19．To the untrained eye it might seem like just a bit of a monkey trick．But when Milly the mandrill （山魈，西非洲产的大狒狒） covers her face with her hand she is actually sending a serious message to her fellows："Leave me alone!"
Experts believe the 15-year-old mandrill invented the gesture to warn other monkeys at Colchester Zoo to give her some space．And，surprisingly，the signal has been picked by other members of the group，who use it when they too require solitude．
Biologist Mark Laidre believes the behavior is evidence of social culture among the mandrills．Importantly，the sign language is unlikely to have been influenced by human activities because mandrills do not copy humans．Mr．Laidre expects further research will uncover other monkeys using cultural gestures-the ability to communicate with the hands in a meaningful way．"By covering their eyes with their hands，possibly conveyed to others that they wanted to be left alone and this message may have been respected as a‘do not disturb'sign，"said Mr．Laidre．
While the hand is in place，other monkeys are not likely to approach or touch the monkey．Those who rank lower in the social order also use the technique to avoid attacks from more powerful group members．As the discovery appears to be unique to Colchester Zoo，it suggests it is a local phenomenon that arose naturally in the community of 25mandrills．
Curator （园长） Sarah Forsyth said："We believe Milly made up the signal and over the past five years some of the younger mandrills have picked it up．We're not sure why she started doing it but it could be as simple as‘I can't see them，so they can't see me'．It really does show you how intelligent mandrills are．"
71．What's the text mainly about？B
A．How humans influenced monkeys．
B．A monkey invented a gesture．
C．A new social culture was discovered．
D．How experts made the new discovery．
72．What does the underlined word"solitude"in the second paragraph mean？A
A．Aloneness．
B．Comfort．
C．Protection．
D．Respect．
73．According to Mark Laidre，C．
A．human activities affect mandrills'sign language
B．animals are slow in picking up information
C．mandrills'social culture has nothing to do with humans
D．mandrills are the largest species of monkey in the world
74．The monkeys can also use the"do not disturb"sign toA．
A．protect themselves from being harmed
B．struggle against more powerful group members
C．show humans how intelligent they are
D．communicate with other species of animals
75．What can be known from the text？D
A．Milly invented the gesture when she was 15．
B．Mandrills are best known for their social ability．
C．Why Milly first used the sign language is known to experts．
D．Only the mandrills in Colchester Zoo use the gesture．
分析 本文主要介绍了科尔切斯特动物园十五岁的山魈发明了一个手势--用手遮住她的脸，向她的伙伴传递一个信息：别打扰我！
解答 71．B 主旨大意题．纵观全文内容可知，本文主要介绍了十五岁的山魈发明了一个手势--用手遮住她的脸，向她的伙伴传递一个信息：别打扰我！所以文章主要讲猴子发明了一种手势．故选B．
72．A 词义猜测题．根据第一段的she is actually sending a serious message to herfellows："Leave me alone!"可知，她实际上向她的同伴们发出了一个严肃的信息："别打扰我！"．所以这个手势是他们在需要独处时使用的．故选A．
73．C 细节理解题．根据第三段第二句Importantly，the sign language is unlikely to have beeninfluenced by human activities because mandrills do not copy humans．可知，最重要的是，手语不太可能受到人类活动的影响因为它们不是模仿的人类．所以山魈的社会文化与人类无关，故选C．
74．A细节理解题．根据倒数第二段的While the hand is in place，othermonkeys are not likely to approach or touch the monkey可知，当做这个手势时，其他猴子不可能接近或触摸这个猴子．所以它们利用这个手势保护自己免受伤害，故选A．
75．D推理判断题．根据倒数第二段中的As the discovery appears to be unique to ColchesterZoo，可知，这一发现在科尔切斯特动物园看来是独一无二的．故选D．
点评 本文是科教类阅读，主要考查细节理解题和推理判断题．在做细节理解题时，首先根据题目要求迅速在文章里找出相应的段落、句子或短语．认真比较选项和文中细节的区别，在做推理判断题时不要以个人的主观想象代替文章的事实，要根据文章事实进行合乎逻辑的推理判断．
