Question

【題目】 Some caterpillars’ warning signals (信號(hào)) may have evolved (進(jìn)化) from walking. A team, writing in the journal Nature Communications, reported that the hair-like structures the living things use to make sounds evolved from legs.

The team studied caterpillars which use these structures to communicate their ownership of leaves. This means the caterpillars are able to “tell” strangers to go away without risking injury in fighting. “These are really interesting caterpillars,” said Dr. Jayne Yack from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, who led the research. “They make signals using hair-like structures which are on their back ends.”

The caterpillars drag these structures across the leaf to make scraping (刺耳的) sounds when strangers enter the area of their leaves. “When they make this signal, the strangers leave,” explained Dr. Yack. “It’s like saying ‘I’m here, get out of here — I already own this leaf’.”

The scientists looked at other species (物種) within the same group of caterpillars and created their “family tree”. They used chemical markers (標(biāo)記物) to work out the relationship between the animals, showing which in the group were the more ancient species and which species evolved more recently. “Those more ancient species actually don’t have these sound-producing structures. They have legs that they use to walk towards strangers,” said Dr. Yack. These more ancient species, she explained, walk towards strangers and try to fight against them. “They can kill each other in the fighting,” Dr. Yack added. She said that the evolution of the scraping show had allowed the caterpillars to solve their fighting without injury. “So our idea is that these signals actually avoid harm to both sides — they solve fighting in a more ‘friendly’ way.”

The study also provides a map of an evolutionary process that many other biologists are researching.

【1】What can we learn about caterpillars’ warning structures from the text?

A.They have the same use as hair.

B.They are found in caterpillars’ heads.

C.They are used to fight against strangers.

D.They may have evolved from caterpillars’ legs.

【2】According to the text, Dr. Yack’s team did NOT ________.

A.draw a family tree of caterpillars

B.create a map to show how caterpillars evolve

C.study species within the same group of caterpillars

D.make clear the relationship between different species of caterpillars

【3】What does the underlined word “They” in the fifth paragraph refer to?

A.The ancient species.B.The chemical markers.

C.The sound-producing structures.D.The more recently evolved species.

【4】What is the main idea of the text?

A.How caterpillars evolved.

B.How caterpillars warn strangers.

C.Communication between caterpillars.

D.Caterpillars’ warning signals evolved from walking.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】B

【3】A

【4】D

【解析】

本文是科普類說明文。文章主要介紹了一項(xiàng)研究，研究表明一些毛毛蟲的警告信號(hào)是從步行進(jìn)化而來的。

【1】

細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段的A team, writing in the journal Nature Communications, reported that the hair-like structures the living things use to make sounds evolved from legs.(在《自然通訊》雜志上發(fā)表文章的一個(gè)研究小組報(bào)告說，這些生物用來制造聲音的毛發(fā)狀結(jié)構(gòu)是從腿上進(jìn)化而來的)可知，它們可能是由毛蟲的腿進(jìn)化而來的。故選D。

【2】

細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段的The study also provides a map of an evolutionary process that many other biologists are researching.(這項(xiàng)研究還提供了一個(gè)許多其他生物學(xué)家正在研究的進(jìn)化過程的地圖)可知，Yack博士的團(tuán)隊(duì)沒有創(chuàng)建一張地圖來顯示毛毛蟲是如何進(jìn)化的。故選B。

【3】

詞句猜測(cè)題。根據(jù)上文Those more ancient species actually don’t have these sound-producing structures. (那些更古老的物種實(shí)際上沒有這些產(chǎn)生聲音的結(jié)構(gòu))，可知，劃線部分的意思是：它們沒有用來走向陌生人的腿，因此推斷They指代“那些古老的物種”。故選A。

【4】

主旨大意題。根據(jù)文章第一段的Some caterpillars’ warning signals (信號(hào)) may have evolved (進(jìn)化) from walking.(一些毛毛蟲的警告信號(hào)可能是從行走中進(jìn)化出來的)以及下文對(duì)這個(gè)結(jié)論的研究的介紹可知，文章主要講述的是毛毛蟲的警告信號(hào)是從步行進(jìn)化而來的。故選D。