Question

Researchers at San Diego Zoo have been studying what has been described as the “secret language” of elephants. They have been monitoring（監(jiān)測） communications between animals that cannot be heard by human ears.
The elephant’s call will be familiar to most people, but the animals also give out growls (低吼). Their growls, however, are only partly audible (聽得見的); two-thirds of the call is at frequencies that are too low to be picked up by our hearing. To learn more about the inaudible part of the growl, the team attached (附在……上面) a microphone sensitive to these low frequencies and a GPS tracking system to eight of the zoo’s female elephants. The researchers could then relate the noises the animals were making to what they were doing. Matt Anderson, who led the project, told BBC News, “We’re excited to learn how they interact and contact with one another.”
The team has already learned that pregnant females use this low frequency communication to announce to the rest of their long gestation (妊娠期) of over two years, in the last 12 days we see the low part of the growl, which we can’t hear. This we believe is to announce to the rest of the herd that the baby is upcoming,” said Dr Anderson.
The researchers believe that this also warns the elephants to look out for coming danger. “You may think that a baby calf of about 300 pounds would not be as open to predation (捕食) as other species,” he says. “But packs of hyenas (袋狼) are a big threat in the wild.”
Female elephants are only in season for around four days every four years and these calls can be heard by males more than two miles away.
【小題1】Why some elephants’ call is called “secret language”?

A．Because it can’t be heard by human ears.

B．Because it can only be heard by female elephants.

C．Because people don’t know its meanings.

D．Because people haven’t studied it completely.

【小題2】By using a sensitive microphone and a GPS tracking system, the researchers wanted to find out             .

A．where the elephants usually go

B．what the elephants’ growls really mean

C．how mother elephants raise baby calves

D．how elephants protect their babies.

【小題3】A pregnant elephant uses inaudible growls to           .

A．show the location where she is staying

B．a(chǎn)sk for help when she losses her way

C．scare away the enemy

D．let others know she will have a baby

【小題4】What is the passage mainly about?

A．The elephants can speak like people.

B．The wild elephants’ ways to fight against enemies.

C．The “secret language” between elephants.

D．The special life of female elephants.

Answer 1

【小題1】A
【小題2】B
【小題3】D
【小題4】C

解析試題分析：本文主要講述的是對定位（大象）之間的語言的研究。
【小題1】A 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章5,6行Their growls, however, are only partly audible (聽得見的); two-thirds of the call is at frequencies that are too low to be picked up by our hearing.說明很多聲音我們?nèi)祟惗紵o法聽見，故稱之為秘密語言，故A正確。
【小題2】B 推理題。感覺第二段4,5行To learn more about the inaudible part of the growl, the team attached (附在……上面) a microphone sensitive to these low frequencies and a GPS tracking system to eight of the zoo’s female elephants.說明這樣做是為了了解更多的關(guān)于我們聽不見的語言，故B正確。
【小題3】D 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第三段3,4行in the last 12 days we see the low part of the growl, which we can’t hear. This we believe is to announce to the rest of the herd that the baby is upcoming,”說明大象用這樣的聲音通知同伴她要產(chǎn)仔了。故D正確。
【小題4】C 主旨大意題。本文主要講述的是對定位（大象）之間的語言的研究，文章舉了具體的例子來說明。故C項正確。
考點(diǎn)：考查科普類短文
點(diǎn)評：本文與一般的科普類短文不一樣，是關(guān)于動物的語言的話題，詞匯的難度較小，要養(yǎng)成在上下文串聯(lián)中猜測詞義的能力，根據(jù)上下文中出現(xiàn)的同義詞，近義詞，反義詞，以及詞義的解釋來理解生詞。同時要抓住文章的中心，不要受其他信息的影響。要根據(jù)題目及選項以及文章的上下文串聯(lián)合理的判斷推理。