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A

Why do mosquitoes buzz (嗡嗡叫) in your ears? They can’t help it. Mosquitoes’ wings make that annoying buzz whenever they fly.

Both male and female mosquitoes buzz, but you probably won’t notice the noise of the males, because they don’t desire your blood. They stay away from your ears, eating nectar (花蜜), while the females come to annoy you.

Scientists have discovered that buzzing is to help mosquitoes find suitable mates.

Since female mosquitoes are larger, they move their wings more slowly. Males can recognize the distinctive pitch (音高) of the females’ buzz. Louis M. Roth, who studied yellow fever mosquitoes for the US Army during World War II, noticed that males ignored females whenever the females were quietly resting, but when the females were flying, and therefore buzzing, the males wanted to mate (交配) with them. The males even reacted to recordings of female mosquitoes.

Scientists discovered what made the sound. It’s not actually caused by the wings flapping. There’s an organ at the base of the wings that makes the sound when the wings move.

It wasn’t until more recently that researchers Gabriella Gibson and Ian Russell discovered that mosquitoes actually change their buzz to “sing” to each other before they mate. When males and females fly nearby, they change the pitch of their buzz to match each other, and if they match well enough, they mate.

As scientists learn more about why mosquitoes buzz, they can possibly keep them from mating. Fewer mosquitoes mean fewer mosquito bites, and fewer diseases being spread. Researcher Lauren Cator suggests that if scientists can make sterile (不生育的) male mosquitoes who “sing” to females just as well as fertile males, the females will choose the sterile males, and won’t produce fertile eggs.

There are also some myths about the mosquitoes you hear buzzing in your ears.

Some people say that mosquitoes that buzz, don’t bite. Indeed, as long as they’re buzzing, they’re flying, so they won’t bite you. But once they land, look out.

1. According to the text, people seldom recognize male mosquitoes when they buzz because ______.

A. their buzz is too low to be noticed

B. they don’t buzz when they bite

C. they avoid humans and feed on nectar

D. they prefer to stay in the dark

2. What did Louis M. Roth discover from his research?

A. Male mosquitoes move their wings slower.

B. Quiet female mosquitoes are more attractive to males.

C. A mosquito’s wing beat is responsible for its buzz.

D. Male mosquitoes are attracted by a female’s buzz.

3. Before mosquitoes mate, they ______.

A. buzz in high pitch to each other B. change and match their buzz

C. dance with each other in mid air D. fly in opposite directions

4. Lauren Cator hopes the research on the buzz of mosquitoes can help people ______.

A. cure some deadly diseases

B. control the mosquito population

C. tell different mosquito species apart

D. change the way mosquitoes communicate

B

The people of Chicago, Illinois, US, can thank three canals every time they drink a glass of clean water today. The building of the Illinois-Michigan Canal, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Cal-Sag Canal all helped the Chicago River start flowing in a different direction in 1892.

Since their construction over a century ago, these waterways have connected Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river network and ensured a regular flow of fresh water to Chicago.

However, some unusual and unfortunate side effects have also been created because of their construction. Asian carp (鲤鱼), also known as silver or flying carp, are threatened in their native habitat in the Chinese Heilongjiang, Yangtze, and Pearl River basins. But they have become increasingly successful at filling the Mississippi river network since first being introduced into Arkansas catfish farms in the 1970s to control algae (水藻). By swimming into the canals and spreading further across the country, there are now major fears that this introduced species may be able to access Lake Michigan and the wider Great Lakes - which store an incredible 21 percent of the entire world’s fresh water.

“The actual impact of Asian carp on the Great Lakes has yet to be explained clearly, and we think this uncertainty is part of the reason why they are such an obvious issue,” says Dr Cory Suski, Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. He points out that adult Asian carp are too large to be hunted by anything locally, that they have a “prolific (多产的)” reproduction rate, and they can steal food from the other native species in the rivers. “Could they survive in the Great Lakes or is there not enough food for them?” he asks.

Stopping the fish from spreading has therefore become a key concern for local lawmakers, who have undertaken efforts such as building electric fences (护栏) in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. However, any big efforts to stop the carp – such as allowing the Chicago River to once again flow in its original direction – would in turn threaten the security of the city’s water supply, replacing one big problem with another.

