When I was growing up. I had an old neighbor named Dr, Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never  1  at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone nice and  2  .

       When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving  3  , he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres（英亩）, and his life’s  4  was to make it a forest.

      But he  5  watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants would 6  them, and that  7  you water them, each following  8  of tree will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things  9  for them.

He’d planted an oak, and instead of watering it every morning, he’d  10   it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to cause the tree’s  11  .

       Dr. Gibbs went away a couple of years ago. 12 , I walk by his house and look at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re big and  13  now. Sufferings seemed to  14  them in ways ease and  15  never could ways.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be  16 . But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to  17  my prayer, because life is 18  , whether we want it to be or  not. Too many times we pray for ease. But that’s what we seldom  19  . What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the earth, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be  20  .

1．A．smiled                   B．shouted               C．looked                 D．kicked

2．A．cold                      B．lonely                  C．mild                    D．careful

3．A．money                  B．lives                    C．flowers               D．energy

4．A．goal                      B．way                    C．attitude                D．theory

5．A．regularly               B．sometimes           C．never                  D．always

6．A．remove                 B．benefit                 C．drown                 D．spoil

7．A．if                          B．unless                 C．although              D．since

8．A．kind                      B．group                  C．rank                    D．generation

9．A．rough                   B．free                     C．available              D．poisonous

10．A．protected             B．tied                     C．beat                    D．wrapped

11．A．thank                  B．defense               C．shade                  D．death

12．A．More or less        B．Now and then      C．Sooner or later     D．Here and there

13．A．thin                     B．dying                  C．ripe                     D．strong

14．A．benefit                B．harm                   C．affect                  D．change

15．A．cure                    B．danger                 C．comfort              D．difficulty

16．A．interesting           B．colorful               C．easy                    D．hopeful

17．A．strengthen           B．change                C．repeat                 D．realize

18．A．tough                  B．helpless               C．various                D．valuable

19．A．seek                    B．prove                  C．share                  D．meet

20．A．challenged   B．defeated           C．missed            D．forgotten

The brain of an insect isn’t very big. But insects are somehow still able to make lots of important decisions. Bees, ants and roaches(蟑螂) build hives(巢穴)with thousands of workers doing specialized work. The jobs are done without a head or even a plan. How do insects manage this?

To solve the mystery, scientists in Belgium spent months building robotic roaches and then putting them among real roaches. The final goal of the research is to find out how the simple behavior of individuals gives rise to a collective decision. The roach is a good starting point for trying to answer the big question because its social system is simple enough for scientists to study.

The first step was to build robots that real roaches would accept as their own. Although the robotic roaches don’t look much like the real thing, they have similarities with them in three key ways: they naturally head toward dark areas, they are influenced by the behavior of other roaches, and even more importantly, they smell like roaches.

The next step was getting the robotic and real roaches to work together on common tasks. In experiments, the robots would collectively head towards a dark place, copying the behavior of natural roaches. That got the researchers wondering: if you program the robotic roaches to go toward the lighted place, would the real roaches follow, going against their natural instincts.(本能) ?

They will – it turned out. Many of the real roaches followed the robots to a lighter shelter. But influence turned out to be a two- way street. On occasion, the real roaches were able to override the programming of the robot roaches and get them to turn into dark hiding places. Being social creatures, both the robotic and natural roaches were paying attention to and following the example set by others.

In theory, it would be possible to create a robot that could influence collective decision-making in humans. To do this, researchers would have to invent a robot that people would accept. Fortunately, the technology isn’t there yet.

1．Why do scientists choose the roaches to study?

     A．They are social creatures

     B．Their social system is simple.

     C．They are able to build their hives quite well.

     D．It is easy to create robotic ones.

2．The robotic roaches are accepted by real ones because of all of the following EXCEPT that _________ .

       A．they smell like real ones

       B．they look exactly like real ones

       C．what they do are somewhat influenced by other roaches

       D．they naturally head toward dark areas

3．What’s the author’s attitude to creating a robot that would influence collective decision- making in humans?

     A．Uninterested      B．Positive              C．Negative            D．Doubtful

4．Which of the following might be the best title of the passage ?

     A．Robotic Roaches                     B．Scientists’ Research

     C．Amazing Insects                 D．Insects’ Social System