Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝)—either recorded or real—may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer’s crops.
In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.
Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next,Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family.
From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.
Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.
1.We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of .
A. loud noises B. some crops
C. video cameras D. angry bees
2.As mentioned in the passage, Lucy .
A. works by herself in Africa
B. needs to test more elephant groups
C. has stopped elephants eating crops
D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms
3. Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?
A. To record the sound of bees.
B. To make a video of elephants.
C. To see if elephants would run away.
D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.
B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.
C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.
D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题
Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝)—either recorded or real—may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer’s crops.
In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.
Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next,Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family.
From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.
Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.
1.We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of .
A. loud noises B. some crops
C. video cameras D. angry bees
2.As mentioned in the passage, Lucy .
A. works by herself in Africa
B. needs to test more elephant groups
C. has stopped elephants eating crops
D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms
3. Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?
A. To record the sound of bees.
B. To make a video of elephants.
C. To see if elephants would run away.
D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.
B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.
C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.
D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝)—either recorded or real—may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer’s crops.
In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.
Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next,Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family.
From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.
Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.
1.We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of .
A. loud noises B. some crops
C. video cameras D. angry bees
2.As mentioned in the passage, Lucy .
A. works by herself in Africa
B. needs to test more elephant groups
C. has stopped elephants eating crops
D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms
3.Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?
A. To record the sound of bees.
B. To make a video of elephants.
C. To see if elephants would run away.
D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.
B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.
C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.
D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
We Chinese are not big huggers. A handshake or a pat on the shoulder is enough to convey our friendship or affection to one another. So when our newly-acquainted Western friends reach out in preparation for a hug, some of us feel awkward.
Many questions go through our head. Where should I put my arms? Under their armpits (胳肢窝) or around their neck? What distance should I maintain? Should our chests touch?
It’s even more difficult with friends from some European countries. Should I kiss them on the cheek while hugging? Which side? Or is it both cheeks? Which side should I start on?
But it isn’t just people from cultures that emphasize a reservedness in expressing physical intimacy(亲密) who find hugging confusing. Hugs can cause discomfort or even distress in people who value their personal space.
In a recent article for The Wall Street Journal, US psychologist Peggy Drexler said that although the US remains a “medium touch” culture — “more physically demonstrative(公开表露感情的) than Japan, where a bow is the all-purpose hello and goodbye, but less demonstrative than Latin or Eastern European cultures, where hugs are strong and can include a kiss on both cheeks”, Americans do seem to be hugging more.
From politicians to celebrities, hugs are given willy-nilly (不管愿意不愿意的)to friends, strangers and enemies alike; and the public has been quick to pick up the practice. US First Lady Michelle Obama has put her arms around icy foreign leaders like Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the Queen of England, on the latter occasion actually breaking the rule of royal manners.
But not all are grateful to be hugged, even by the most influential and famous. To them, any hug is offensive if it’s not sincere.
Amanda Hess, writing for US magazine Slate, says public figures should stop imposing hugs on everyone they meet. For them, a hug is rarely a gesture of sincere fellowship, compassion or affection. It’s all part of a show. Hugs are falsely close power plays used by public figures to establish their social dominance (统治力)over those in their grasp.
Cecilia Walden, a British journalist writing for The Telegraph who lives in New York, holds the same opinion. “Power-hugging”, as she calls it, is “an offender dressed up as kindness”. It has become a fashion in the US where “bosses are already embracing their staff (either shortly before or after firing them), men and women ,their friends or enemies, in a thousand cheating displays of unity”.
1.From the first four paragraphs, we can see that ___________.
A. we Chinese people don’t know how to hug
B. people from European countries often get puzzled about hugging
C. people in Western countries seldom use hugs to express their physical closeness
D. hugs can bring pressure to people when used improperly
2.The example of US first lady Michelle Obama is given to show that __________.
A. Americans hold a “medium touch” culture
B. public figures know hugging functions well in public
C. she is much liked by American people
D. hugs are forbidden in England
3.“Power-hugging” in the last paragraph actually means that _________.
A. hugs are only used sincerely by some people with power
B. hugging is powerful to bosses in US
C. public figures sometimes use hugging just for a show of power
D. public figures can hug anyone in their grasp freely
4.What can be the best title of this passage?
A. Hugs, vital or not?
B. Hugs, tricky affair?
C. Hugs and public figures
D. Hugs and power
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文,根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
Bees are important to the production of food we eat. Bees make honey, but they also pollinate (授粉)large areas of crops, such as straw berries, apples and onions. About a third of the food we eat is a result of pollination of the bees. Unfortunately, bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate.
