The rat is named Lola and she’s at the top of her class of risk-running animals being trained to smell out landmines (地雷) in Colombia, home to the world’s highest number of mine-related deaths and injuries last year. Of the victims, many are children who died in the accidents while walking to school or playing in the countryside.
The smartest rat among the first six that the government is teaching to locate landmines equipment planted by rebels(叛亂者) has a 90 percent success rate in locating landmines material in her lab training.
Police animal trainers, tired of seeing their landmines-smelling dogs blown up by stepping on mines, hope the white-furred, pink-eyed creature will lead her classmates through coming open field tests and then into the country mine fields before the end of the year. It takes about 400 grams of pressure to detonate (引爆) a mine while Lola only weighs about 220 grams. “The dogs can easily set off the landmines, sometimes killing people nearby,” they said.
Police animal trainer Jose Pineda says that rats have more sensitive noses than dogs, which should allow them to better smell out mines in difficult terrain (地形).
Plus, it takes the police about six months to train mine-smelling dogs. Training the rats is expected to take about half that time once the program is established.
Trainers think that they are much smarter than the dogs. The second-best scorer in the laboratory is Lucrecia, with an 83 percent success rate. Males, such as one named   Runcho, have fallen behind until now but may do better in the coming field tests. Pineda said that the next step of training will present new challenges to the rats as they are sure to meet distractions (分心的事) in the open.
【小題1】What do the underlined words “the accidents” in the first paragraph mean?

A.Children were shot while playing outside.
B.A buried landmine was walked on and set off.
C.A rebel blew up a landmine and killed children.
D.Children got hurt in traffic accidents on the way to school.
【小題2】Which of the following is NOT a reason why rats are chosen to find buried landmines?
A.They have a good sense of smell.
B.They are too light to set off buried landmines.
C.They can smell all kinds of explosive materials.
D.They cost people less time in terms of training
【小題3】What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.Rats will perform as well in the open air as in the lab.
B.Until now, female rats are better than the male ones.
C.Trainers should have chosen only female rats for the program.
D.Because they are foolish, dogs are not preferred for the program.
【小題4】What would be the best title for the passage?
A.Dogs Bring Peace to the People in Colombia
B.Colombia Develops a New Way to Reduce Deaths
C.Buried Landmines are a Great Danger to Colombians
D.Colombian Police Train Rats to Sniff Out Landmines

 
【小題1】B
【小題2】C
【小題3】B
【小題4】D

解析試題分析:本文敘述了哥倫比亞的警察用老鼠去嗅出地雷減少對人的傷害和財產(chǎn)的損失,文中給出了為什么用老鼠去嗅出地雷,而不用狗,因為一是老鼠它的嗅覺比狗的靈敏。二是老鼠的身體輕,不會引爆地雷。三是訓(xùn)練老鼠用的時間比訓(xùn)練狗用的時間短。
【小題1】詞義猜測題。根據(jù)home to the world’s highest number of mine-related deaths and injuries last year. 由于人們踩到了地雷而失去生命,故選B。
【小題2】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)rats have more sensitive noses than dogs, 它有好的嗅覺;Lola only weighs about 220 grams. “The dogs can easily set off the landmines, 因為這種鼠身體輕不會引爆炸彈;it takes the police about six months to train mine-smelling dogs. Training the rats is expected to take about half that time once the program is established.訓(xùn)練這種鼠花費的時間段,只有選項C沒有提到,故選C。
【小題3】推理判斷題。根據(jù)Males, such as one named Runcho, have fallen behind until now but may do better in the coming field tests.可知到目前來看雌性鼠比雄性鼠要做的好,故選B。
【小題4】標題歸納題。根據(jù)哥倫比亞的警察培訓(xùn)老鼠來嗅出地雷,故選D。
考點:科普類短文閱讀。
點評:做詞義猜測題,要根據(jù)詞、詞組、句子所在的語境上下文來判斷其意義。因此熟練掌握一些猜詞技巧是做好這類題的關(guān)鍵。命題者在出這類題時慣用常規(guī)詞義來麻痹考生,我們要特別注意熟詞生義,切不可脫離語境主觀臆斷。

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