These tiny ants are amazing. In the Sahara desert, where most creatures avoid going out in the middle of the day to avoid high temperatures,the Saharan silver ants have evolved(进化)a number of adaptations to do just that. Scientists have discovered that several unique features of the Saharan silver ants permit them to grow well in a scorching climate.
What does the underlined word “scorching”in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.extremely chilly | B.extremely cool |
C.extremely mild | D.extremely hot |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Bumble bees (大黄蜂) play, according to new research led by Queen Mary University of London. It is the first time that object play behaviour has been shown in an insect, adding to evidence that bees may experience positive feelings.
The researchers set up numerous experiments to test this, which showed bumble bees went out of their way to roll wooden balls repeatedly despite there being no apparent motivation for doing so. The study also found that younger bees rolled more balls than older bees and that male bees rolled them for longer than their female ones.
The study followed 45 bumble bees. Individual bees rolled balls between 1 and, impressively, 117 times over the experiment. The repeated behaviour suggested that ball-rolling was rewarding. This was supported by a further experiment where another 42 bees were given access to two coloured rooms, one always containing movable balls and one without any object. When tested and given a choice between the two rooms, neither containing balls, bees showed a preference for the colour of the room previously associated with the wooden balls.
The experiments removed any idea that the bees were moving the balls for any greater purpose other than play. Rolling balls did not contribute to survival strategies and was done under stress-free conditions.
The research was based on previous experiments, which showed that bumble bees could be taught to score a goal by rolling a ball to a target in exchange for a sugary food reward. The new research showed the bees rolling balls repeatedly without being trained and without receiving any food for doing so — it was spontaneous.
Professor Lars Chittka said, “Play is thought to contribute to the healthy development and maintenance of an animal’s cognitive (认知) and motor abilities, which may make for their searching for food and is considered an important aspect of animal welfare. The finding shows insect minds are far more complex than we expect. We need to do all we can to protect insects.”
What do we know about female bumble bees compared with male ones?A.They rolled far more balls. |
B.They spent less time playing rolls. |
C.They had bigger motivation to roll balls. |
D.They preferred to play in the colorful rooms. |
【推荐2】After running hundreds of tests, the researchers noted that the monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time, indicating that they were performing a calculation, not just memorizing the value of each combination.
When the team examined the results of the experiment more closely, they noticed that the monkeys tended to underestimate(低估)a sum compared with a single symbol when the two were close in value—sometimes choosing, for example, a 13 over the sum of 8 and 6. The underestimation was systematic: When adding two numbers, the monkeys always paid attention to the larger of the two, and then added only a fraction(小部分)of the smaller number to it.
What did Livingstone's team find about the monkeys?
A.They could perform basic addition. |
B.They could understand simple words. |
C.They could memorize numbers easily. |
D.They could hold their attention for long. |
【推荐3】When a leafy plant is under attack, it doesn’t sit quietly. Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm. What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short.
Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. It’s a plant’s way of crying out. But is anyone listening? Apparently. Because we can watch the neighbours react.
Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty. They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors. The damage is usually more serious on the first plant, but the neighbors, relatively speaking, stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don’t know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth.
Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate(亲密的) than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There’s a whole lot going on.
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.The word is changing faster than ever. |
B.People have stronger senses than before |
C.The world is more complex than it seems |
D.People in Darwin’s time were imaginative. |
【推荐1】Can a small group of drones (无人机) guarantee the safety and reliability of railways and, at the same time, help railway operators save billions of euros each year? That is the very likely future of applying today’s “eyes in the sky” technology to making sure that the millions of kilometres of rail tracks and infrastructure (基础设施) worldwide are safe for trains on a 24/7 basis.
Drones are already being used to examine high-tension electrical lines. They could do precisely the same thing to inspect railway lines and other vital aspects of rail infrastructure such as the correct position of railway tracks and switching points. The more regularly they can be inspected, the more railway safety, reliability and on-time performance will be improved. Costs would be cut and operations would be more efficient (高效) across the board.
That includes huge savings in maintenance costs and better protection of railway personnel safety. It is calculated that European railways alone spend approximately 20 billion euros a year on maintenance, including sending maintenance staff, often at night, to inspect and repair the rail infrastructure. That can be dangerous work that could be avoided with drones assisting the crews’ efforts.