5. According to the text, the construction of the three canals ______.

A. changed the direction of the Mississippi river

B. brought fresh water to the people of Chicago

C. lasted for almost a century because of huge cost

D. has been the largest construction project in US history

6. According to the text, Asian carps ______.

A. have nearly become extinct in Chinese rivers

B. have occupied large areas in the Great Lakes

C. were introduced to the US to fight against algae pollution

D. are likely to pollute the fresh water in the Great Lakes

7. What is the major concern of Asian carp in the US?

A. Its large size and fast reproduction rate.

B. The food shortage facing the species.

C. Its threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem.

D. Its natural enemies in the local areas.

8. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. US Law makers knew little of the threat posed by Asian carp.

B. Electric fences might not be enough to stop the spread of Asian carp.

C. The Chicago River has changed its flowing direction many times.

D. People in Chicago will soon face a serious water supply shortage.

C

Still adjusting to life in the big city? Your mobile phone operator might soon be able to tell.

An analysis of a more than 698 million calls made from Shanghai in one month has helped show where people live, who they meet and their movements when they first arrive in a new city.

Although the data didn’t contain names and addresses, it did suggest whether mobile users were locals or migrants to the city. Other biological information was included, such as sex and age. Some 22,000 “new migrants” were described as those who were born outside Shanghai and who did not have call logs in the first week of the month, while one million “settled migrants” had at least one call in that time period. There were 1.7 million locals.

The data covered September 2016, but showed who called whom and roughly where in the city people went, thanks to information on the cell towers they connected to.

Chenhao Tan at the University of Washington in the US, who worked on the project with colleagues at Zhejiang University, says he was expecting the data to show migrants gradually behaving more and more like locals as they spent time in Shanghai.

“That’s actually not the case, they remain quite different from locals,” he says. For instance, the migrants stayed in contact with multiple people who shared their place of birth.

They also spent more time in the center of the city. However, migrants did become more like locals in some ways – such as average call length and the distance they traveled. The settled migrants and locals groups were also more likely than newcomers to receive calls back from people they contacted.

“The real value in this work is in the potential of telling us the rate of change in how a community combines over time,” said Rex Douglass at the University of California, San Diego, US.

“Cellphone data provide an opportunity to show how these ties grow or disappear over time in a way that type of people or survey data have a hard time showing.”

Such mobile phone data sets have been used in other situations – for example to model the potential spread of the Ebola sickness in West Africa.

However, the use of mass telecoms metadata is controversial, because it is quite simple to tie a person’s identity to a random private telephone number. Groups that fight for the rights of people have long worried that despite not including names or the content of calls, such data can show private things about people’s lives.

Tan says that such findings might actually help governments or charity organizations assist migrants. “Governments may be able to more effectively deliver information on potential benefits,” he says.

9. What is Chenhao Tan’s research mainly about?

A. Methods that help migrants get used to life in a new city.

B. Data collection of mobile users and protection of user privacy.

C. Connections between cell phone data and migrants’ lifestyles.

D. Benefits of mobile communication for people living in urban areas.

10. According to the research, the settled migrants ______.

A. don’t like to go downtown in their free time

B. have no call logs in the first month of their arrival

C. tend to call less and travel a shorter distance than locals

D. keep in close contact with other migrants from their hometown

11. What does Rex Douglass think of cell phone data?

A. It is more reliable than other types of survey data.

B. It informs people of the changes to urban communities.

C. It includes lots of private information and should not be used in studies.

D. It can help governments gather the biological information of migrants.

D

A strange and poorly understood “fire monument” that’s 5,300 years old has been found in England – at least 800 years older than Stonehenge (巨石阵).

Located in Avebury, England, the monument is so large that it can only truly be seen from the sky. It is hourglass-shaped and surrounded by wooden posts. At some point in the ancient past, these posts – and whatever was inside them – were set on fire, for purposes unknown. It was probably used for ceremonies just 37 kilometers from where Stonehenge was eventually built.

The site was first discovered in the 1960s, when a pipeline was being built through the area. Over time, excavations showed the scale of the monument, and eventually, it was found that much of the outline of it was burned. Evidence nearby shows that barbecues were used to cook food.

In fact, the nearby Durrington Wall – another Neolithic (New Stone Age) settlement – shows that this type of activity took place here, and may have even been the accommodation site for some of Stonehenge’s builders.