In 2010, bee keepers started reporting about something called Colony Collapse Disaster (CCD).The main sign of CCD is the loss of adult honey bees from a hive(蜂巢). In October of 2010, some beekeepers reported that they had lost between 30 and 90 percent of their hives.
There were many theories for the disappearance of the bees. But the most convincing one has to do with pesticides and lifestyles of bees today. Nowadays, beekeepers get most of their income not from producing honey but from renting bees to pollinate plants. This means that the life of the typical bee now consists of travelling all around the country to pollinate crops as the seasons change. That means a lot of traveling on trucks, which is very stressful to bees. It is not unusual for up to 30% of the hive to die during transport due to stress. In addition, bees that spend most of their time locked up on trucks are not exposed to what they usually live on. Instead, they live on a sweet liquid from corn, usually polluted with pesticides.
The exact reason for the disappearance of bees is not sure, but losing bees is very costly to the economy. The bee pollination services are worth over $8 billion a year. With no bees, pollination will have to be done by hand, which would have effects on the quality of food and increased food priced. We hear a lot about big environmental disasters almost every day. But one of the biggest may just be the less of that tiny flying insect.
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高二英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文,根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
Happy, angry, amazed – these are some of the emotions we like to express these days when we’re sending a message on our smartphones! That’s why many of us now add little pictures to our texts to brighten up someone’s mobile screen but we’re also using them as a quick way of telling someone how we’re feeling. Yes, emojis have become a vital tool for communication.
The emoji was first invented in Japan in the late 1990s and the word “emoji” comes from the Japanese words for “picture” and “character”. The number of different images has dramatically increased since then and now we have a picture for every mood or situation.
So now we have the option to give this new creation the visual “thumbs-up” but have you thought why we’ve become so addicted to using emojis? Professor Vyv Evans has written a book called The Emoji Code. He says, “Increasingly, what we’re finding is that digital communication is taking over from certain aspects of face-to-face interaction. One of the reasons emojis are so interesting is that they really do enable us to express our emotional selves much more effectively.” So emojis are a sort of replacement for the visual signals or non-verbal clues we normally give when we speak to someone face-to-face.
Another advantage of emojis is that they are an international language – they don’t use words but tell a message in the form of pictures so they can be easily understood whatever your native language is. However, the emojis you send need some thought as they can sometimes be misunderstood – if a friend sends you an emoji of a hammer, you may think he is angry when really he is saying he has hurt himself or he is clumsy!
Emojis are a good way for showing common emotions. But as linguist Neil Cohn says, “To many, emojis are an exciting development of the way we communicate; To others, they are extinction of language.” It does show there is a lot more to our communication than words alone but does this mean the decline in traditional writing?
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高二英语概要写作中等难度题查看答案及解析
Remember to send me a photo of us next time you ______ to me.
A. are writing B. will write C. has written D. write
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Today, we are told, children don’t spend enough time in the fresh air. Many of them are addicted to a screen either on a computer or a TV—they seem to be living in a virtual world. They have lost touch with nature.
But now 400 organizations in the UK, from playgroups to the National Health Service, are encouraging children to have some“wild time”. They want kids to swap at least 30 minutes of watching TV or playing computer games for time playing outside. Activities such as building dens, climbing trees, and playing hide and seek are just some of the things kids can do. Even if they live in a city, they can go on adventures in the garden or the park.
Children often need a helping hand from mum and dad. They need to be shown what to do and where to go. Andy Simpson from National Health Service says, “We want parents to see what this magical wonder product does for their kids’ development, independence and creativity, by giving wild time a go”.
So despite the complicated world that young people grow up in now, it seems that going back to basics and experiencing“nature’s playground”is what modern children need. David Bond from Project Wild Thing says, “We need to make more space for wild time in children’s daily routine, freeing this generation of kids to have the sort of experiences that many of us took for granted”.
This might sound a bit old fashioned to you or maybe, like me, it’s made you think about sticking on your boots, getting outdoors and reliving your childhood. There’s no age limit on enjoying yourself!
1.Which of the following activities are children not encouraged to do?
A.building dens. B.climbing trees.
C.playing hide and seek. D.watching TV.
2.According to Andy Simpson,what information can we get?
A.wild time is hard to design.
B.wild time is beneficial for children.
C.parents know the importance of wild time.
D.parents like keeping their children indoors.
