Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each o

Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each o

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Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition "depending on who needs it".
Nitrogen (氮) and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌)
networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.
Simard talks about "mother trees", usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down "mother trees" with no awareness of these highly complex "tree societies" or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.
"We didn"t take any notice of it" Simard says sadly. "Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance." If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.
小题1:The underlined sentence "the opposite is true" in Paragraph 2 probably means that trees         
A.compete for survival
B.protect their own wealth
C.depend on each other
D.provide support for dying trees
小题2:"Mother trees" are extremely important because they        .
A.look the largest in size in the forest
B.pass on nutrition to young trees
C.seem more likely to be cut down by humans
D.know more about the complex "tree societies"
小题3:The underlined word "it" in the last paragraph refers to        .
A.how "tree societies" work
B.how trees grow old
C.how forestry industry develops
D.how young trees survive
小题4:What would be the best title for the passage?
A.Old Trees Communicate Like Humans
B.Young Trees Are In Need Of Protection
C.Trees Are More Awesome Than You Think
D.Trees Contribute To Our Society

答案

小题1:C
小题2:B
小题3:A
小题4:C
解析

试题分析:文章介绍树和树之间不是你死我活的竞争关系,它们之间是相互依赖的,快要死的树会将自己的营养传给小树让它们更好的成长,人们如果知道这些现象,就可以更好的保护这些树。
小题1:句意理解题:根据文章第二段的句子:trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition "depending on who needs it".可知上文提到达尔文的适者生存的理论,而相反的是树是彼此依赖的,所以选C。
小题2:细节题:根据文章第四段的句子:She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow.可知mother trees之所以重要是因为它们将营养传给小树,选B
小题3:猜词题:it出现在文章最后一段:实际上it指代的是第四段提到的内容,人们砍倒快死的mother trees是不知道树的社会的依存关系,可知it指的是“树的社会”是怎么运作的,所以选A
小题4:标题确定题:根据全文内容,可知文章介绍树和树之间不是你死我活的竞争关系,它们之间是相互依赖的,快要死的树会将自己的营养传给小树让它们更好的成长,从第一段的句子:Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
可知作者想要表达的是树要比我们想象的要更加令人惊叹,所以选C。
举一反三
How fit are your teeth? Are you lazy about brushing them? Never fear: An inventor is on the case. An electric toothbrush senses how long and how well you brush, and it lets you track your performance on your phone.
The Kolibree toothbrush was exhibited at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. It senses how it is moved and can send the information to an Android phone or iPhone via a Bluetooth wireless connection.
The toothbrush will be able to teach you to brush right (don’t forget the insides of the teeth!) and make sure you’re brushing long enough. “It’s kind of like having a dentist actually watch your brushing on a day-to-day basis,” says Thomas Serval, the French inventor.
The toothbrush will also be able to talk to other applications on your phone, so developers could, for instance, create a game controlled by your toothbrush. You could score points for beating monsters among your teeth. “We try to make it smart but also fun,” Several says.
Serval says he was inspired by his experience as a father. He would come home from work and ask his kids if they had brushed their teeth. They said “yes,” but Serval would find their toothbrush heads dry. He decided he needed a brush that really told him how well his children brushed.
The company says the Kolibree will go on sale this summer, for $99 to $199, developing on features. The U.S. is the first target market.
Serval says that one day, it’ll be possible to replace the brush on the handle with a brushing unit that also has a camera. The camera can even examine holes in your teeth while you brush.
小题1:Which is one of the feature of the Kolibree toothbrush?
A.It can sense how users brush their teeth.
B.It can track users’ school performance.
C.It can detect users’ fear of seeing a dentist.
D.It can help users find their phones.
小题2:What can we learn from Serval’s words in Paragraph 3?
A.You will find it enjoyable to see a dentist.
B.You should see your dentist on a day-to –day basis.
C.You can brush with the Kolibree as if guided by a dentist.
D.You’d like a dentist to watch you brush your teeth every day.
小题3:Which of the following might make the Kolibree toothbrush fun?
A.It can be used to update mobile phones.
B.It can be used to play mobile phone games
C.It can send messages to other users
D.It can talk to its developers.
小题4:What is Paragraph 5 mainly about?
A.How Serval found out his kids lied to him.
B.Why Serval thought brushing teeth was necessary.
C.How Serval taught his kids to brush their teeth.
D.What inspired Serval to invent the toothbrush
小题5:What can we infer about Serval’s children?
A.They were unwilling to brush their teeth
B.They often failed to clean their toothbrushes.
C.They preferred to use a toothbrush with a dry head.
D.They liked brushing their teeth after Serval came home.
小题6:What can we learn about the future development of the Kolibree?
A.The brush handle will be removed.
B.A mobile phone will be built into it.
C.It will be used to fill holes in teeth
D.It will be able to check users’ teeth

