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 into a remote-controlled pollinator by attaching horsehairs coated with a special, sticky glue to the under part of it.

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 spoil ecosystems. but also, because it could spoil 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 Elijio Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. His particular contribution to the field involves a kind of glue, 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 broke down at all. “I was so surprised because it still had high viscosity,” Miyako said.

The chemist noticed that when dropped, the glue absorbed an impressive amount of dust from the floor. Miyako realized this material could be very useful for picking up pollen. He and his colleagues chose a drone and attached horsehairs to its smooth surface to imitate a bee's furry body. They coated those horsehairs in the glue, and then controlled the drones over flowers, 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 glue had about 10 times more pollen than those that had not been coated with the glue.

Mivako 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 disturb both agriculture and economy

B.scientists invented automatic robot insects

C.Miyako found the special feature of the glue accidently

D.bees in the United States are on the edge of extinction

3.A drone works best in picking up pollen when ___

A.it is coated with the glue B.its body is made like a bee's

C.researchers control it precisely D.horsehairs with the glue are attached to it

4.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.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了科学家们已经成功地将一架不起眼的无人机变成了远程控制的传粉者，方法是将马毛涂上一层特殊的粘性胶水附着在无人机的下方。文章说明了进行这一技术开发背后的原因是美国的许多蜜蜂的数量在近几十年来急剧下降，同时介绍了这种胶水的发现过程。以及对这项技术未来的看法。

1.

词义猜测题。根据上文His particular contribution to the field involves a kind of glue, 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 broke down at all.可知Miyako对这一领域的特殊贡献涉及到一种胶水，10年前他认为这是错误的，胶水被放在了一个储物柜里。当胶水在十年后被重新发现时，它根本没有干涸或损坏。由此可知，因此Miyako对这种胶水的粘度感到很惊讶，故划线单词“viscosity”意思为“粘性”。A. Hardness.硬度；B. Stickiness.粘性；C. Flexibility.灵活性；D. Purity.纯度。故选B。

2.

推理判断题。根据第三段中His particular contribution to the field involves a kind of glue, 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 broke down at all. 可知Miyako对这一领域的特殊贡献涉及到一种胶水，10年前他认为这是错误的，胶水被放在了一个储物柜里。当胶水在十年后被重新发现时，它根本没有干涸或损坏。由此可推知，十年之后Miyako才发现了这种胶水的特性，即Miyako是偶然发现了这种胶水的特性。故选C。

3.

细节理解题。根据倒数第二段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 glue had about 10 times more pollen than those that had not been coated with the glue.可知科学家们在扫描电子显微镜下观察了这些绒毛，并计算了附着在表面的花粉粒，发现马毛被涂上胶水的无人机的花粉量是没有涂上胶水的无人机的10倍。由此可知，当马毛上涂上胶水时，无人机的工作效率最高。故选D。

4.

推理判断题。根据最后一段中Mivako 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.可知Mivako不认为这种无人机会完全取代蜜蜂，而只是帮助蜜蜂完成授粉任务。然而，在这成为现实之前，还有很多工作要做。由此可推知，Eijiro Miyako认为无人机还没有准备好投入实际使用。故选A。