Question

The coyote (丛林狼), that clever animal of wide-open spaces, has come to the nation’s capital. In fact, coyotes have spread to every corner of the United States, changing their behaviors to fit new environments and causing researchers to deal with a troublesome new kind of creature: the city coyote.

The coyote originally lived in the middle of the continent. One of its most obvious characters is its smartness, which has made the animal a notorious (臭名昭著的) pest. Hunters trapped, shot and poisoned more than a million coyotes in the 1900s. It’s still one of America’s most hunted animals. Yet the coyote has survived. How has the coyote shown this extraordinary ability? “I guess if you wanted to use one word, it’d be ‘plasticity’,” says Eric Gese, an expert at Utah State University. Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves; hunt at night or during the day; occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles; and live on all sorts of food, from lizards and shoes, to ants and melons.

Unbelievably people helped coyotes increase when they killed most of the wolves in the United States. The spreading of coyotes into city areas, though, is recent. They travel at night, crossing sidewalks and bridges, running along roads and ducking into culverts (钻入涵洞) and underpasses. No one knows why coyotes are moving into cities, but experts explain that cleverer, more human-tolerant (不怕人的) coyotes are teaching urban survival skills to new generations.

Occasionally, coyotes might attack human beings. There have been about 160 attacks on people in recent years. Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That, plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population.

1.The underlined word “plasticity” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.

A. the ability to fit the environment

B. notorious smartness

C. hunting ability

D. being human-tolerant

2.The aim of the passage is to ________.

A. tell people how to fight against coyotes

B. tell us why the coyote is the most hunted animal

C. supply the reason why the coyote is a kind of notorious pest

D. explain how the coyote has spread to and survived in cities

3.According to the passage, coyotes ________.

A. originally lived in the west of the continent

B. sleep during the day but look for food at night

C. are teaching survival skills to their younger generations

D. suffered a population decrease because people killed wolves

4.According to the passage, to cut down on the coyote population, people are advised to ________.

A. leave pet food securedB. keep coyotes in small regions

C. force coyotes to live aloneD. avoid using trapping programs

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：文章描述了丛林狼扩散到城市以及生存的原因及对市民的影响。

1. 猜测词义题。根据Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves; hunt at night or during the day; occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles; and live on all sorts of food, from lizards and shoes, to ants and melons.（丛林狼可以独居、群居，可以晚上捕食也可以白天捕食，地盘可大可小，食物种类多）可以推断出，丛林狼的适应环境能力非常强。所以用一个词来解释丛林狼为什么会生存下来，那么这个词就是Plasticity（适应性），故选A。

2. 主旨大意题。第一段描述丛林狼扩散到城市成为城市丛林狼；第二段描述丛林狼的环境适应能力使之可以在城市生存；第三、四段描述丛林狼进入城市的过程和市民的反应。整篇都是围绕丛林狼扩散到城市以及能生存下来的原因进行叙述。故选D。

3. 细节推理题。从第三段最后一句“teaching urban survival skills to new generations”可知，选C。选项A不对是因为丛林狼到处都有而不是在西部。选项B错误是因为丛林狼早晚都可以出来捕食；选项D错误是虽然大量捕杀，但是丛林狼适应性强，还是生存下来了。故选C。

4. 细节推理题。根据最后一段第三句Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That, plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population.可以推断，A项是削减丛林狼数量的一个方法。

考点：考查科普类短文阅读。

【名师点睛】

关于词义猜测题

做这种类型的题，要根据词、词组、句子所在的语境上下文来判断其意义。因此熟练掌握一些猜词技巧是做好这类题的关键。命题者在出这类题时惯用常规词义来麻痹考生，我们要特别注意熟词生义，切不可脱离语境主观臆断。

下面结合文本及近几年高考试题，对词义猜测的技巧加以解读。

1.根据定义或上下文解释进行猜测

有时短文中出现一个需要猜测其意义的词或短语，下面接着出现其定义或解释，这就是判断该词或短语意义的主要依据。例如：It will be very hard but also very brittle—that is, it will break easily.从后面that is(也就是说)的解释中我们可以了解到brittle 是“脆”的意思。如文章第28小题此处指拥抱这种温暖的感觉能避开压力保护免疫系统。划线词语ward off是“避开，阻挡”之意，与C项同义故选C. 第32小题根据Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves; hunt at night or during the day; occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles; and live on all sorts of food, from lizards and shoes, to ants and melons.可知丛林狼可以独居、群居，可以晚上捕食也可以白天捕食，地盘可大可小，食物种类多可以推断出丛林狼的适应环境能力非常强。Plasticity“适应性”，故选A.

2.根据同位关系进行猜测

阅读中出现的难词有时后面紧跟一个同位语，对前面的词进行解释，这时可利用同位关系对前面或后面的词义或句意进行猜测。例如：The “Chunnel”, a tunnel(隧道) connecting England and France, is now complete.此句中a tunnel connecting England and France是Chunnel的同位语。因此，The “Chunnel”就是英法之间的海底隧道。

3.根据构词法(前缀、后缀、复合、派生等)进行猜测

在英语中，有很多词可以在前面加前缀，在后面加后缀，从而构成一个词，乍看起来，这个词可能是新词，但掌握了一定的构词知识，就不难猜出它的词义。例如：“Our parties are aimed for children 2 to 10,” Anaclerio said, “and they’re very interactive and creative in that they built a sense of drama based on a subject.”文中interactive是由前缀inter-(相互的)和active(活动的，活跃的)而构成的，同时根据上下文的意思可以判断，该词的含义应是“互动的”。

4.根据转折或对比关系进行猜测

根据上下句的连接词，如but, however, otherwise等就可以看到前后句在意义上的差别，从而依据某一句的含义，来确定另一句的含义。另外，分号也可以表示转折、对比或不相干的意义。例如：A child’s birthday party doesn’t have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun.从前后两句的意思可以看出，hassle和a basket of fun肯定是近乎相反的意义。所以不难判断hassle的意思是“困难，麻烦”。