Question

[Lê Quỳnh Anh]

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C ,or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the questions.

          Many ants forage across the countryside in large numbers and undertake mass migrations; these activities proceed because one ant lays a trail on the ground for the others to follow. As a worker ant returns home after finding a source of food, it marks the route by intermittently touching its stinger to the ground and depositing a tiny amount of trail pheromone – a mixture of chemicals that delivers diverse messages as the context changes. These trails incorporate no directional information and may be followed by other ants in either direction.

          Unlike some other messages, such as the one arising from a dead ant, a food trail has to be kept secret from members of other species. It is not surprising then that ant species use a wide variety of compounds as trail pheromones. Ants can be extremely sensitive to these signals. Investigators working with the trail pheromone of the leafcutter ant Atta texana calculated that one milligram of this substance would suffice to lead a column of ants three times around Earth.

         The vapor of the evaporating pheromone over the trail guides an ant along the way, and the ant detects this signal with receptors in its antennae. A trail pheromone will evaporate to furnish the highest concentration of vapor right over the trail, in what is called a vapor space. In following the trail, the ant moves to the right and left, oscillating from side to side across the line of the trail itself, bringing first one and then the other antenna into the vapor space. As the ant moves to the right, its left antenna arrives in the vapor space. The signal it receives causes it to swing to the left, and the ant then pursues this new course until its right antenna reaches the vapor space. It then swings back to the right, and so weaves back and forth down the trail.

According to the passage, why do ants use different compounds as trail pheromones?

A. To reduce their sensitivity to some chemicals

B. To attract different types of ants

C. To protect their trail from other species

D. To indicate how far away the food is

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Đáp án C

Dịch: Theo bài văn, tại sao những chú kiến lại sử dụng những hợp chất khác nhau cho vệt pheromones?

A. Để giảm sự nhạy bén, thích ứng với một vài chất hóa học

B. Để thu hút nhiều loài kiến hơn

C. Để bảo vệ vệt của chúng khỏi những loài khác

D. Để báo hiệu thức ăn cách bao xa Thông tin nằm ở đoạn 2: Unlike some other messages, such as the one arising from a dead ant, a food trail has to be kept secret from members of other species. It is not surprising then that ant species use a wide variety of compounds as trail pheromones. (Không giống những thông điệp khác, chẳng hạn như thông điệp từ một con kiến đã chết, đường dấu thức ăn phải được giữ bí mật khỏi thành viên của những loài kiến khác. Cũng không có chuyện gì ngạc nhiên rằng loài kiến sử dụng những hợp chất khác nhau trong đường dấu pheromones).