Questions 41 to 50 are based on the following passage.
【真题来源:2017年12月大学英语四级真题(第一套)PartⅢ,Section A,第26-35题】
A rat or pigeon might not be the obvious choice to tend to someone who is sick, but these creatures have some(41)________skills that could help the treatment of human diseases.
Pigeons are often seen as dirty birds and an urban(42)________, but they are just the latest in a long line of animals that have been found to have abilities to help humans. Despite having a brain no bigger than the(43)________of your index finger, pigeons have a very impressive(44)________memory. Recently it was shown that they could be trained to be as accurate as humans at detecting breast cancer in images.
Rats are often(45)________with spreading disease rather than(46)________it, but this long-tailed animal is highly(47)________. Inside a rat's nose are up to 1,000 different types of olfactory receptors (嗅觉感受器), whereas humans only have 100 to 200 types. This gives rats the ability to detect(48)________smells. As a result, some rats are being put to work to detect TB (肺结核). When the rats detect the smell, they stop and rub their legs to(49)________a sample is infected.
Traditionally, a hundred samples would take lab technicians more than two days to(50)________, but for a rat it takes less than 20 minutes. This rat detection method doesn't rely on specialist equipment. It is also more accurate—the rats are able to find more TB infections and, therefore, save more lives.
A)associated
B)examine
C)indicate
D)nuisance
E)peak
F)preventing
G)prohibiting
H)sensitive
I)slight
J)specify
K)superior
L)suspicious
M)tip
N)treated
O)visual
形容词辨析题。空格前为some,空格后为名词skills,故应填入形容词。由于上文提到,老鼠和鸽子也许并不是照看病人的最好的选择,是对这两种动物的一种否定,但从转折词but可以看出,空格所在句应该是对这两种动物的肯定,因此应填入有积极含义的形容词。K)superior意为“较好的”,符合句意,故为答案。备选形容词中,H)sensitive“敏感的”,I)slight“轻微的”,L)suspicious“可疑的,怀疑的”均不适合修饰skills,而O)visual“视觉的”没有积极和肯定的含义,故排除。
名词辨析题。空格前是形容词urban,故应填入名词。该句中and前面的含义是“鸽子经常被视为很脏的鸟类”,根据并列连词and可以推断urban后的名词也应该为贬义类词汇。D)nuisance意为“讨厌的人或事”,符合句意,故为答案。备选名词中E)peak“顶点”和M)tip“尖端,末梢”不能用来描述动物,且无贬义的含义,故排除。
名词辨析题。空格前为冠词the,后面是介词of,可以推测此处应填入名词,且该词与of后面的index finger有关。该句是在描述鸽子脑子的大小,指出其不大于人类食指的某部分,选项中只有M)tip“尖端,末梢”符合此处的含义,故为答案。剩余的备选名词E)peak“顶点”,不能用来描述手指的尖端部位,故排除。
形容词辨析题。空格前为形容词impressive,空格后为名词memory,因此此处应填入形容词修饰memory,指某类记忆。结合下文句意,鸽子能够被训练地和人类一样能精确地通过图像检测乳腺癌,可见鸽子的视觉优势比较明显,故O)visual“视觉的”为答案。备选形容词中,H)sensitive、I)slight和L)suspicious均不符合句意,故排除。
动词辨析题。空格前为be动词are,空格后为介词with,故推测此处应填入动词的过去分词构成被动语态。with后的部分spreading disease意为“传播疾病”,根据常识可知,老鼠通常都被认为是传播疾病的元凶,associated意为“联系”,符合句意,be associated with为固定搭配,意为“与……有关”,故答案为A)。
动词辨析题。空格所在句中的rather than起到了连词的作用,故前后的词性是一致的,其前面是动名词结构,故空格处也应该填入动名词,且根据rather than“而不是”可知,空格处的动名词与spreading disease的含义相反,备选项中preventing意为“预防”,既符合词性要求,也符合句意,故F)为答案。备选项中G)prohibiting意思是“禁止”,不能与disease搭配,故排除。
形容词辨析题。空格前为副词highly,故此处应填入形容词。结合句意,but前指出老鼠通常是传播疾病的,为贬义,故but后的句意应为褒义,同时结合后文,老鼠的鼻子中有多达1,000种不同的嗅觉感受器,因此此处应该表达老鼠“灵敏度高”的意思,H)sensitive意为“敏感的”,符合句意,故为答案。备选项中无剩余褒义词汇,故均排除。
形容词辨析题。空格前为动词detect,空格后为名词smells,由此推测空格处应填入形容词。上文指出,老鼠的鼻子中有多达1,000种不同的嗅觉感受器,可以推断老鼠的嗅觉很强,非常轻微的气味也能探测到,故答案为I)slight“轻微的”。备选项中的其他形容词均不适合修饰smells,故排除。
动词辨析题。空格位于不定式符号to之后,且空格后为从句,故推测此处应填入动词原形。该句意为,当老鼠察觉到某种气味时,它们会停下来摩擦自己的腿,以________样本被感染了。C)indicate“表明,显示”符合句意,故为答案。备选动词B)examine、J)specify和E)peak不符合句意,故均排除。
动词辨析题。空格前为to,根据句子结构推测此处为不定式结构,空格处应填入动词原形。结合句意,实验室技术员的工作应该是检测样本。examine意思是“检测”,符合句意,故B)为答案。备选项中,剩余的动词原形peak和specify均不能与samples搭配,故排除。