The Beagle Brigade

Return to the United States from a trip abroad ,and your luggage will get inspected by the Beagle Brigade, a team of beagles and their human partners. Working with human partners, the beagles sniff out potential threats to American agriculture.

An orange or apple, for example, might have a Mediterranean fruit fly. Hams could carry a disease such as hog cholera. These and other pests could destroy farmers' crops and livestock. " Once we introduce something   that   is not part of the environment, there may not be any controls of it in the environment," notes Lisa Davis at the National Dog Detector Training Center in Orlando, Florida. "The best thing for us to do is prevent it from coming across the border and becoming established. "

When a beagle sniffs specific food smells, it signals its partners by siting there. The human officer then investigates. When the dog is right ——which happens 90 percent of the time ——it gets an edible（可食用的） treat.

"The dog is not out there working," explains Davis. " It's out there playing. It's a game to the dog. "The handlers give the beagles plenty of food and love. They make sure they get first-class medical attention, too. When the dogs finally retire after 9 to 11 years ,they will find caring homes for them. It's a dog's life indeed!

Their people partners work and study somewhat harder. As specialized quarantine（检疫） officers,most hold degrees in the biological sciences or related sciences.

How well does the Beagle Brigade do its job? " On average," notes Davis, " each year our 54 teams prevent around 75,000 prohibited , restricted items. Since even one infected item could cause widespread destruction, that's a great result for America's agricultural environment.

【小题1】According to the article, what is the problem with agricultural products brought into the United States by passengers traveling from abroad?

A．They generate similar types of food smells.

B．They are difficult to identify, even with trained dogs.

C．They must be inspected before being allowed to enter the country.

D．They may carry something that could harm the local agricultural environment.

【小题2】According to the article , how does the beagle signal that it has found a suspicious food product?

A．By barking at its partners.

B．By begging for a treat.

C．By sitting next to the item.

D．By playing a game.

【小题3】How is the beagle congratulated for finding a specific food product?

A．The handler praises it with a hug.

B．The beagle gets to play for a few hours.

C．The beagle gets to retire to a caring home.

D．The handler gives it an edible reward.

【小题4】In the article , how does the author support the use of the Beagle Brigade?

A．By providing statistics about the number of items detected by the dogs.

B．By showing that the dogs enjoy discovering prohibited items.

C．By pointing out that good homes are found for the dogs when they retire.

D．By praising the fact that the dogs work for a government agency.

语法填空

Jumping spiders (跳蛛) are vital for agricultural pest control, and 【小题1】 species can even learn to distinguish (辨别) the color red in their prey (猎物), a 2015 study 【小题2】 (show). They are able to learn to associate this color 【小题3】 poisonous prey and avoid it or find out high-quality prey.

Jumping spiders will eat almost any small pest, 【小题4】 (range) from caterpillars to flies. Not only does this 【小题5】 (natural) reduce the amount of agricultural damage from insect pests, but it means farmers can avoid using chemical treatments 【小题6】 (protect) their crops.

In total, a large number of jumping spiders, over 5,000 species, 【小题7】 (find) on every continent except Antarctica by now. Being able to adapt to the environment is a key evolutionary skill. Since the spiders are able to distinguish 【小题8】 foods are nutritious, from those that are 【小题9】 (harm). They can stay alive longer and manage a wide 【小题10】 (various) of pests.

   Many years ago in a zoo，I was shocked by finding that chimpanzees could behave in a more civil manner than youths. Great apes（类人猿）are always one of the favourite attractions in any zoo. The main reason for this is that they are so similar to us.

This similarity has persuaded a group called the Great Ape Project（GAP）to campaign for these animals to be afforded“human rights”.

This has resulted in laws in New Zealand，which could mean that great apes would become the first animals in the world with basic rights protected by the law.

Not everybody is happy with this idea，however. Scientists using animals for scientific research fear that this is just the first stage in a process that will lead to a ban on using all animals for research.

The GAP declaration claims great apes should have“human rights”due to scientific evidence about their abilities. But if we compare the abilities of humans and great apes，then why not the abilities of great apes and monkeys，monkeys and lemurs，and so on until insects are granted“human rights”？This is not foolish. There are people without basic human rights. How long ago，for example，did women not have the right to vote？

Yet another argument by those who don't support GAP is that the human-like qualities of great apes have been exaggerated（夸大）for certain reasons，and that this has led people to exaggerate the similarities but ignore the differences between humans and great apes.