The hourglass site at Avebury, however, was probably not used in the same way. The circles are huge, and together, they cover a distance of 4 kilometers. This big fire was not likely used for a feast, but some sort of ceremonial practice.

It would have taken hundreds of trees to build, and a lot of careful digging. It was a complicated construction project that certainly needed careful planning and direction.

Pieces of pottery (陶器) found within the monument do date back to the time of Stonehenge, but carbon-dating techniques by Historic England have now found that the site itself is almost a thousand years older. This means it was constructed during a part of British history that archaeologists (考古学家) know very little about.

It should be noted that 5,300 years ago, Britain was a very different society from the one immediately following on from Stonehenge.

A dramatic new study last month showed that an attack of unknown peoples took place about 4,500 years ago, roughly when Stonehenge was built. The attack was so successful that 90 percent of the country’s gene pool changed almost overnight.

Did the practice of building fire monuments like the one at Avebury also die out after the attack? Was there a huge change in culture at the same time? Watch this space!

12. What is the article mainly about?

A. Research on buildings in the New Stone Age.

B. The discovery of a fire monument in England.

C. The connection between the fire monument and Stonehenge.

D. An introduction to major monuments around the Stonehenge.

13. According to the article, the fire monument in Avebury ______.

A. measures eight kilometers in total length

B. served as a kitchen for Stonehenge builders

C. was carefully designed and most likely used for ceremonies

D. was built and then destroyed about 5,300 years ago

14. What did the attack of unknown peoples about 4,500 years ago bring about?

A. Damage to the local environment.

B. The creation of a new language.

C. Lots of new people living in the country.

D. An increase in the variety of local culture.

15. What is the author’s attitude toward the research of fire monuments in England?

A. Doubtful. B. Positive. C. Disapproving. D. Uncaring.

E

Chimpanzees do have stronger muscles than us – but they are not nearly as powerful as many people think.

“There’s this idea out there that chimpanzees are superhuman strong,” says Matthew O’Neill at the University of Arizona in Phoenix. Yet his team’s experiments and computer models show that a chimpanzee muscle is only about a third stronger than a human one of the same size.

This result matches well with the few tests that have been done, which suggest that when it comes to pulling and jumping, chimps are about 1.5 times as strong as humans relative to their body mass. But because they are lighter than the average person, humans can actually outperform them in absolute terms, says O’Neill.

His findings suggest that other apes have similar muscle strength to chimpanzees. “Humans are the odd ones,” he says.

O’Neill’s team has been studying the evolution of upright walking. To create an accurate computer model of how chimps walk, the researchers needed to find out whether their muscles really are much stronger. So they removed small samples of leg muscle from three chimps and measured the strength of individual fibers (纤维).

The same procedure is used to study human muscles. Comparing the results with the many studies on those showed that, contrary to the claims of several other studies, there is nothing special about chimp muscle. “Chimpanzee muscle is really no different than human muscle in terms of the force that individual fibers use,” says O’Neill.

So why, on a pound-for-pound basis, are chimps slightly stronger than humans? The team went on to look at the muscle of chimps that had died of natural causes, which showed that two-thirds of their muscle is made of fast-twitch fibers, whereas more than half of human fibers are slow-twitch. Fast-twitch fibers are more powerful, but use more energy and become tired faster.

Another factor, O’Neill found, is that chimps have longer fibers on average, which also improves their strength.

This adds to the evidence that walking uses far more energy for chimps than for people. The results fit well with the idea that early humans evolved to walk or run long distances. It seems that we gave up some strength for greater endurance (耐力).

16. What does O’Neill mean when he says “Humans are the odd ones”?

A. Humans are better at jumping and pulling things than chimps.

B. There is nothing special about human muscles.

C. Humans are heavier and stronger than chimpanzees.

D. Humans’ muscle strength is different from that of apes.

17. What contributes a lot to the strength of chimp muscles?

A. The evolution of upright walking.

B. The slow-twitch fibers in their muscles.

C. The fast-twitch fibers in their muscles.

D. Most of their muscles being made of short fibers.

18. We can infer from the text that ______.

A. short fibers provide more energy for the muscle

B. human muscles are more suited to long distance running

C. early humans needed much more energy than chimps

D. slow-twitch muscle fibers help chimps survive in the wild

（答案和解析见D24版)