题型:不详难度:| 查看答案
The kids in this village wear dirty, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They have no school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can make words.
The key to their success: 20 tablet computers(平板电脑) dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child.
The goal is to find out whether kids using today’s new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project data say they’re already amazed. “What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten,” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.
The fastest learner—and the first to turn on one of the tablets—is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse. The device’s camera was disabled to save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out its workings and made the camera work. He called himself a lion, a marker of accomplishment in Ethiopia.
With his tablet, Kelbasa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows. Then he spelled words on his own. “Seven months ago he didn’t know any English. That’s unbelievable,” said Keller.
The project aims to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn. It won’t be in Amharic, Ethiopia’s first language, but in English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.
小题1:How does the Ethiopia program benefit the kids in the village?
A.It trains teachers for them.
B.It contributes to their self-study.
C.It helps raise their living standards.
D.It provides funds for building schools.
小题2:What can we infer from Keller’s words in Paragraph 3?
A.They need more time to analyze data.
B.More children are needed for the research.
C.He is confident about the future of the project.
D.The research should be carried out in kindergartens.
小题3:It amazed Keller that with the tablet Kelbesa could _______.
A.learn English words quickly.
B.draw pictures of animals.
C.write letters to researchers.
D.make phone calls to his friends.
小题4:What is the aim of the project?
A.To offer Ethiopians higher paying jobs.
B.To make Amharic widely used in the world.
C.To help Ethiopian kids read to learn in English.
D.To assist Ethiopians in learning their first language.

题型:不详难度:| 查看答案
Research has shown that two-thirds of human conversation is taken up not with discussion of the cultural or political problems of the day, not heated debates about films we"ve just watched or books we"ve just finished reading, but plain and simple ____.
Language is our greatest treasure as a species, and what do we ____ do with it? We gossip. About others" behaviour and private lives, such as who"s doing what with whom, who"s in and who"s out-and why; how to deal with difficult ____ situations involving children, lovers, and colleagues.
So why are we keen on gossiping? Are we just natural ____, of both time and words? Or do we talk a lot about nothing in particular simply to avoid facing up to the really important issues of life? It"s not the case according to Professor Robin Dunbar. In fact, in his latest book, Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, the psychologist says gossip is one of these really____issues.
Dunbar ____ the traditional view that language was developed by the men at the early stage of social development in order to organize their manly hunting activities more effectively, or even to promote the exchange of poetic stories about their origins and the supernatural. Instead he suggests that language evolved among women. We don"t spend two-thirds of our time gossiping just because we can talk, argues Dunbar—____, he goes on to say, language evolved specifically to allow us to gossip.
Dunbar arrived at his cheery theory by studying the ____ of the higher primates(灵长类动物)like monkeys. By means of grooming--cleaning the fur by brushing it, monkeys form groups with other individuals on whom they can rely for support in the event of some kind of conflict within the group or____ from outside it.
As we human beings evolve from a particular branch of the primate family, Dunbar ____ that at one time in our history we did much the same. Grouping together made sense because the bigger the group, the greater the ____ it provided; on the other hand, the bigger the group, the greater the stresses of living close to others. Grooming helped to ____ the pressure and calm everybody down.
But as the groups got bigger and bigger, the amount of time spent in grooming activities also had to be ____ to maintain its effectiveness. Clearly, a more ____ kind of grooming was needed, and thus language evolved as a kind of vocal(有声的)grooming which allowed humans to develop relationship with ever-larger groups by exchanging information over a wider network of individuals than would be possible by one-to-one ____ contact.
小题1:
A.claimB.descriptionC.gossipD.language
小题2:
A.occasionallyB.habituallyC.independentlyD.originally
小题3:
A.socialB.politicalC.historicalD.cultural
小题4:
A.admirersB.mastersC.usersD.wasters
小题5:
A.vitalB.sensitiveC.idealD.difficult
小题6:
A.confirmsB.rejectsC.outlinesD.broadens
小题7:
A.for instanceB.in additionC.on the contraryD.as a result
小题8:
A.motivationB.appearanceC.emotionD.behaviour
小题9:
A.attackB.contactC.inspectionD.assistance
小题10:
A.recallsB.deniesC.concludesD.confesses
小题11:
A.prospectB.responsibilityC.leadershipD.protection
小题12:
A.measureB.showC.maintainD.ease
小题13:
A.savedB.extendedC.consumedD.gained
小题14:
A.commonB.efficientC.scientificD.Thoughtful
小题15:
A.indirectB.dailyC.physicalD.secret

