Question

People diet to look more attractive. Fish diet to avoid being beaten up, thrown out of their social group, and getting eaten as a result. That is the fascinating conclusion of the latest research into fish behavior by a team of Australian scientists.

The research team has discovered that subordinate (隶属的)fish voluntarily diet to avoid challenging their larger competitors. “In studying gobies we noticed that only the largest two individuals, a male and female, had breeding(繁殖) rights within the group, ”explains Marian Wong. “All other group members are non-breeding females, each being 5–10% smaller than its next largest competitor. We wanted to find out how they keep this size separation.”

The reason for the size difference was easy to see. Once a subordinate fish grows to within 5–10% of the size of its larger competitor, it causes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being driven away from the group. More often than not, the evicted fish is then eaten up.

It appeared that the smaller fish were keeping themselves small in order to avoid challenging the boss fish. Whether they did so voluntarily，by limiting how much they ate, was not clear. The research team decided to do an experiment. They tried to fatten up some of the subordinate gobies to see what happened. To their surprise，the gobies simply refused the extra food they were offered，clearly preferring to remain small and avoid fights, over having a feast.

The discovery challenges the traditional scientific view of how boss individuals keep their position in a group. Previously it was thought that large individuals simply used their weight and size to threaten their subordinates and take more of the food for themselves, so keeping their competitors small.

While the habits of gobies may seem a little mysterious, Dr. Wong explains that understanding the relationships between boss and subordinate animals is important to understanding how hierarchical (等级的) societies remain stable.

The research has proved the fact that voluntary dieting is a habit far from exclusive(排他的) to humans. “As yet, we lack a complete understanding of how widespread the voluntary reduction of food intake is in nature,” the researchers comment. “Data on human dieting suggests that, while humans generally diet to improve health or increase attractiveness, rarely does it improve long term health and males regularly prefer females that are fatter than the females’ own ideal.”

1.When a goby grows to within 5–10% of the size of its larger competitor, it_______.

A.faces danger B.has breeding rights

C.eats its competitor D.leaves the group itself

2.The underlined words “the evicted fish” in Paragraph 3 refer to _______.

A.the fish beaten up B.the fish found out

C.the fish fattened up D.the fish driven away

3.The experiment showed that the smaller fish_______.

A.fought over a feast B.went on diet willingly

C.preferred some extra food D.challenged the boss fish

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.Fish dieting and human dieting. B.Dieting and health.

C.Human dieting. D.Fish dieting.

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。文章说明了最新的研究成果——鱼类为什么会节食。

1.

细节理解题。从第三段“Once a subordinate fish grows to within 5–10% of the size of its larger competitor, it causes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being driven away from the group. More often than not, the evicted fish is then eaten up.”可知，当鰕虎鱼的体型增长到与更大竞争对手相差不到5-10%时，它就面临被吃掉的危险。故选A。

2.

词义判断题。由上句“it causes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being driven away from the group.”中的“being driven away”提示可知，the evicted fish 指的是“被赶走的鱼”故选D。

3.

推理判断题。从第四段“To their surprise，the gobies simply refused the extra food they were offered，clearly preferring to remain small and avoid fights, over having a feast.”可知，拒绝供给他们额外的食物，而保持小巧，避免打斗。从而可以推断，更小的鱼是心甘情愿地节食地。故选B。

4.

主旨大意题。从文章中的第一段“Fish diet to avoid being beaten up, thrown out of their social group, and getting eaten as a result.”和最后一段“The research has proved the fact that voluntary dieting is a habit far from exclusive(排他的) to humans.”及全文可知，文章主要介绍鱼类为什么会节食。故选D。