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)_____

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。

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