阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Language is the most astonishing behavior in the animal kingdom. It is the species-typical behavior that sets humans completely   36   from all other animals. Language is a means of   37   , but it is much more than that. Many animals can   38   . The dance of the honeybee communicates the location of flowers   39   other members of the hive (蜂群). But human language permits communication about anything,   40   things like unicorns (独角兽) that have never existed. The key   41   in the fact that different words can be   42   together in different ways, according to   43   to communicate different meanings.

Language is the most important learning we do. Nothing can   44   humans so much as our ability to communicate abstract   45  , whether about the university, the mind, love, dreams, or ordering a drink. It is an extremely complex   46   that we take for granted. Indeed, we are not aware of most   47   of our speech and understanding. Consider what happens when one person is speaking to   48   . The speaker has to translate thoughts into  49   language. Brain imaging studies suggest that the time from thoughts to the   50   of speech is extremely fast. Only 0.04 seconds! The listener must hear the sounds to   51    what the speaker means. He must use the sounds of speech to   52   the spoken words, understand the pattern of   53   of the words (sentences), and finally   54   the meaning. This takes somewhat longer, a minimum of about 0.5 seconds. But once started, it is of course a(n)    55   process.

1.A. apart                      B. off                               C. up                      D. down

2.A. advertisement   B. communication   C. discovery                  D. invention

3.A. transfer           B. move                         C. convey                    D. communicate

4.A. to                            B. from                             C. over                             D. on

5.A. only             B. almost                    C. even                    D. just

6.A. stays                      B. situates                    C. hides                             D. lies

7.A. stuck                     B. joined                           C. rung                             D. controlled

8.A. rules                     B. scales                       C. laws                      D. standards

9.A. combine         B. contain                      C. define                      D. declare

10.A. activities            B. thoughts                   C. effects                           D. chances

11.A. expectation    B. progress                C. process                  D. produce

12.A. aspects         B. abstracts               C. angles                     D. assumptions

13.A. anybody              B. another              C. other                           D. everybody

14.A. body                    B. gesture             C. written                     D. spoken

15.A. growing    B. fixing                     C. beginning              D. building

16.A. put out                 B. take down                  C. draw up                          D. figure out

17.A. identify      B. locate                    C. reveal                        D. discover

18.A. performance    B. organization      C. design                      D. show

19.A. regulate    B. justify                    C. release                           D. interpret

20.A. slow                     B. interesting                 C. continuous           D. serious

 

Honeybees
Honeybees can do three kinds of jobs.
It is one of the most unusual insects in the world. Bees are special because they divide up their honeybee work. Each bee has a certain job to do.
The busiest bee is the worker. Workers build the nest, called a hive. Inside the hive, workers make a honeycomb from wax(蜂蜡). They store honey there for food. Workers are always cleaning and fixing the hive. They even stand at the opening and fan their wings to cool the hive. Worker bees will attack anything—even people—to keep their hive safe.
Another kind of bee is the drone(雄蜂). Drones are male bees, and their job is to fly with the queen bee and mate with her. After the queen mates, the worker bees drive the drones away. The drones then starve to death.
The third kind of bee is the queen. Each hive needs only one queen, and her job is laying eggs. She can lay as many as 2, 000 eggs a day.
【小题1】The bee’s nest is called a _______.    

A．hive

B．honeycomb

C．drone

D．wax

【小题2】Which jobs do workers do?

A．They lay 2, 000 eggs each day and build a nest.

B．They mate with the queen bee and then starve.

C．They clean the hive and keep it cool.

D．They attack the queen bee.

【小题3】According to the story, bees _______.  

A．are very dangerous insects

B．will attack anything or anyone to protect the hive, if necessary

C．are like any other insect that flies

D．eat each other as food

【小题4】The drone is driven away when its job is finished, because _______.  

A．it attacked the workers	B．it is no longer needed in the hive
C．the queen bee has died	D．it ate the queen bee

Wild elephants that destroy crops and damage trees are a serious problem in many parts of Africa . But there could be a simple and relatively safe way to stop them in their tracks , by employing the talents of the tiny African honeybees .

       The number of elephants in Kenya has risen over the past ten years , with some disastrous results . Not only do these huge animals attack local farms , but they step someone to death an average of once every two weeks . Now a biologist has discovered a possible threat : the elephants are extremely aware of trees that house honeybee hives .

       “I an puzzled why nobody has thought of this before , ” says Fritz Vollrath at the University of Oxford . “ When an elephant knocks a beehive he runs and the bees will follow him or miles . ” He says that placing hives of the honeybees around local farms and fragile habitats could be an effective way to threaten the animals .

       Volirath put 30 unoccupied and 6 occupied beehives in some of the growing on a bush frequently damaged by elephants on Laikipia Plateau in Kenya . On average the elephants attacked 9 out of 10 trees that didn’t have hives , severely damaging a quarter . But they steered clear of all six trees with occupied hives . The elephants also left alone one-third of the trees with empty hives , suggesting that some had learnt not to take the risk .

