学位英语

Toads are Arthritis and in Pain

Arthritis(关节炎) is an illness that can cause pain and swelling in your bones. Toads (蟾蜍), a big problem in the north of Australia, are suffering from painful arthritis in their legs and backbone, a new study has shown. The toads that jump the fastest are more likely to be larger and to have longer legs._______(46)

The large yellow toads, native to South and Central America, were introduced into the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland in 1935 in an attempt to stop beetles and other insects from destroying sugarcane crops. Now up to 200 million of the poisonous toads exist in the country, and they are rapidly spreading through the state of Northern Territory at a rate of up to 60 km a year. The toads can now be found across more than one million square kilometres._______(47) A Venezuelan poison virus was tried in the 1990s but had to be abandoned after it was found to also kill native frog species.

The toads have severely affected ecosystems in Australia. Animals, and sometimes pets, that eat the toads die immediately from their poison, and the toads themselves eat anything they can fit inside their mouth._______(48)

A co-author of the new study, Rick Shine, a professor at the University of Sydney, says that little attention has been given to the problems that toads face. Rick and his colleagues studied nearly 500 toads from Queensland and the Northern Territory and found that those in the latter state were very different. They were active, sprinting down roads and breeding quickly.

According to the results of the study, the fastest toads travel nearly one kilometre a night._______(49) But speed and strength come at a price — arthritis of the legs and backbone due to constant pressure placed on them.

In laboratory tests, the researchers found that after about 15 minutes of hopping, arthritic toads would travel less distance with each hop (跳跃)._______(50) These toads are so programmed to move, apparently, that even when in pain the toads travelled as fast and as far as the healthy ones, continuing their constant march across the landscape.

练习：

A. Furthermore, they soon take over the natural habitats of Australia’s native species.

B. Toads are not built to be road runners—— they are built to sit around ponds and wet areas.

C. But this advantage also has a big drawback — up to 10% of the biggest toads suffer from arthritis.

D. But arthritis didn’t slow down toads outside the laboratory the research found.

E. The task now facing the country is how to remove the toads.

F. Toads with longer legs move faster and travel longer distances while the others are being left behind.

答案及解析：

46 C 第一段主要讲述研究显示蟾蜍会患关节炎。前面的句子讲跳得快的蟾蜍可能体型更大并且腿更长，然后话锋一转，说这种优势也有一个大弊端，那就是体型大的蟾蜍更容易患关节炎。

47 E 前文讲述澳大利亚的蟾蜍过多影响了生态平衡，后面讲的是人们尝试消灭蟾蜍但失败了，因此填入的句子应该是关于消灭蟾蜍的。

48 A 前文讲到蟾蜍的适应性极强，什么都能吃，而它的天敌却因为它的毒性而死亡了，因此蟾蜍现在对澳大利亚的生态环境产生了极大影响。

49 F 要填人的句子后面有but，说明是转折，后面讲的是速度和力量带来的负面影响，而前文则应该是讲它的优点，因此F项人选。

50 D 前文讲蟾蜍在实验室内越跳越慢，后文讲在野外蟾蜍习惯于跳跃，即使疼痛也要尽量跳得快。D项讲的是在野外蟾蜍的跳跃速度不会越来越慢，符合题义。

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