Question

【題目】In the famous fairy tale, Snow White eats the Queen's apple and falls victim to a curse（詛咒）;in Shakespeare's novel, Romeo drinks the poison and dies; some ancient Chinese emperors took pellets（藥丸）that contained mercury（水銀）, believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward.

Poison has long been an important ingredient in literature and history, and it seems to always be associated with evil, danger and death. But how much do you really know about poison?

An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison.

The museum tour starts in a rainforest setting, where you can see live examples of some of the most poisonous animals: caterpillars（毛毛蟲）, frogs and spiders. Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren't much bigger than a coin, but their skin is covered with a poison that can cut off the signaling power of your nerves, and a single frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown humans.

"Poisons can be bad for some things," Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum, told NBC News. "Yet they can also be good for others."

A poisonous chemical found in the yew tree is effective against cancer, which is what led to the invention of a cancer-fighting drug called Taxol.

The benefits from natural poisons are not limited to just medicine. Believe it or not, many substances（物質(zhì)）that we regularly ingest（攝入）-chili, coffee and chocolate-owe their special flavors or stimulating（提神的）effects to chemicals that plants make to poison insects.

【1】What does the underlined word "immortal" in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. happy B. not moral

C. living forever D. sick

【2】What is the main purpose of the exhibition The Power of Poison?

A. To give people more in-depth knowledge about poison.

B. To teach people how to handle poisonous animals.

C. To inform people about which animals are the most poisonous.

D. To show how poison has been used for medical treatment.

【3】Which of the following statements about the Golden poison frog is TRUE according to the article?

A. Its skin can cut off the signaling power of your nerves.

B. It's about the size of a coin.

C. It's the most poisonous animal on display.

D. You can only see it in a rainforest setting of the museum.

【4】The stimulating effects of coffee come from ________.

A. natural poison made by the plant

B. the substances that we regularly ingest

C. chemicals produced by poisonous insects

D. its special flavor

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】A

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】本文主要講述了毒藥的淵源，毒藥在歷史中的地位，以及紐約舉辦的《毒藥的力量》的展覽，該展覽闡述了毒藥真正的力量與實(shí)體存在形式，讓人們對毒藥有更深入的了解。

【1】詞義猜測題。根據(jù)“some ancient Chinese emperors took pellets（藥丸）that contained mercury（水銀）,believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward”根據(jù)but表轉(zhuǎn)折，故與前句意思相反，結(jié)合they died afterward（他們之后就死了），推知他們認(rèn)為這些藥丸可以讓他們長命百歲。故選C。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段“An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison”可知，這個展覽的目的是讓人們對毒藥有更深入的了解。故選A。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段“Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren't much bigger than a coin”可知，金毒蛙大概有硬幣大小。故選B。

【4】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段的表述可知，咖啡的刺激性來自于植物自然產(chǎn)生的毒性。故選A。