Question

    Humans and elephants don’t always get along. In Africa and Asia, elephants damage equipment, farmers’ crops, and natural habitat for other species. If an elephant becomes a problem, humans may kill it. So local people and animal protectionists are trying to find better ways to keep elephants away from sensitive places. Now, researchers think they have a good tool to prevent elephants: honeybee pheromones (信息素).

“Elephants dislike being stung(叮咬) in the trunk, because 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 at the University of Hawaii.

Kenyan farmers have long known that if they hang live beehives (蜂箱) around their farms, they will drive elephants away. The problem is how to 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 bees release to launch an attack on something that’s damaging the hive.

So the researchers tested out an artificial mixture of chemicals that imitates (模仿) honey bees’ alarm pheromones. The researchers hung white socks treated with the artificial mixture as well as untreated control socks around an elephant watering hole, and then observed the animals’ behavior. “Elephants are really curious creatures. They’ll walk along and see something like a sock hanging on a branch. If it’s not treated with the alarm pheromones, they’ll pick it up, throw it around, and try to taste it, things like that. And in the case of the treated ones, they would show immediate signs of unease or uncertainty, and they’d eventually back off from them.”

In order to avoid the elephants more effectively, the researchers plan to make the pheromone mixture purer. That way, elephants will stay far away from wherever they should not be going-and both elephants and humans can coexist a bit more peacefully.

1.What can we infer from the underlined sentence in paragraph 2?

A.Bees enjoy stinging elephants.

B.Elephants’ trunk is a sensitive organ.

C.Being stung in the trunk is unbearable to elephants.

D.Honeybee pheromones make elephants suffer great pain.

2.Why didn’t the researchers hang live beehives to keep elephants away from crops?

A.Because it’s not practical.

B.Because it doesn’t work to elephants.

C.Because elephants like the taste of honey.

D.Because researchers prefer to invent new chemicals.

3.Paragraph 4 mainly tells us_________.

A.how the experiment was carried out

B.elephants’ reaction to the white socks

C.how to imitate honeybee alarm pheromones

D.why the team hung two different white socks

4.What’s the purpose of the research?

A.To cut down the number of elephants.

B.To keep elephants away with bees’ stings.

C.To prevent elephants from damaging crops.

D.To better the relation between humans and elephants.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.A

4.D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。人类和大象并不总是相处融洽。在非洲和亚洲，大象破坏设备、农民的庄稼和其他物种的自然栖息地，这样人类就可能杀死大象。于是研究者研究了一种避免大象闯入农田，保护大象的方法——采用蜜蜂报警信号驱赶大象。这样人类和大象就能和平共处。

1.推理判断题。根据第二段划线部分的“Elephants dislike being stung(叮咬) in the trunk, because it’s an extremely sensitive organ. Imagine being stung in your nose by a bee, and multiply that a few thousand times.”(大象讨厌象鼻被蛰，因为象鼻是非常敏感的器官。想象一下被蜜蜂蜇在你的鼻子里，然后把它放大几千倍。)可以推断，这句话说明象鼻被蛰对大象来说是难以忍受的。分析选项可知C项符合题意，故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第三段的“Kenyan farmers have long known that if they hang live beehives (蜂箱) around their farms, they will drive elephants away. The problem is how to manage hundreds of thousands of hives, if you have a huge area to protect.”可知，肯尼亚农民早就知道，如果他们把活的蜂箱挂在农场周围，就会把大象赶走。问题是，如果要保护的区域很大，那么如何管理成千上万的蜂箱。由此可推断出，把活的蜂箱挂起来驱赶大象，无法管理。由此可推断出这种做法是不可行的。故选A。

3.主旨大意题。第四段的So the researchers tested out an artificial mixture of chemicals that imitates (模仿) honey bees’ alarm pheromones.” 可知研究人员测试了一个人造化学物质的混合物模仿蜜蜂的报警信息素。下面叙述实验如何进行： The researchers hung white socks treated with the artificial mixture as well as untreated control socks around an elephant watering hole, and then observed the animals’ behavior. “Elephants are really curious...walk along and see... pick it up, throw it around, and try to taste ...And in the case of the treated ones, they would show immediate signs of unease or uncertainty, and they’d eventually back off from them.” 研究小组将经过人造混合物处理的白袜子和未经处理的袜子，挂在大象周围的一个水坑边，然后观察大象的行为。大象真的是很好奇的生物，它们会沿着这条路往前走，看到有一只袜子挂在树枝上，然后他们会检查它。如果袜子不被报警信息素处理，他们会把它捡起来，扔到周围，试着品尝，诸如此类的事情。而假如是被处理的袜子，他们会立即表现出不安或不确定的迹象，最终会退缩。由此可推断出第4段主要叙述实验是如何进行的。分析选项可知选A。

4.推理判断题。第一段“Humans and elephants don't always get along.”首先提出人类和大象并不总是相处融洽。最后一段“In order to avoid the elephants more effectively, the researchers plan to make the pheromone mixture purer. That way, elephants will stay far away from wherever they should not be going-and both elephants and humans can coexist a bit more peacefully.”为了更有效地避开大象，研究人员计划让信息素混合物更纯净。这样，大象将远离他们不应该去的地方，大象和人类都可以和平共处。由此可推断出研究的目的是为了改善人类和大象之间的关系大象和人类能和平共处。故选D。