3.How is the passage mainly developed?
A.By following time orders B.By comparing.
C.By listing examples. D.By giving explanations.
4.What is the exact meaning for the underlined word ?
A.interesting things B.the same and repeated stuff
C.terrible matters D.disappointing events
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Today, we are told, children don’t spend enough time in the fresh air. Many of them are addicted to screen on a computer or a TV---they seem to be living in a virtual world. They have lost touch with nature.
But now 400 organizations in the UK, from playgroups to the National Health Service, are encouraging children to have some “wild time”. They want kids to swap at least 30 minutes of watching TV or playing computer games for time playing outside. Activities such as building dens, climbing trees, rummaging for conkers and playing hide and seek are just some of the things kids can do. Even if they live in a city, they can go on adventures in the garden or the park.
Children often need a helping hand from mom and dad. They need to be shown what to do and where to go. Andy Simpson from National Health Service says, “We want parents to see what this magical wonder product does for their kids’ development, independence and creativity, by giving wild time a go”.
So despite the complicated world that young people grow up in now, it seems that going back to basics and experiencing “nature’s playground” is what modern children need. David Bond from Project Wild Thing says, “We need to make more space for wild time in children’s daily routine, freeing this generation of kids to have the sort of experiences that many of us took for granted”.
This might sound a bit old fashioned to you or maybe, like me, it’s made you think about sticking on your boots, getting outdoors and reliving your childhood. There is no age limit on enjoying yourself!
1.What is the best title of the text?
A. Wild time for children
B. Benefits of wild time
C. More space for children
D. Adventures of children
2.Children are encouraged to do the following activities except____________.
A. building dens
B. climbing trees
C. playing hide and seek
D. watching TV
3.According to Andy Simpson, we know that_____________.
A. wild time is hard to design
B. wild time is beneficial to children
C. parents know the importance of wild time
D. parents like keeping their children indoors.
高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
Most of them are out attending an important meeting, so there are not ________ enough people here to do the job.
A. almost B. nearly C. hardly D. seldom
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Day after day you are glued to your computer screen. You cannot get enough of online games, net shopping or cyber surfing. Your social life gets worse, and so does your health. Chances are that you are addicted to the Internet and you need counseling.
On November 8, an Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) diagnostic manual(诊断手册)was approved by a group of psychologists in China, who agreed that Internet addiction is a mental disease. According to a report on Xinhuanet.com, the manual for the first time gives a clear time standard for diagnosing IAD, saying that surfing the Internet for more than six hours a day, not for the purpose of studying or working, and having done so for less than three months, might be a symptom of IAD.
Addiction symptoms vary
Besides the long online time, some other symptoms would also help doctors diagnose IAD patients, such as having a strong desire for the Internet and feeling physical discomfort, becoming easily angry, being unable to concentrate on things or finding it difficult to sleep if unable to get online.
Apart from these conditions, other symptoms are also listed in the manual. If a net surfer cannot get out of the virtual world of Web games, which has already affected his/her capability to study or work, or he/she feels little interest in doing anything but jumping online or is afraid to communicate with others, he/she is also considered to be an IAD sufferer.
According to the World Health Organization, mental disease sufferers have two major characteristics: they bring suffering to both themselves and their families, and their abilities to be involved in social activities are affected.
Mental illness stigma(污名)
However, it has resulted in a backlash(反对)from the public, due to the fact that mental disease is a very sensitive term to Chinese.
Many netizens dropped comments expressing their doubts about the manual, saying that they could not accept they might be suffering from mental illness just because they spent too much time on the Internet.
Experts said there is a misunderstanding of the manual. Explaining that IAD sufferers are not “crazy people”, they call on society at large to change their understanding of mental disease. Mental disease covers a wide range of psychological or behavioral problems, such as depression.
New Solutions to Internet Addiction | |
Information about IAD | Problem: Internet addiction makes your social life and 1._____ get worse. Standard for diagnosing IAD: Internet addiction is a 2._____ disease when you surf the Internet more than six hours a day for less than three months not to3._____ or work. |
4.___addiction symptoms | They are eager to surf the Internet, physically uncomfortable, easy to be angry, unable to concentrate or 5._____ to sleep. unable to get out of the 6._____ world of Web games, not 7._____ in doing anything else or afraid to communicate with others. |
8.___on mental illness | Many netizens regard mental disease as a very 9. _____ term. Experts think it necessary to 10. _____ mental disease because it covers a wide range. |
高二英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析