12. Why did the author think he might have to “eat his words”?

A. He felt sorry for the bats.

B. He might be mistaken about being unable to sell the house.

C. He realized he might be wrong about the bats' actions.

D. He was happy about selling the house.

D

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11. What happened regarding the house in the end?

A. Some people agreed to rent the house.

B. The author failed to find anybody who wanted to live in the house.

C. The bat expert made the decision to buy the house.

D. The bats left the house for Mexico in the spring.

10. Why did the author fall silent when he talked with the bat specialist?

A. He felt sure about the situation.

B. He found out that it would be impossible to remove the bats.

C. He learned that he would be able to share his luck with the expert.

D. He liked the advice given by the expert.

9. What did Patrick suggest the author should do to stop the bats living in the barn?

A. He should buy a high-frequency machine.

B. He should move them one hundred miles away.

C. He should reduce the number of mosquitoes.

D. He should close the barn in the spring.

8. What was the problem the author had with his house?

A. Bats were living in the barn and wouldn't go away.

B. The author and his son couldn't sleep well because of the bats.

C. The author and his son might be able to stay for the season.

D. The house was still badly in need of repair.

7. How would you understand “fish scientists are now lending their ears”?

A. They are very interested in Thorrold’s research fingings.

B. They want to know where they can find fish.

C. They lend their fish for chemical studies.

D. They wonder if Thorrold can find growth rings from their ears.

C

My son and I were trying to sell the house we had repaired but in the barn(谷仓)there were bats(蝙蝠)and they would not leave. The barn was their home. They told us so in their own way. They hung there in the barn and seemed determined to stay for the season. Don't worry about it, Dad, " Patrick said. They keep down the mosquitoes(蚊子).”

Unfortunately they also kept the buyers away. when we had asked a person to sell　the house for us he had refused to show it because of the bats. Bats are popular, "Patrick comforted me. They're ecological(生态学的)."Isn't there a machine you can buy that produces high-frequency sounds to keep bats away?” I don't know,” said Patrick. But I like bats, and whoever buys this house will probably like them too." “Probably?” I hated that word. How many bats are　there ,anyway?" I counted about 90 last night," said Patrick. They were dropping out from under the edge of the roof." You mean there are more-outside?" They're everywhere, Dad. But look at it this way. When the cold weather comes, they’ll be off to Mexico. Maybe in the spring we can keep them out. Don't worry about it,” he said for the hundredth time. It's not a problem."

The bat expert I called was even more active than Patrick. I think you've got a large number there,” he said in wonder, I’ve been trying to attract bats to our house for 25 years? A single bat eats up his weight in mosquitoes and black flies three times every night. You're a very lucky man.” I offered to share my luck with him. He could take them away. Bats have a remarkable homing instinct(本能),"he said. They'd fly straight back even if I transported them 100 miles. Once they have settled, you can't stop them from coming back." I was silent.

Finally we managed to rent “(出租)the house to a young family, who were also interested in buying it. What about the bats?" I said to Patrick.

Oh, they love the bats,” he said. No mosquitoes. No black flies. It's one of the things that attracted them." Do you think they will really buy the house? "Probably." Probably? Well,if they do ,I suppose I'll have to admit that I was wrong. "You mean you're going to eat your words?"

Yes, I am."

6. Why is it important to study the chemistry of otolith rings?

A. The elements of the otoliths can tell the history of the sea.

B. Chemical contents of otoliths can tell how fast fish can swim.

C. We can know more about fish and their living environment.

D. Scientists can know exactly how old a fish is.

5. Why does the writer compare the fish to trees?

A. Trees gain a growth ring each day.　　　　　　　　 B. trees also have otoliths.

C. Their growth rings are very small.　　　　　　　　 D. They both have growth rings.

4. What can we learn about fish ears from the text?

A. They are small soft rings.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. They are not seen from the outside.

C. They are opening only on food fish.　　　　　　　 D. They are not used to receive sound.

3. What Rose said at last suggests that in England ______.

A .it is difficult for students to pass their exams　

B. it is difficult for teachers to finish their teaching

C. students are not satisfied with the education system　

D. students are too lazy to learn anything

B

Fish have ears. Really. They’re quite small and have no opening to the outside world carrying sound through the body. For the past seven years, Simon Thorrold, a university professor, has been examining fish ears, small round ear bones called otoliths.

As fish grow, so do their otoliths. Each day, their otoliths gain a ring of calcium carbonate (碳酸钙). By looking through a microscope (显微镜) and counting these rings, Thorrold can determine the exact age of a young fish. As a fish gets older, its otoliths no longer get daily rings. Instead, they get yearly rings, which can also be counted, giving information about the fish’s age, just like the growth rings of a tree.

Ring counting is nothing new to fish scientists. But Thorold has turned to a new direction. They’re examining the chemical elements (元素) of each otolith ring.

The daily ring gives us the time, but chemistry tells us about the environment in which the fish swam on any given day. These elements tell us about the chemistry of the water that the fish was in. It also says something about water temperature, which determines how much of these elements will gather within each otolith ring.

Thorrold can tell, for example, if a fish spent time in the open ocean before entering the less salty water of coastal areas. He can basically tell where fish are spending their time at any given stage of history.

In the case of the Atlantic croaker, a popular saltwater food fish, Thorrold and his assistant have successfully followed the traveling of young fish from mid-ocean to the coast, a journey of many hundreds of miles.

This is important to managers in the fish industry, who know nearly nothing about the whereabouts of the young fish for most food fish in the ocean. Eager to learn about his technology, fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears.