Walk through Times Square—you’re bombarded with advertising. And it turns out, a bumblebee might have a similar feeling, buzzing through a field of flowers. “So these flowers are these billboards, they’re advertising a commodity, this delicious nectar (花蜜) reward, and bees are very picky shoppers”, says Anne Leonard, a pollination biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno.
She describes a flower field as a sort of pollination marketplace. “Bees are nectar experts. They are really good at assessing even really small differences in the sugar concentration of nectar.” They also scope out flower shape and size, color and scent. And now Leonard and her colleagues have discovered that bumblebees are also sensitive to pollen.
They found that out by lacing batches of cherry pollen with either table sugar or bitter quinine. And to display the pollen to bees, “We got really into it—we started 3-D printing flowers in our lab.” And for the anther—the male flower part, which presents the pollen—pipe cleaners. “So we bought out Michael’s craft store supplies of these pipe cleaners and used them in our experiments.”
It turns out bees would return again and again to the same color flower that dispensed sweet pollen, and spend more time collecting there. But when confronted with the bitter pollen, they sought a different colored flower for their very next stop. All of which suggests that, in addition to savoring nectar, bees taste pollen too—and judge flowers by it. The results are in the journal Biology Letters.
The finding means that plants have to find a happy medium: “So can you make your pollen attractive enough that the bees will collect it, but distasteful enough that they won’t collect too much of it?” And that balancing act, of carefully calibrated chemistry (校准化学)—it’s just one of the many transactions that plays out in the buzzing pollination marketplace, where the object is to make a sweet profit.
1. What does the author compare a flower field to?
2. Why are bees described as nectar experts?
3. What are used to present the pollen by Anne and her colleagues in their experiments?
4. How do bees choose where to visit in a flower field according to the passage?
5. What do Anne and her colleagues’ research findings suggest?
问题1选项
A.Times Square.
B.A commodity.
C.A billboard.
D.A shopper.
问题2选项
A.Because they are able to detect differences in sugar levels of nectar.
B.Because they are capable of discerning different types of flowers.
C.Because they know instinctively where to collect more nectar.
D.Because they could distinguish sweet pollen from bitter one.
问题3选项
A.3-D printers.
B.Pipe cleaners.
C.Sugar.
D.Quinine.
问题4选项
A.By color and scent of flowers.
B.By taste of nectar and pollen.
C.By maleness or femaleness of flowers.
D.By shape and size of flowers.
问题5选项
A.Calibrated chemistry is very useful in changing the structure of pollen.
B.Attracting more bees to pollinate could make plants more productive.
C.The more bees to be attracted, the better it will be for the pollen.
D.The taste of pollen can be controlled for commercial purpose.
第1题:A
第2题:A
第3题:A
第4题:A
第5题:D
第1题:
【选项释义】
What does the author compare a flower field to? 作者把花田比作什么？
A. Times Square. A. 时代广场。
B. A commodity. B. 商品。
C. A billboard. C. 广告牌。
D. A shopper. D. 购物者。
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据选项关键词“Times Square”定位到第一段“走过纽约时代广场，你会被广告不断侵扰。事实证明，熊蜂在嗡嗡地飞过花田时（buzzing through a field of flowers），可能会有类似的感觉。因为这些花朵就像是那些广告牌，它们在为这些美味可口的花蜜打广告，而蜜蜂就是那些非常挑剔的消费者。”由此可知，作者把花朵比作广告牌，蜜蜂比作消费者，花田比作时代广场，故A选项正确。
【干扰项排除】
B、C、D选项不符合题意，属于答非所问。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Why are bees described as nectar experts? 为什么蜜蜂被称为花蜜专家？
A. Because they are able to detect differences in sugar levels of nectar. A. 因为它们能够检测到花蜜中糖分含量的差异。
B. Because they are capable of discerning different types of flowers. B. 因为它们能够分辨不同类型的花。
C. Because they know instinctively where to collect more nectar. C. 因为它们本能地知道在哪里采集更多的花蜜。
D. Because they could distinguish sweet pollen from bitter one. D. 因为它们能区分甜花粉和苦花粉。
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据关键词“nectar experts”定位到第二段第二、三句“蜜蜂是花蜜专家（nectar experts）。它们非常擅长评估花蜜中糖浓度的微小差异（good at assessing even really small differences in the sugar concentration of nectar）。”由此可知，A选项符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
B选项定位到第二段第四句“它们还能观察花的形状和大小、颜色和气味。”并不是说“它们能够分辨不同类型的花”，属于曲解原文；
C选项“它们本能地知道在哪里采集更多的花蜜”没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项定位到第四段“结果发现，蜜蜂会一次又一次地回到散发甜花粉的同一种颜色的花朵前，并在那里花更多的时间采集花粉。但是，当面对苦涩的花粉时，它们会在下一站寻找不同颜色的花朵。”这与蜜蜂为什么被称为花蜜专家无关，属于出处错位。
第3题:
【选项释义】
What are used to present the pollen by Anne and her colleagues in their experiments? 安妮和她的同事在实验中用什么来呈现花粉？
A. 3-D printers. A. 3-D打印机。
B. Pipe cleaners. B. 水管清洁器。
C. Sugar. C. 糖。
D. Quinine. D. 奎宁。
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据选项关键词“3-D printers”定位到第三段第二句“为了向蜜蜂展示这些花粉，我们非常投入，开始在实验室里用3-D打印花朵（And to display the pollen to bees, ‘We got really into it—we started 3-D printing flowers in our lab’）。”句中“display the pollen”与“present the pollen”属于同义替换，由此可知，A选项符合题意。
【干扰项排除】
B选项定位到第三段第三句“对于花药——雄花的一部分，它是花粉管道清洁器（pipe cleaners）”，与呈现花粉的方式无关，属于答非所问；
C、D选项定位到第三段第一句“他们在几批樱桃花粉中加入蔗糖或苦奎宁，发现了这一点。”这里的发现是指上一段最后提到的“大黄蜂对花粉也很敏感”，与本题无关，属于答非所问。
第4题:
【选项释义】
How do bees choose where to visit in a flower field according to the passage? 根据文章，蜜蜂是如何在花丛中选择栖息地点的？
A. By color and scent of flowers. A. 通过花的颜色和香味。
B. By taste of nectar and pollen. B. 通过花蜜和花粉的味道。
C. By maleness or femaleness of flowers. C. 花朵的雄性或雌性。
D. By shape and size of flowers. D. 花的形状和大小。
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】题目问“蜜蜂是如何在花丛中选择栖息地点的？”也就是问“蜜蜂是如何在花丛中选花的？”根据选项关键词“nectar and pollen”定位到第二段，该段指出“蜜蜂是花蜜专家。它们非常擅长评估花蜜中糖浓度的微小差异。现在伦纳德和她的同事们发现，大黄蜂对花粉也很敏感。”第三段则具体描述了实验方法，第四段指出实验结论是“除了品尝花蜜，蜜蜂还品尝花粉，并以此来判断花朵的好坏。”由此可知，蜜蜂在花丛中是通过花蜜和花粉的味道来选择栖息地点的，故B选项正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项定位到第四段前两句“结果发现，蜜蜂会一次又一次地回到散发甜花粉的同一种颜色的花朵前，并在那里花更多的时间采集花粉。但是，当面对苦涩的花粉时，它们会在下一站寻找不同颜色的花朵。”这里说明的是：蜜蜂除了品尝花蜜，蜜蜂还品尝花粉来判断花朵的好坏，属于曲解原文；
C选项定位到第三段第三句“对于花药——雄花的一部分（the male flower part），它是花粉管道清洁器”，与本题无关，属于出处错位；
D选项定位到第二段倒数第二句“它们还能观察花的形状和大小、颜色和气味。”根据文章内容可知，蜜蜂观察花的形状和大小、颜色和气味的目的是评估花的花粉和花蜜，属于曲解原文。
第5题:
【选项释义】
What do Anne and her colleagues’ research findings suggest? 安妮和她同事的研究结果说明了什么？
A. Calibrated chemistry is very useful in changing the structure of pollen. A. 校准化学在改变花粉结构方面非常有用。
B. Attracting more bees to pollinate could make plants more productive. B. 吸引更多的蜜蜂来授粉可以提高植物的产量。
C. The more bees to be attracted, the better it will be for the pollen. C. 吸引的蜜蜂越多，花粉就越好。
D. The taste of pollen can be controlled for commercial purpose. D. 为了商业目的，可以控制花粉的味道。
【考查点】推理判断题
【解题思路】文章最后一段讲“这一发现意味着植物必须找到一个快乐的平衡点：‘那么，你能否让你的花粉足够吸引蜜蜂采集，但又足够讨厌，让它们不会采集太多呢？’这种经过精心校准的‘校准化学’的平衡行为，只是嗡嗡作响的授粉市场上的众多交易之一，其目的是为了获得丰厚的利润。”由此可推断，市场上很多人为了商业利润会人为的控制花粉的味道，D选项符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项均无法从文中推断出来，属于无中生有。
