A strong, hard but flexible shell covers their soft organs and is resistant to chemicals, waterand physical impact. Their wings give them the option of flying away from dangeroussituations or toward food or males. Also, insects have an enormous reproductive capacity: AnAfrican ant queen can lay as many as 43,000 eggs a day.

　　Another reason for their success is the strategy of protective color. An insect may be rightbefore our eyes, but nearly invisible because it is cleverly disguised like a green leaf, lump ofbrown soil, gray lichen (青苔),a seed or some other natural object Some insects use bright,bold colors to send warning signalsthat they taste bad,sting or are poison.Others have wingpatterns that look like the eyes of a huge predator, bitter-tasting insects; hungry enemies arefooled into avoiding them.

　　練習(xí)題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.Insects can be found in large amounts in the following places EXCEPT _____.

　　A.on the mountains with little air

　　B.in the cold polar areas

　　C.in the hot desert areas

　　D.in the open oceans

　　2.Insects protect themselves from chemicals by _______

　　A.hiding in tiny spaces

　　B.having a strong shell

　　C.flying away when necessary

　　D.changing colors or shapes

　　3.Some insects disguise like natural objects so as to ______

　　A.frighten away their enemies

　　B.avoid being discovered

　　C.send warning signals

　　D.look bitter-tasting

　　4.The passage mentions that insects ______.

　　A.can be found in any extreme environments

　　B.have survived longer than any other creatures

　　C.can be fed on any natural or man-made foods

　　D.are important for the growth of crops and flowers

　　5.The passage is mainly about ______

　　A.how insects survive in different places

　　B.why insects can survive so successfully

　　C.what insects can do to the environment

　　D.where insects can be found in quantity

　　1.[D] 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。本題考查對(duì)復(fù)合句的理解。本題涉及兩個(gè)段落，第2段及第3段都提及昆蟲(chóng)大量生長(zhǎng)的地方，第3段第3句中的The one place指出了答案。

　　2.[B] 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。本題考查對(duì)復(fù)雜句的理解。第4段第1句指出了答案。protect…from…是對(duì)resistant to的同義替換。

　　3.[B] 推理判斷題。本題考查對(duì)長(zhǎng)句的理解。最后一段第2句中的nearly invisible表明昆蟲(chóng)偽裝是為了不被發(fā)現(xiàn)，因此B為正確選項(xiàng)。其他選項(xiàng)雖然都是昆蟲(chóng)偽裝的目的，但都與偽裝成自然物體無(wú)關(guān)。

　　4.[D] 推理判斷題。本題考查對(duì)含有分詞結(jié)構(gòu)句子的理解。根據(jù)第2段倒數(shù)第2句中的useful及分詞結(jié)構(gòu)pollinating可推斷昆蟲(chóng)對(duì)植物的生長(zhǎng)有益處。選項(xiàng)A、B、C中都有any,過(guò)于絕對(duì)。由第3段第2、3句可知選項(xiàng)A不對(duì)。文章雖在開(kāi)頭指出昆蟲(chóng)存活的年代久遠(yuǎn)，但全文未提到它是存活時(shí)間最長(zhǎng)的生物，所以選項(xiàng)B錯(cuò)誤。至于昆蟲(chóng)的食物，第3段倒數(shù)第2句有提及,但只是a wide range of,由此可排除選項(xiàng)C。

　　5.[B] 主旨大意題。本文前兩段首先描述了昆蟲(chóng)生存了很長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間，并能在各種地方生長(zhǎng)，然后引出文章要討論的重點(diǎn)，即昆蟲(chóng)為什么能成功存活。第3段第1句為本文的中心句，因此本題正確選項(xiàng)為B。