阅读试题

Naturally, m a group of animals as diverse as the snakes, and with so many varied enemies. there are numerous defensive reactions and devices. There is. however, one general pattern of behavior. In the presence of suspected enemy the first reaction is to try to escape observation; if this fails, the next resort is the flight co some inaccessible retreat, but if this is not possible, or is circumvented. various kinds of intimidatory gestures and warning devices are brought

into play; in the last resort the snake attacks. This pattern vanes with the circumstances; some stages may be omitted or combined unpredictably whilst all some notoriously irascible species may dispense with all the preliminaries and attack almost at once. though seldom or never without some provocation.

Amongst the factors that increase aggressiveness are hunger, the mating season and surprise, with the last mentioned the commonest; when hunting for food or for mate. activity and the aggressive instinct are both at their peak. Owing to their poor sense of hearing snakes are very liable to be, quite literally, caught napping and a similar situation arises during their periods of temporary blindness just before sloughing (蜕皮）begins. By far the greatest number of snake-bit accidents result from the unwitting disturbance of resting snakes. and this hazard is much increased with species that are well disguised and whose natural instinct is to trust to this concealment as their principal defense. As well as differences in aggressiveness between individuals of the same species according to the circumstances and conditions, there are also notable differences between species, even closely allied species; and the reports of those who have been attacked may understandably be lacking in objectivity. So it is impossible to forecast. even in outline, how any encounter will develop.

The Hamadryad, for example, is usually credited with being amongst the most aggressive of snakes. and there are many accounts of unprovoked attacks, yet on one occasion fourteen men and seven dogs passed and returned within two yards from a nest and no snake was seen although the female. which guards the nest, could not have been far away.

参考译文

蛇的品种繁多。有各式各样的天敌，无疑，它们有数之不尽的防御方式和武器。但是，它们有一种共同的行为模式。[1]在遇到可疑的敌人时，它们的第一反应就是设法避开对方的监视；如果这个不成功的话，第二个方法就是逃到一个对方难以接近的安全之地，但是，如果无处可躲或者陷入包围，它们就会摆出各种恐吓的姿势，向对方发出警告；如果以上所有的方法都不奏效，蛇就会向敌人发起攻击。[2J这种模式会随着环境改变；它们不一定逐一完成以上四个步骤，也可能毫无预警地把某些步骤结合在一起；而所有那些臭名昭著的残暴的蛇种，可能一开始就对敌人发起攻击，而摒弃所有其他的步骤，但是它们这样做通常是因为受到了挑衅。

[3]增加蛇的攻击性的因素有：饥饿、交配季节，还有最常见的——受到惊吓；在觅食和寻找交配对象的时候，蛇的行为和攻击的本能都达到最高峰。因为蛇的听觉很差，所以，在它们打盹的时候，通常最容易被捕获，蛇在开始蜕皮的时候会暂时失明，同样这时蛇也最容易被捕获。到目前为止，在被蛇咬到的事件中，大多数是因为人们无意中打搅了正在休息的蛇，而碰上那些伪装性很强的蛇（它们主要的防卫措施就是本能上依靠伪装隐藏自己），人们受到攻击的危险就更大了。[4]因为环境条件的差异，所以在同一品种的蛇中，每条蛇的攻击性不一样，除此之外，不同的蛇种，即使近亲品种，也有明显的差别；于是，那些曾被蛇攻击过的人，他们的报告很可能缺乏客观性，这也是可以理解的。[5]因此，每一次当人蛇遭遇时，事情将如何发展，都无法预测，甚至概括性的预测也是不可能的。

[5]例如，人们常常认为眼镜王蛇是最具攻击性的蛇，它通常无缘无故对人发起攻击；然而，有一次, 14个人带着七条狗在距离蛇窝两码的地方来回走过，却一直没有看到蛇的踪影，但是，看守蛇窝的雌蛇必然就在近处。

测试题

1.When a snake meets a potential enemy, its primary device is______________.