By using the latest technologies, drones could also start providing higher-value services for railways, detecting faults in the rail or switches, before they can cause any safety problems. To perform these tasks, drones for rail don’t need to be flying overhead. Engineers are now working on a new concept: the rail drones of the future. They will be moving on the track ahead of the train, and programmed to run autonomously. Very small drones with advanced sensors and AI and travelling ahead of the train could guide it like a co-pilot. With their ability to see ahead, they could signal any problem, so that fast-moving trains would be able to react in time.
Which is the most suitable title for the text?
A.What Faults Can Be Detected with Drones |
B.How Production of Drones Can Be Expanded |
C.What Difficulty Drone Development Will Face |
D.How Drones Will Change the Future of Railways |
【推荐2】There are three books I reread annually. The first, which I take to reading every spring, is Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964, it’s his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating (令人陶醉的),an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm, her poetic 1975 ramble (随笔) about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortazar’s Save Twilight: Selected Poems, because poetry. And because Cortazar.
What do we know about the book A Moveable Feast?
A.It’s a brief account of a trip. |
B.It’s about Hemingway’s life as a young man. |
C.It’s a record of a historic event. |
D.It’s about Hemingway’s friends in Paris. |
【推荐3】We have house rules to make LearnEnglish a fun and safe place to improve your English, so please make sure you follow these rules.
The age requirementWe welcome learners from around the world who are at least 18 years old. If you are 12 or younger, please use LearnEnglish Kids; if you are 13-17, please use LearnEnglish teens.
…
Who is the LearnEnglish website mainly intended for?A.English teachers. | B.Adult learners. |
C.Children under 12. | D.Students aged between 13 and 17. |
【推荐1】While studying, I began exploring Mexico, crossing the country several times by bus. Now I work as a photojournalist in Mexico and along the border, documenting desperate situations that face everyday Mexicans. Though necessary and important, news stories don’t reflect the Mexico that I fell for and that is home to so many people I love. A task focused on the country’s natural beauty was a welcome reprieve for me.
What can best replace the underlined word “reprieve” in Paragraph 2?
A.Memory. | B.Idea. | C.Victory. | D.Relief. |
【推荐2】As Ginni Bazlinton reached Antarctica, she found herself greeted by a group of little Gentoo penguins (企鹅) longing to say hello. These gentle, lovely gatekeepers welcomed her and kick-started what was to be a trip Ginni would never forget.
Ever since her childhood, Ginni, now 71, has had a deep love for travel. Throughout her career (职业) as a professional dancer, she toured in the UK, but always longed to explore further. When she retired from dancing and her sons eventually flew the nest, she decided it was time to take the plunge.
Which of the following best explains “take the plunge” underlined in paragraph 2?
A.Try challenging things. | B.Take a degree. |
C.Bring back lost memories. | D.Stick to a promise. |
【推荐3】Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees (黑猩猩)use to communicate. They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a “vocabulary” of 66 gestures. The scientists discovered this by following and filming groups of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5, 000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges.
Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom. Only humans and chimps, she said, had a system of communication where they deliberately sent a message to another group member.
“That’s what’s so amazing about chimp gestures,” she said. “They’re the only thing that looks like human language in that respect.”
Although previous research has shown that apes and monkeys can understand complex information from another animal’s call, the animals do not appear to use their voices intentionally to communicate messages. This was a significant difference between calls and gestures, Dr Hobaiter said.
Chimps will check to see if they have the attention of the animal with which they wish to communicate. In one case, a mother presents her foot to her crying baby, signaling: “Climb on me.” The youngster immediately jumps on to its mother’s back and they travel off together. “The big message from this study is that there is another species (物种)out there that is meaningful in its communication, so that’s not unique to humans,” said Dr Hobaiter.
Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester, said the study was praiseworthy in seeking to enrich our knowledge of the evolution of human language. But, she added, the results were “a little disappointing”.
“The vagueness of the gesture meanings suggests either that the chimps have little to communicate, or we are still missing a lot of the information contained in their gestures and actions,” she said. “Moreover, the meanings seem to not go beyond what other animals convey with non-verbal communication. So, it seems the gulf remains.”
What does the underlined word “gulf” in the last paragraph mean?
A.Difference. | B.Conflict. |
C.Balance. | D.Connection. |