       The bees threaten elephants by stinging vulnerable (易受伤)areas such as the eyes , belly , behind the ears and under the trunk . People could be at risk from the bees , admits Voilrath , but that may be outweighed by the risk of being killed by an elephant . Another experiment by Voilrath shows that elephants also avoid the sound of angry bees played from a loudspeaker .

1．What harm do the wild elephants in Africa do ?

       A．Killing local people                                     

B．Damaging beehives

C．Threatening animals                                   

D．Destroying villages

2．What can we learn from the underlined sentence ?

       A．They ran away from the trees with empty hives on it

B．They tried not to touch the trees with hives full of bees

C．They kept a distance from al the trees with hives on them .

D．They were clear that all the six trees were occupied by hives

3．What’s Volirath’s another experiment on this elephant’s case ?

       A．Let bees attack and kill elephants one by one

B．Encourage bees to sting elephants’ eyes and ears

C．Use the bees’ sound to drive elephants away

D．Employ tiny African honeybees to threaten elephants

4．From the passage we can conclude that _______

       A．there is always one thing to bet another

B．little bees can kill big and wild elephants

C．serious problems often come up in Africa

D．elephants enjoy attacking people and farms

Honeybees can do three kinds of jobs.

The honeybee is one of the most unusual insects in the world. Bees are special because they divide up their work. Each bee has a certain job to do.

The busiest bee is the worker. Workers build the nest, called a hive. Inside the hive, workers make a honeycomb from wax(蜂蜡). They store honey there for food. Workers are always cleaning and fixing the hive. They even stand at the opening and fan their wings to cool the hive. Worker bees will attack anything—even people—to keep their hive safe.

Another kind of bee is the drone(雄蜂). Drones are male bees, and their job is to fly with the queen bee and mate with her. After the queen mates, the worker bees drive the drones away. The drones then starve to death.

The third kind of bee is the queen. Each hive needs only one queen, and her job is laying eggs. She can lay as many as 2, 000 eggs a day.

64. The bee’s nest is called a _______. 

A. drone.        B. honeycomb.             C. hive.         D. wax.

65. Wax is used to make the _______. 

A. nest.         B. honeycomb.             C. fan.           D. hive.

66. Which jobs do workers do?

A. They lay 2, 000 eggs each day and build a nest.

B. They mate with the queen bee and then starve.

C. They clean the hive and keep it cool.

D. They attack the queen bee.

67. According to the story, bees _______. 

A. are very dangerous insects.

B. will attack anything or anyone to protect the hive, if necessary.

C. are like any other insect that flies.

D. eat each other as food.

                      

信息匹配

请阅读下面相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。然后在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。

首先，请阅读下列新闻：

A.        Scientists ask: where are all the bees?

Dave Hackenberg, a Dade City beekeeper, is the first in the state to sound the alarm about the collapse of the national honeybee population; it has spread to 24 states in every part of the country.

B.        Spain’s burnt-out babysitter grandparents urged to strike

Union tells Spanish grandparents to down tools if they are tired of caring for their grandchildren for days on end. A call has gone out for grandparents around Spain to down tools and go on strike, because they’re sick to the teeth of all that childcare.

C.        Breast cancer partners’ mood risk

Men whose partners have breast cancer should be checked for signs that their mental health has been affected, say researchers. A Danish study found that men watching their partners fight cancer were 39% more likely to need hospital care for mood problems.

D. Flooding farms on purpose—for the birds

   In response to the Prudhoe Bay oil spill, US farmers are flooding fields to create unpolluted wetland for migrating birds.

E. India Hindu festival carries environmental cost

   As a part of the activities of this festival, men carry a Ganesh statue to the beach and put it into the sea. Paints and plaster from the thousands of statues pollute the ocean and harm sea life.

F. Google turns 12, gets virtual cake

   Google celebrated its 12^th birthday on Monday with a birthday cake figure created by Wayne Thiebaud, an American artist famous for his paintings of cakes and pastries. It’s not clear why Google chooses to celebrate its birthday on September 27 instead of other noteworthy days in its history.

请阅读下列读者的评论，然后匹配相应的新闻：

61. Happy birthday! Thanks for always having what I was searching for. I’ve probably learned more from you than school. So, thank you. What can we expect next year when it becomes a teenager?

62. Illness has a bad impact on whole families, not just the patients. Men particularly often feel they need to be the strong one and often keep quiet about how they are really feeling. Men should get support for themselves too.

63. I really think this is a terrible problem! We can all work together as a team to stop these bees from dying off. My classroom is doing a whole project on this. Don’t worry. We will save bees’ lives! Just plant more flowers in the garden.

64. People have the right to celebrate their traditional festivals. However, if it causes serious environmental problems, we should take some measures. At least environmentally-friendly statues should be made.

65. The grandparents look after their grandchildren all the week, only sending them back for the weekend. They are too tired. It’s not just Spain’s parents who depend on their relatives. Although doctors say being involved with grandchildren keeps most grandparents healthy and active, I don’t agree.