题型:不详难度:| 查看答案
If you could be anybody in the world, who would it be? Your neighbour or a super star? A few people have experienced what it might be like to step into the skin of another person, thanks to an unusual virtual reality(虚拟现实)device. Rikke Wahl, an actress, model and artist, was one of the participants in a body swapping experiment at the Be Another lab, a project developed by a group of artists based in Barcelona. She swapped with her partner, an actor, using a machine called The Machine to Be Another and temporarily became a man. "As I looked down, I saw my whole body as a man, dressed in my partner"s pants," she said. "That"s the picture I remember best."
The set-up is relatively simple. Both users wear a virtual reality headset with a camera on the top. The video from each camera is sent to the other person, so what you see is the exact view of your partner. If she moves her arm, you see it. If you move your arm, she sees it.
To get used to seeing another person"s body without actually having control of it, participants start by raising their arms and legs very slowly, so that the other can follow along. Eventually, this kind of slow synchronised(同步的)movement becomes comfortable, and participants really start to feel as though they are living in another person"s body.
Using such technology promises to alter people"s behaviour afterwards-potentially for the better. Studies have shown that virtual reality can be effective in fighting racism-the bias(偏见)that humans have against those who don"t look or sound like them. Researchers at the University of Barcelona gave people a questionnaire called the Implicit Association Test, which measures the strength of people"s associations between, for instance, black people and adjectives such as good, bad, athletic or awkward. Then they asked them to control the body of a dark skinned digital character using virtual reality glasses, before taking the test again. This time, the participants" bias scores were lower. The idea is that once you"ve "put yourself in another"s shoes" you"re less likely to think ill of them, because your brain has internalised the feeling of being that person.
The creators of The Machine to Be Another hope to achieve a similar result. "At the end of body swapping, people feel like holding each other in their arms," says Arthur Pointeau, a programmer with the project. "It"s a really nice way to have this kind of experience. I would really, really recommend it to everyone."
小题1:The word "swapping" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to______.
A.buildingB.exchangingC.controllingD.transplanting
小题2:We can infer from the experiment at the Be Another lab that______.
A.our feelings are related to our bodily experience
B.we can learn to take control of other people"s bodies
C.participants will live more passionately after the experiment
D.The Machine to Be Another can help people change their sexes
小题3:In the Implicit Association Test, before the participants used virtual reality glasses to control a dark skinned digital character, ______.
A.they fought strongly against racism
B.they scored lower on the test for racism
C.they changed their behaviour dramatically
D.they were more biased against those unlike them
小题4:It can be concluded from the passage that______.
A.technology helps people realize their dreams
B.our biases could be eliminated through experiments
C.virtual reality helps promote understanding among people
D.our points of view about others need changing constantly

题型:不详难度:| 查看答案
A world-famous Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has created the world’s first long-distance signing device(装置), the LongPen.
After many tiring……from city to city, Atwood thought there must be a better way to do them . She hired some technical experts and started her own company in 2004. Together they designed the LongPen. Here’s how it works: The author writes a personal message and signature on a computer tablet(手写板) using a special pen. On the receiving end, in another city, a robotic arm fitted with a regular pen signs the book. The author and fan can talk with each other via webcams(网络摄像机) and computer screens。
Work on the LongPen began in Atwood’s basement(地下室). At first, they had no idea it would be as hard as it turned out to be. The device went through several versions, including one that actually had smoke coming out of it. The investing finally completed, teat runs w ere made in Ottawa, and the LongPen was officially launched at the 2006 London Book Fair. From here , Atwood conducted two transatlantic book signings of her latest book for fans in Toronto and New York City.
The LongPen produces a unique signature each time because it copies the movement of the author in real time. It has several other potential applications. It could increase credit card security and allow people to sign contracts from another province. The video exchange between signer and receiver can be recorded on DVD for proof when legal documents are used.
“It’s really fun”, said the owner of a bookstore, who was present for one of the test runs. “Obviously you can’t shake hands with the author but there are chances for a connection that you don’t get from a regular book signing..
The response to the invention has not been all favorable. Atwood has received criticism from authors who think she is trying to end book tours. But she said, “It will be possible to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn’t  afford it.”
小题1:Why did Atwood decide to invent the LongPen?
A. To set up her own company
B. To win herself greater popularity
C. To write her books in a new way
C. To make book signings less tiring
小题2:How does the LongPen work?
A.I copies the author’s signature and prints it on a book.
B.It signs a book while receiving the author’s signature.
C.The webcam sends the author’s signature to another city.
D.The fan uses it to copy the author’s signature himself.
小题3:What do we know about the invention of the LongPen?
A.It has been completed but not put into use.
B.The basement caught fire by accident.
C.Some versions failed before its test run.
D.The designers were well-prepared for the difficulty.
小题4:How could the LongPen be used in the future?
A.To draft legal documents.
B.To improve credit card security
C.To keep a record of the author’s ideas.
D.To allow author and fan to exchange videos
小题5:What could be inferred from Paragraphs 5 and 6?
A.Atwood doesn’t mean to end book tours.
B.Critics think the LongPen is of little use
C.Bookstore owners do not support the LongPen
D.Publishers dislike the LongPen for its high cost

题型:不详难度:| 查看答案
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