity.

2.We can learn from the passage that ______.

A.bees disrupt both agriculture and economy

B.scientists have invented self-powered robot insects

C.bees in the United States are on the edge of extinction

D.Miyako found the special feature of the gel by chance

3.A drone works best in picking up pollen when ______.

A.its body is made like a bee’s

B.its GPS works more efficiently

C.some flowers are coated with the gel

D.horsehairs with the gel are attached to it

4.According to Eijiro Miyako, the drones ______.

A.are not yet ready for practical use

B.may eventually replace bees in the future

C.are much more efficient than bee pollinators

D.can provide a solution to economic depression

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.D

4.A

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了蜜蜂数量的减少令人担忧，因为这可能破坏生态系统，也可能破坏农业和经济。人们一直在试图想出替代技术，科学家们通过在马毛的下腹部贴上一层特殊的粘性凝胶，成功地将一种不起眼的雄蜂变成了一种遥控传粉器。

1.词义猜测题。根据第三段中“When it was rediscovered a decade later, it hadn’t dried up or degraded at all.”可知，十年后被重新发现时，凝胶根本没有干枯或退化。因此Miyako惊讶的是它仍然具有很高的粘性。结合选项，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据第三段中“ His particular contribution to the field involves a gel, one he’d considered a mistake 10 years before and stuck in a storage cabinet. When it was rediscovered a decade later, it hadn’t dried up or degraded at all.”可知，Miyako是偶然间发现凝胶这种特殊特性的。结合选项，故选D。

3.细节理解题。根据倒数第二段中“The scientists looked at the hairs under a scanning electron microscope and counted up the pollen grains attached to the surface and found that the drones whose horsehairs had been coated with the gel had about 10 times more pollen than those that had not been coated with the gel.”可知，科学家们在扫描电子显微镜下观察了这些毛发，并对附着在表面的花粉粒进行了计数，发现那些马毛上涂有凝胶的雄蜂的花粉量大约是没有涂有凝胶的雄蜂的10倍。结合选项，故选D。

4.推理判断题。根据文章最后一段中“ There’s a lot of work to be done before that's a reality, ”可知，在投入使用之前，还有很多工作需要做。故可知，这种无人机还未投入使用。结合选项，故选A。