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.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.A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了由于蜜蜂数量在不断减少，科学家们通过在无人机的光滑的表面附着马毛模仿蜜蜂毛茸茸的身体，在马毛上粘上一层特殊的粘性凝胶，然后控制雄蜂在花上飞行，这样雄蜂采集的花粉量更大。不过科学家认为这种无人机不会完全取代蜜蜂，而只是帮助蜜蜂完成授粉的任务。

1.词句猜测题。根据第三段中划线词前一句When it was rediscovered a decade later, it hadn’t dried up or degraded at all.可知，当十年后被重新发现时，凝胶根本没有干涸或退化。由此可知，Miyako惊讶的是凝胶还具有很高的粘性。因此可以猜测划线词viscosity意思为“粘性，粘度”。故选B项。

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，他对该领域的特殊贡献包括一种凝胶，10年前他认为这是一个错误，并被卡在一个储物柜里。当它在十年后被重新发现时，它根本没有干涸或退化。由此可知，Miyako是偶然间发现这种凝胶的特殊特性。故选D项。

3.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, however.可知，在投入使用之前，还有很多工作需要做。由此推断，这种无人机还未投入使用。故选A项。