Ants as a Barometer of Ecological Change
At picnics,ants are pests.But they have their uses.In industries1 such as mining,farming and forestry,they can help gauge the health of the environment by just crawling around and being antsy.
It has been recognized for decades2 that ants一which are highly sensitive to ecological change一can provide a near-perfect barometer of the state of an ecosystem.Only certain species,for instance,will continue to thrive at a forest site that has been cleared of trees._____(1)_____ And still others will move in and take up residence.
By looking at which species populate a deforested area,scientists can determine how "stressed" the land is._____(2)_____Ants are used simply because they are so commonand comprise so many species.
Where mine sites are being restored,for example,some ant species will recolonize the stripped land quickly than others._____(3)_____Australian mining company Capricorn Coal Management has been successfully using ant surveys for years to determine the rate of recovery of land that it is replanting near its German Creek mine in Queensland.
Ant surveys also have been used with mine-site recovery projects in Africa and Brazil,where warm climates encourage dense and diverse ant populations." We found it worked extremely well there." says Jonathan Majer,a professor of environmental biology.Yet the surveys are perfectly suited to climates throughout Asia,he says,because ants are so common throughout the region.As Majer puts it:"That's the great thing about ants3."
Ant surveys are so highly-regarded as ecological indicators that governments worldwide accepttheir results when assessing the environmental impact of mining and tree harvesting4._____(4)_____
Why not? Because many companies can't afford the expense or the laboratory time needed to sift results for a comprehensive survey.The cost stems,also,from the scarcity of ant specialists._____(5)_____
詞匯：
ecological 生態(tài)學(xué)的 barometer 氣壓計 forestry 林業(yè)
gauge 測定，測量 antsy 坐立不安的 ecosystem 生態(tài)系統(tǒng)
populate 居住 deforest 采伐樹林，清除樹林
recolonize 再度移民到 sift 詳審 scarcity 缺乏，不足
注釋：
1.industries:行業(yè)
2.for decades：有幾十年。for后接復(fù)數(shù)的時間詞是常用結(jié)構(gòu)，如for days,for years等。本文第四段還會出現(xiàn)for years。
3.That's the great thing about ants.great thing指前一句的ants are so common throughout the region.
4.tree harvesting：伐木
練習(xí)：
A This allowed scientists to gauge the pace and progress of the ecological recovery.
B Yet in other businesses,such as farming and property development,ant surveys aren't used widely.
C Employing those people are expensive.
D They do this by sorting the ants,counting their numbers and comparing the results with those of earlier surveys.
E The evolution of ant species may have a strong impact on our ecosystem.
F Others will die out for lack of food.
答案與題解：
1.F “空1”前面的句子有certain species，后面的句子有still others，這一定是英語中的“some/ certain一others一still others”的固定結(jié)構(gòu)。僅從這一點判斷，F(xiàn)是答案。
2.D 決定哪個句子填入“空2"的一個方法是排除法。選項A、B,C,F(F已選為“空1”的答案)的內(nèi)容與“空2”前后的句子意思上都不連貫。選項E有些突如其來。只有選項D符合上下文的意思。this：指前面句子中的can determine how "stressed" the land is。
3.A 選項A中的ecological recovery與前面一句中的recolonize相呼應(yīng)，提示選項A的句子是前面句子的后續(xù)句。
4.B 選項B中的關(guān)鍵詞。ther businesses,farming,property提示，選項B的句子是前面句子的后續(xù)句，因為前面句子有mining ,tree harvesting，也是businesses。螞蟻分析法已被mining和tree harvesting等行業(yè)廣泛接受，但在farming和property行業(yè)中的應(yīng)用還不普遍。
5.C 本題的答案很自然會選C，因為scarcity，當(dāng)然就貴了。此外，those指的是前一句的specialists，進(jìn)一步證明選項C是正確的。
譯文：生態(tài)變化的氣壓計——螞蟻
外出野餐時，螞蟻被當(dāng)做是害蟲：但是它們有自己的用途。在諸如釆礦業(yè)、農(nóng)業(yè)和林業(yè)等行 業(yè)里，螞蟻可以用來測量環(huán)境是否健康，它們會隨環(huán)境的變化而四處爬動、坐立不安。
幾十年以來，螞蟻一直被認(rèn)為對生態(tài)變化極為敏感。幾乎可以充當(dāng)測量一個生態(tài)系統(tǒng)狀態(tài)的 氣壓計。比如，在被砍光樹的森林里，只有某些特定的物種可以繼續(xù)存活，其他則會因為缺少食 物而死去，而另外的一些物種則會進(jìn)入這塊地方并在此繁衍生息。
科學(xué)家可以通過觀察哪些物種居住在沒有樹林的地方來確定該塊土地受的“壓力”有多重。 而這個觀察又通過對螞蟻的分類、數(shù)目的確定及與上次調(diào)查結(jié)果的對比分析來進(jìn)行�？茖W(xué)家利用 螞蟻就是因為它們隨處可見并種類繁多。
一些礦井地帶在復(fù)原的過程中，有一些螞蟻的物種會比其他物種更快地重新在植被被破壞了 的土地上安家，這樣可以幫助科學(xué)家測定生態(tài)恢復(fù)的速度和進(jìn)程。澳大利亞礦業(yè)公司卡普瑞考恩 煤礦管理集團(tuán)幾年來已經(jīng)成功地運用螞蟻觀測的方法來確定土地恢復(fù)的速度。這塊土地臨近昆士 蘭的德國小溪煤礦附近，現(xiàn)在正在重新種植植被。
在非洲和巴西，炎熱的天氣促進(jìn)螞蟻繁殖的密度和種類。那里，螞蟻也被用于一些礦點復(fù)原 的項目中，喬娜森?梅吉是一位環(huán)境生物學(xué)教授，他說：“我們發(fā)覺這個方法在這里非常適用�！� 他又說：“然而這種調(diào)查的方法也非常適合亞洲地區(qū)的氣候，因為在亞洲螞蟻很普遍。這是螞蟻的 可貴之處�！�
用螞蟻來做調(diào)查已被譽(yù)為生態(tài)預(yù)言的指針，世界各地的政府都承認(rèn)通過它們而得出的關(guān)于估 測采礦和伐林對環(huán)境帶來的影響的結(jié)果。然而在另外一些行業(yè)中，比如農(nóng)業(yè)和房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)業(yè)，用 螞蟻調(diào)查的方法并沒有被廣泛地采用。 ,
為什么不用呢?因為許多公司付不起此種方法的開支，以及要花在實驗室用來詳審調(diào)查結(jié)果 的時間。高額的費用還來自于研究螞蟻的專家的稀少，花錢雇他們得出大價錢。
