题目

阅读理解     A recent experiment proves that bees can save time and energy when they fly around to different flowers.     Dr Nigel Raine, from the Royal Holloway University of London, has always been interested in finding out why animal behave like they do. He is also interested in bees. It was not a surprise when he and some other scientists from Queen Mary University of London discovered that bees can quickly solve a problem that takes computers many days.     Flowers make pollen (花粉), and when bees visit them, they carry the pollen to other flowers. The plants need the pollen to make seeds that will grow. Dr Raine notes that we get a lot of our food from plants, so it is important to know how the bees move around and take the pollen between flowers. The scientists wanted to examine the journey that the bees take and how they save energy when they do this. They completed the experiment on the roof of Queen Mary University, using artificial flowers and a large amount of nectar, a sweet liquid produced by flowers. They taught one bee to visit all the flowers in one place at the same time. When the bee got to know the location of the flowers well, they saw how it flew around and returned home with the nectar. After this, they changed the locations of the flowers. The scientists thought the bee would follow the route it knew already. This would mean that it followed a longer route than it needed to, and so it would use more energy. They watched the bee carefully as it travelled between the flowers in their new location, and they made notes. But in the experiment, the bee changed its route and flew a shorter distance.     The problem that the bee solved is similar to a maths puzzle called the 'travelling salesman problem'. A salesman who goes to different places to sell things wants to travel the shortest distance. But he has to calculate the length of many possible routes to know which one is the shortest. A computer can calculate this but the experiment shows bees can do the same calculation quickly with a tiny brain. Scientists are very interested in how they do this. It would help us to understand how pollen is moved around. In addition, if they find this out, it could help us to improve communication networks. This might help humans to reduce traffic jams when there is an accident, for example. （1） The underlined word “nectar” in the third paragraph means_________. A . powder B . honey C . vitamin D . water （2） The researcher's experiment found _________. A . bees could manage to avoid accidents B . bees showed signs of being very intelligent C . bees could take the same route they knew before D . bees were faster at calculating distance than computers （3） According to the last paragraph, the next step of the study is to discover how _______. A . pollen is moved around B . traffic jams can be reduced C . bees can calculate so quickly D . communication networks are improved （4） Where does this passage probably come from? A . A novel. B . A website. C . A science magazine. D . An advertisement. 答案： B D C C

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