学位英语

Ants as a Barometer of Ecological Change

At picnics, ants are pests. But they have their uses. In industries1 such as mining, farming and forestry, they can help gauge the health of the environment by just crawling around and being antsy.

It has been recognized for decades2 that ants一which are highly sensitive to ecological change一can provide a near-perfect barometer of the state of an ecosystem. Only certain species, for instance, will continue to thrive at a forest site that has been cleared of trees._____(1)_____ And still others will move in and take up residence.

By looking at which species populate a deforested area, scientists can determine how "stressed" the land is._____(2)_____Ants are used simply because they are so commonand comprise so many species.

Where mine sites are being restored, for example, some ant species will recolonize the stripped land quickly than others._____(3)_____Australian mining company Capricorn Coal Management has been successfully using ant surveys for years to determine the rate of recovery of land that it is replanting near its German Creek mine in Queensland.

Ant surveys also have been used with mine-site recovery projects in Africa and Brazil, where warm climates encourage dense and diverse ant populations." We found it worked extremely well there." says Jonathan Majer, a professor of environmental biology. Yet the surveys are perfectly suited to climates throughout Asia, he says, because ants are so common throughout the region. As Majer puts it: "That's the great thing about ants3."

Ant surveys are so highly-regarded as ecological indicators that governments worldwide accepttheir results when assessing the environmental impact of mining and tree harvesting4. _____(4)_____

Why not? Because many companies can't afford the expense or the laboratory time needed to sift results for a comprehensive survey. The cost stems, also, from the scarcity of ant specialists. _____(5)_____

词汇：

ecological 生态学的 barometer 气压计 forestry 林业

gauge 测定，测量 antsy 坐立不安的 ecosystem 生态系统

populate 居住 deforest 采伐树林，清除树林

recolonize 再度移民到 sift 详审 scarcity 缺乏，不足

注释：

1.industries:行业

2.for decades：有几十年。for后接复数的时间词是常用结构，如for days, for years等。本文第四段还会出现for years。

3.That's the great thing about ants. great thing指前一句的ants are so common throughout the region.

4.tree harvesting：伐木

练习：

A This allowed scientists to gauge the pace and progress of the ecological recovery.

B Yet in other businesses, such as farming and property development, ant surveys aren't used widely.

C Employing those people are expensive.

D They do this by sorting the ants, counting their numbers and comparing the results with those of earlier surveys.

E The evolution of ant species may have a strong impact on our ecosystem.

F Others will die out for lack of food.

答案与题解：

1.F “空1”前面的句子有certain species，后面的句子有still others，这一定是英语中的“some/ certain一others一still others”的固定结构。仅从这一点判断，F是答案。

2.D 决定哪个句子填入“空2"的一个方法是排除法。选项A、B, C, F(F已选为“空1”的答案)的内容与“空2”前后的句子意思上都不连贯。选项E有些突如其来。只有选项D符合上下文的意思。this：指前面句子中的can determine how "stressed" the land is。

3.A 选项A中的ecological recovery与前面一句中的recolonize相呼应，提示选项A的句子是前面句子的后续句。

4.B 选项B中的关键词。ther businesses, farming, property提示，选项B的句子是前面句子的后续句，因为前面句子有mining ,tree harvesting，也是businesses。蚂蚁分析法已被mining和tree harvesting等行业广泛接受，但在farming和property行业中的应用还不普遍。

5.C 本题的答案很自然会选C，因为scarcity，当然就贵了。此外，those指的是前一句的specialists，进一步证明选项C是正确的。

译文：生态变化的气压计——蚂蚁

外出野餐时，蚂蚁被当做是害虫：但是它们有自己的用途。在诸如釆矿业、农业和林业等行 业里，蚂蚁可以用来测量环境是否健康，它们会随环境的变化而四处爬动、坐立不安。

几十年以来，蚂蚁一直被认为对生态变化极为敏感。几乎可以充当测量一个生态系统状态的 气压计。比如，在被砍光树的森林里，只有某些特定的物种可以继续存活，其他则会因为缺少食 物而死去，而另外的一些物种则会进入这块地方并在此繁衍生息。

科学家可以通过观察哪些物种居住在没有树林的地方来确定该块土地受的“压力”有多重。 而这个观察又通过对蚂蚁的分类、数目的确定及与上次调查结果的对比分析来进行。科学家利用 蚂蚁就是因为它们随处可见并种类繁多。

一些矿井地带在复原的过程中，有一些蚂蚁的物种会比其他物种更快地重新在植被被破坏了 的土地上安家，这样可以帮助科学家测定生态恢复的速度和进程。澳大利亚矿业公司卡普瑞考恩 煤矿管理集团几年来已经成功地运用蚂蚁观测的方法来确定土地恢复的速度。这块土地临近昆士 兰的德国小溪煤矿附近，现在正在重新种植植被。

在非洲和巴西，炎热的天气促进蚂蚁繁殖的密度和种类。那里，蚂蚁也被用于一些矿点复原 的项目中，乔娜森?梅吉是一位环境生物学教授，他说：“我们发觉这个方法在这里非常适用。” 他又说：“然而这种调查的方法也非常适合亚洲地区的气候，因为在亚洲蚂蚁很普遍。这是蚂蚁的 可贵之处。”

用蚂蚁来做调查已被誉为生态预言的指针，世界各地的政府都承认通过它们而得出的关于估 测采矿和伐林对环境带来的影响的结果。然而在另外一些行业中，比如农业和房地产开发业，用 蚂蚁调查的方法并没有被广泛地采用。 ,

为什么不用呢?因为许多公司付不起此种方法的开支，以及要花在实验室用来详审调查结果 的时间。高额的费用还来自于研究蚂蚁的专家的稀少，花钱雇他们得出大价钱。

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