Wasps: Man’s New Best friend?
Wasps (黄蜂) aren’t man’s best friend – probably their worst. But when it comes to sniffing out trouble, scientists believe they may be better than dogs.
They ward off intruders, track down criminals, find bombs and detect toxic chemicals (毒性化学药品), but dogs could soon be replaced by wasps. They have the same sensitive smell detection as dogs and are now being trained to sniff out trouble.
“The advantage of a wasp over a dog is that you can produce them by the thousands. They are really inexpensive, and you can train them in a matter of minutes, ” says Joe Lewis, Ph.D. a research entomologist (昆虫学者) .
He and biological and agricultural engineer Glen Rains, ph. D. are doing just that. Wasps can smell chemicals in concentrations as tiny as a few parts per billion in the air.
“so far, they’ve been able to detect any chemical we’ve trained them to ,” says Rains. Training is simple and quick. The wasps are fed sugar water. At the same time they’re introduced to a smell for 10 seconds. The process is repeated two more times. Lewis says, “We can train a wasp within a matter of 10 to 15 minutes.”
For example, a set of wasps are trained to detect the smell of coffee. When they are put into a simple container, a tiny web camera watches their actions. When the smell of orange is pumped into the pipe, nothing happens. But when it’s coffee, the wasps crowd around the smell.
So far , Rains and Lewis haven’t found anything the wasps cannot be trained to detect. They can be trained to detect things from drugs to human remains to fungi on crops. They could one day even be able to detect deadly diseases like cancer.
The trained wasps could be used in the public within the next five years.

64. What does the underlined word “sniffing” in Paragraph 1 mean?
A. Hiding. B. Smelling. C. Taking. D. Looking.
65. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 really mean?
A. Wasps have thousands of advantage, when compared with dogs.
B. It is certain that there are many more wasps than dogs in the world.
C. Wasps can be produced largely and this is their advantage over dogs.
D. Every time you produce wasps, you can produce thousands of wasps.
66. from the text, we know usually it only takes __________ to train a wasp completely.
A. less than 10 seconds
B. more than 10 seconds
C. more than 15 minutes
D. no more than 15 minutes
67. Before wasps ’re trained to detect any smell, they will have water with __________ in it.
A. coffee B. orange C. sugar D. milk

黄蜂:人类最好的新朋友?

黄蜂并非人类最好的朋友--而可能是他们最坏的敌人.然而,当黄蜂的嗅觉可以用来探察危险物时,科学家们相信它们也许更胜于狗.

黄蜂可以阻挡入侵者,追踪罪犯,搜寻爆炸物,还可以探察毒性化学药品,另一方面,黄蜂能够迅速取代侦探狗.黄蜂具有可以与狗相媲美的敏锐的嗅觉探测功能,并且,现在人们正在训练黄蜂来嗅探危险品.

"黄蜂较狗更胜一筹,在于它们可以大量繁衍.它们是真正廉价的,而且,你能在若干分钟内就把它们训练好,"昆虫学家Joe Lewis博士如是说.

他正与生物及农业工程师Glen Rains博士一起研究这个课题.即便是空气中只有十亿分之几浓度的化学物质,黄蜂都能够嗅探出来.

"迄今为止,它们已经能够嗅探到所有我们训练它们去探测的化学物质,"Rains说.训练黄蜂的方法既简单又快速.给黄蜂喂一点糖水.同时,引导它们去嗅闻一种气味,并持续十秒钟的时间.这样的过程再重复做2次.Lewis说,"我们在10到15分钟之内,就可以训练好一只黄蜂."

例如,训练一组黄蜂去嗅探咖啡的气味.它们被放入一个简单的容器里,容器里装有微型网状摄象机用来观察它们的表现.当橙子的气味通过管子被泵入容器时,黄蜂们无动于衷.而当咖啡的气味进入容器后,它们向这气味蜂拥而去.

到目前为止,Rains 和Lewis 尚未发现有什么气味是黄蜂所无法被训练嗅探的.从药物到尸体,再到庄稼上的真菌,受训后的黄蜂的探测力无所不能.终有那么一天,黄蜂甚至能够被用以嗅探癌症之类的致命疾病.

在未来的五年内,经过训练的黄蜂,就能够被正式投入使用了.

64.在第一段中,有下划线的词 “sniffing”是什么意思?

A.隐藏 B.嗅闻 C.拿取 D.观看

65.第三段中有下划线的句子的真实意思是什么?

A.与狗相比,黄蜂具有成千上万种优势.

B.毫无疑问,世界上黄蜂的数量比狗的多.

C.黄蜂可以大量地繁殖,在这点上它胜于狗.

D. 你每次使黄蜂繁殖时,它们都能够生出成千上万只黄蜂.

66.从这篇课文中我们得知,完成一只黄蜂的训练通常需要 __________ 的时间.

A.少于10秒.

B. 超过10秒.

C.超过15分钟.

D.不多于15分钟.

67.在训练黄蜂嗅别任一种气味之前,要给它们喝加入了___的水.

A. 咖啡 B.橙 C. 糖D.牛奶