A) avoiding any observation

B) Finding a safe shelter

C) giving a warning threat

D) starting a quick attack

2.The underlined phrase "dispense with all the preliminaries" in Paragraph I most probably means________________.

A) the snakes combine all the previous three steps

B) the snakes give up all the previous three steps

C) che snakes follow all the previous steps one by one

D) the snakes reverse the order of all the previous steps

3.A snake is most aggressive when_______________.

A) it meets a possible enemy

B) it is caught when it is sleeping or sloughing

C) it is disturbed unknowingly

D) it seeks a partner in che mating season

4.It is difficult to predict what would happen when a snake meets a man because____________.

A) no one bas ever clearly known how he himself was bit

B) man tends to be subjective when he describes his encounter with a snake

C) the aggressiveness of the snakes differs according to diverse situations

D) a snake does not begin co attack without provocation

5. The author uses the example in the last paragraph m support his idea that___________.

A) snakes do not begin the aggressive act if it is not disturbed

B) some snakes are more aggressive and more ready to attack

C) it is hard to forecast whether and how snakes would attack

D) snakes often conceal themselves as their principal defense

选项翻译与答案详解

1.当蛇遇到了潜在的敌人，它主要的做法会是______________。

A)避开任何监视

B)找一个安全的庇护场所

C)给出一个警告威胁

D）开始快速攻击

[A]首段第3句提到了蛇遇到可疑敌人时的行为模式：首先躲开对方的监视，第二步是寻找安全藏身处，第三是向对方发出警告，最后实施攻击，因此选项A为本题答案。选项B、C和D分别是对第二、第三和最后一步的近义替换，因此都不是正确答案。

2.第1段里含有下划线的短语“dispense with all the preliminaries"的意思最可能是_________。

A)蛇结合了所有之前的三个步骤

B)蛇会放弃所有之前的三个步骤

C)蛇会依据之前的步骤一步一步进行

D)蛇会保留所有之前步骤的顺序

[B]首段最后一句中dispense with的前面提到过some stages may be omitted or combined，而下文提到attack almost at once,这税明dispense with应表示有些蛇不做前几个步骤，而立刻展开进攻，因此它的意思应等同于omit“免除，省略”，也即选项B中的give up。其他选项语法上都说得通，但是与下文的attack almost at once不一致，因此都不是正确答案。

3.蛇最有攻击性的时候是______________。

A)遇到了可能是敌人的动物

B)在睡觉或蜕皮的时候给提住

C）在其没有防备的情况下受到干扰

D)在交配季节求偶的时候

[D]第2段首句中第2个分句的mate一词与选项D同义，因此选项D为本题答案。其他选项都在文中提到过，也是蛇会对敌人实施还击的情况，但是这三个干扰项和正确选项之间的区别就在于，文中没有提到在这些情况下“A snake is most aggressiv。（蛇最具有攻击性）”，因此本题要紧扣第2段首句和其中的peak这个单词。

4.很难预测当蛇遇到人的时候会发生什么事情，因为________________。

A)从来就没有人知道是怎么被蛇攻击的

B)在形容与蛇遭遇的情形时，人们总是主观性较强

C)在不同的情况下蛇的攻击性程度都不一样

D)没有遭到挑衅的话，蛇是不会攻击人的

[C]第2段最后两句由So连接，显示倒数第2句是原因，最后一句是结果。选项C是对倒数第2句的概括，为本题答案。选项A和选项D与题干之间没什么关联，易排除；选项B虽然与该段倒数第2句的后一个分句意思相符，但它只是作为附加信息以说明蛇的个体行为差异很大，故也可排除。

5.在最后一个段落中，作者使用了例子来支持他的观点：

A)如果不受干扰的话，蛇是不会率先发起攻击行为的。

B)一些蛇更具攻击性，也更趋向随时进行攻击。

C)很难预测蛇是否会做出攻击，会怎样做出攻击。

D)蛇主要的防卫方式就是隐藏自己。

[C]第3段开头就有for example这个标志性的词组，表明这一句是为了支持上文的例子。结合第2段末句可知，第3段是为了证明其不可预测性的，故C正确。