Question

    Ants keep traffic flowing by changing their behavior to meet changing conditions, according to new research.

For their experiment, researchers from the University of Toulouse and the University of Arizona focused on Argentine ants, which are only 2-3 millimeters long and frequently move from colony (栖息地) to colony depending on how far food is. Tapping into the ants' talent for fast commutes (通勤), the researchers constructed bridges between their colonies. The bridges varied in width from a fifth to three-quarters of an inch.

Then the researchers sat back and monitored the traffic. To their surprise, even when those narrower bridges were nearly overloaded, there were no 20-ant pile-ups. And traffic remained steady regardless of how crowed the bridges were because ants could adjust to the flow of road conditions.

"When crowding on the path increased, ants assessed it locally and adjusted their speed accordingly to avoid any interruption of traffic flow," the researchers said. "Moreover, ants avoided entering a crowded path and made sure the bridge was never overloaded."

The lesson for humans? The traffic problem mostly lies in our loss of the quality that the ants have. You've probably noticed it on your own commute to work. Driving is fun when there're few cars on the road-a lane-change (车道变换)here, a little acceleration there. Then traffic slows down. But some impatient drivers still constantly move between lanes.

"Traffic jams are common in human society where some people are focusing on their own personal objectives," the researchers said. "In contrast, ants share a common goal: the survival of the colony, thus they're expected to act cooperatively to get food."

The research also suggests that the ever-widening of highways may never free us from traffic jams. As long as we drive along with our own agendas, no matter how many other people are on the road, we'll always end up in a traffic jam. Indeed, less space may be a good thing. It leaves less room for personal choices and forces us to take a page from the driving handbook of ants.

1.What did the researchers do to the ants in the experiment?

A.They fed them with much delicious food.

B.They trained them to avoid heavy traffic.

C.They built bridges linking their colonies.

D.They improved their colonies constantly.

2.How did the ants behave during the experiment?

A.They worked together to remove the road blocks.

B.They sped up to get out of the traffic jam quickly. .

C.They made their way carefully in the given direction.

D.They adjusted themselves for the flow of the traffic.

3.What is the biggest cause of the traffic jam in human society?

A.Poor road const ruction. B.People's inability to adjust.

C.People's selfish driving. D.Too many vehicles on roads.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.What ants help us do for driving safety.

B.What ants can teach us about traffic jams.

C.Why ants drive much better than humans.

D.Why ants are best at handling traffic jams.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了，从研究蚂蚁能保证交通畅通的研究可以得出，蚂蚁“拥有共同目标”的品质可以避免交通堵塞，这是人类需要学习的品质。

1.细节理解题。由第二段的句子“Tapping into the ants' talent for fast commutes (通勤), the researchers constructed bridges between their colonies.”可知，研究人员利用蚂蚁快速通勤的天赋，在它们的栖息地之间架起了桥梁。故选C项。

2.推理判断题。由第四段的句子“"When crowding on the path increased, ants assessed it locally and adjusted their speed accordingly to avoid any interruption of traffic flow," the researchers said. "Moreover, ants avoided entering a crowded path and made sure the bridge was never overloaded."”可知，研究人员发现当道路上的拥挤程度增加时，蚂蚁会对其进行局部评估，并相应地调整速度，以避免交通流受到任何干扰，此外，蚂蚁避免进入拥挤的小径，并确保大桥不会超载；可以推断出蚂蚁能根据交通流进行调整。故选D项。

3.细节理解题。由倒数第二段的句子“Traffic jams are common in human society where some people are focusing on their own personal objectives”可知，交通堵塞在人类社会很普遍，是因为有些人把注意力集中在自己的个人目标上，此处的their own personal objectives指的是人的自私，所以人类社会交通堵塞的最大原因是开车人的自私。故选C项。

4.主旨大意题。由第一段的句子“Ants keep traffic flowing by changing their behavior to meet changing conditions, according to new research.”（最新研究显示，蚂蚁通过改变行为来满足不断变化的条件，从而保持交通畅通。）、倒数第三段的句子“The lesson for humans? The traffic problem mostly lies in our loss of the quality that the ants have.”（给人类的教训？交通问题主要在于我们失去了蚂蚁的品质。）、倒数第二段“"Traffic jams are common in human society where some people are focusing on their own personal objectives," the researchers said. "In contrast, ants share a common goal: the survival of the colony, thus they're expected to act cooperatively to get food."”（交通堵塞在人类社会很普遍，是因为有些人把注意力集中在自己的个人目标上，然而蚂蚁有一个共同的目标：蚁群的生存，因此它们需要合作行动来获取食物。）和最后一段的句子“It leaves less room for personal choices and forces us to take a page from the driving handbook of ants.”（它给个人选择留下了更少的空间，并迫使我们从蚂蚁驾驶手册中翻开一页。）可知，蚂蚁拥有的“共同目标”的品质，能避免交通堵塞，这是人们需要学习的品质，来避免交通堵塞。所以短文主要的内容是蚂蚁能教我们什么是交通堵塞。故选B项。