In a fascinating book entitled What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee，Jonathan M. Marks points out that，although a human and a daffodil（水仙花）share the common ancestry and their DNA matches more than 25% of the time，it is plainly ridiculous to claim that we are one-quarter daffodils.

He goes on to demonstrate that，if looked at from one angle，it is true that we are apes phylogenetically. But also fish from another angle！“It doesn't sound quite so profound now，does it？”

【小题1】What does Paragraph 1 mainly talk about？

A．The experience was unforgettable.

B．Chimpanzees are similar to humans.

C．Chimpanzees are very popular in the zoo.

D．Animals could behave better than humans.

【小题2】Which of the following would the Great Ape Project most probably agree with?

A．Animals should be free from any scientific research.

B．New Zealand should do more to protect the rights of great apes.

C．The differences between humans and great apes have been ignored.

D．Great apes have adequate characteristics to be included as our equals.

【小题3】How does the author develop his idea mainly in Paragraph 5?

A．By reasoning.

B．By giving examples.

C．By making comparisons.

D．By providing scientific evidence.

【小题4】What point does Jonathan M. Marks try to make in his book?

A．Humans are more than one-quarter daffodils.

B．Great apes and fish are phylogenetically similar from another angle.

C．Humans are as similar to fish as they are to great apes.

D．Being 98% genetically identical matters less than thought.

   Dragging a sleigh loaded with enough presents for the world’s children can be no easy skill. But, since ancient times, the Christmas Eve duty has been performed by a team of beloved reindeer.

Soon, however, Santa Claus may have to start looking around for a stronger type of animal, as newresearch shows the species is becoming increasingly puny. A 16-year survey on the arctic Norwegian islands, Svalbard, found the reindeer there have declined in weight by an alarming 12 percent.

The reduction in average body weight is being blamed on global warming. In the research presented lately at a meeting of the British Ecological Society in Liverpool, scientists have explained how upward temperatures are robbing female reindeer of nutrients during important periods of pregnancy.

Snow in Svalbard typically covers the ground for eight months of a year, which, combined with low temperatures, limits grass growth to June and July. But as summer temperatures increase by around 1. 5℃, grass has become more productive, allowing female reindeer to gain more weight by autumn and therefore to have more babies. However, winters have brought with them greater rainfall which freezes when it settles on the snow. Reindeer can often access the poor food sources beneath the snow by clearing it away with their antlers (鹿角) , but they cannot break through the hard ice. As a result, female reindeer are becoming starved, causing them to lose their babies or give birth to the much lighter young.

Despite the findings, reindeer appear to be suffering less from the effect of climate change than some other arctic species. Last week the scientists warned that a third of the world’s polar bears could disappear in the next 40 years.

【小题1】Which of the following can replace the underlined word “puny” in Paragraph 2?

A．strong	B．mature
C．heavy	D．weak

【小题2】Why do female reindeer become fat in autumn?

A．Because the temperature is getting low.

B．Because they give birth to more babies.

C．Because grass grows well during the period.

D．Because they often break through the hard ice.

【小题3】What can we infer from the text?

A．Climate change has little effect on reindeer.

B．Polar bears suffer more from climate change.

C．Reindeer have no trouble finding food in winter.

D．Polar bears will disappear totally in the near future.

【小题4】What does the text mainly talk about?

A．The Christmas Eve duty will still be carried out by reindeer.

B．Reindeer have decreased in weight owing to global warming.

C．Global warming contributes to more young reindeer.

D．Many arctic species are at the risk of dying out.

阅读P18教材课文，用合适的单词(不超过三个)填入下列表格

Yeti，Bigfoot and the Wild Man of Shennongjia
What they are called	Where they are seen	What they ____3____	What they Why they look the same
Yeti	In the Himalayas	large，____4____ animal that walks on two feet like a ____5____； moving with amazing ____6____ and ___7___； large tracks more than 33 centimetres ____8____	linked to a common ___9___，an animal that lived in ___10___ some 300,000 years ago
Bigfoot	____1____ of the north­west of the USA
Wild Man in Shennongjia	In ___2___Hubei Province，China

 
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________
4. __________
5. __________
6. __________
7. __________
8. __________
9. __________
10. __________