Question

    Ants are truly incredible creatures. In addition to talents like predicting earthquakes and saving themselves from drowning during floods, the hardworking insects go all out to protect their own comrades, often carrying the wounded back to the nest to heal. Now researchers have discovered ants who explode and sacrifice themselves to save their nests from attackers.

Although scientists have known about the existence of exploding ants since 1916, they were first found in the rainforests of Borneo in Southeast Asia by an international team of researchers led by Alice Laciny, a graduate student at the Natural History Museum, Vienna.

The researchers noticed that during the day, when the ants went outside to look for food, they would be closely monitored by a small army of “guards”, who touched each member as it went in and out of the nest. Upon running into an attacker, the guard ant would angle its back part towards the attacking creature and shrink its stomach. This caused the ant’s body to explode and release a yellow, deadly goo(粘状物), which instantly killed the attacker.

The ability to explode, however, was not universal among the species and appeared to be possessed only by minor worker ants, usually the smallest ants of the nest. Even more interesting was that while the minor members were blowing themselves up, the large worker ants with oversized plug-shaped heads, placed barriers at the nest’s entrance to prevent other potential enemies from entering.

While the defense measure may sound extreme, Tomer Czazkes believes it is necessary. The behavioral ecologist at Germany’s University of Regensburg says since the insects live in large groups, they are a natural and easy source of food for ant eaters. They, therefore, have to find ways to protect themselves. Ants are not the only insects known to conduct this type of voluntary-sacrifice. Older termites(白蚁 ), who have lost their abilities of nesting and finding food, also explode onto their enemies.

Next, the researchers hope to find out the make-up of their yellow goo, how they use their explosion to take down larger attackers and so on.

1.What’s the main function of Paragraph 1?

A.To tell us ants are gifted B.To show concern for ants’ safety.

C.To say ants face more challenge D.To lead to the main topic of the text.

2.What is regarded as more interesting for the author?

A.The guard ants’ touching each other. B.The minor ants’ voluntary self-sacrifice.

C.The guard ants’ shrinking their stomachs. D.The large ants’ blocking the nest entrance.

3.What do scientists plan to do in the future?

A.Do more research on the older termites.

B.Discover if the ants can kill larger attackers.

C.Uncover more secrets about the exploding ants.

D.Tell the difference between the ants and older termites.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A.Worker Ants Are Easy to Attack

B.Ants Are Expert in Protecting Themselves

C.Worker Ants Explode to Protect Their Nests

D.Graduate Student Discovered New Kind of Ants

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了研究人员发现工蚁会通过自爆来保护巢穴。

1.推理判断题。根据第一段内容，特别是根据“Now researchers have discovered ants who explode and sacrifice themselves to save their nests from attackers.”可知，虽然蚂蚁有很多不可思议的能力，现在研究人员又发现蚂蚁会通过自爆并牺牲自己来保护自己的巢穴免受攻击，再结合第四段中的“The ability to explode, however, was not universal among the species and appeared to be possessed only by minor worker ants, usually the smallest ants of the nest.”可知，然而，这种爆炸的能力在蚂蚁中并不普遍，而且似乎只有少数工蚁拥有，通常是蚁巢中最小的蚂蚁，结合下文的内容可知，

第一段的作用是引出文章主题——工蚁会通过自爆来保护巢穴，故D项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段中的“Even more interesting was that while the minor members were blowing themselves up, the large worker ants with oversized plug-shaped heads, placed barriers at the nest’s entrance to prevent other potential enemies from entering.”可知，更有趣的是，当个头小的工蚁正在自爆时，有着超大的塞状头的大工蚁在巢穴的入口处设置了屏障，以防止其他潜在的敌人进入，由此可知，作者认为更有趣的是大工蚁堵住了蚁巢的入口，故D项正确。

3.细节理解题。根据最后一段“Next, the researchers hope to find out the make-up of their yellow goo, how they use their explosion to take down larger attackers and so on.”可知，接下来，研究人员希望找出这些自爆工蚁的黄色黏液的构成，以及它们如何利用爆炸来制服大型攻击者等等，也就是说科学家将计划揭开更多关于自爆蚂蚁的秘密，故C项正确。

4.主旨大意题。通读全文，特别是根据第一段中的“Now researchers have discovered ants who explode and sacrifice themselves to save their nests from attackers.”可知，研究人员又发现蚂蚁会通过自爆并牺牲自己来保护自己的巢穴免受攻击，再结合第四段中的“The ability to explode, however, was not universal among the species and appeared to be possessed only by minor worker ants, usually the smallest ants of the nest.”可知，然而，这种爆炸的能力在蚂蚁中并不普遍，而且似乎只有少数工蚁拥有，通常是蚁巢中最小的蚂蚁，由此可知，本文主要介绍的是工蚁会通过自爆来保护巢穴，故C项正确。