# How to kill bad insects - 科目：雅思听力真题（Part 4） - 考频：中频 - 最近考试：2012.9.22/2006.2.11 - 题目数：10 - 来源页：https://www.yaquan.site/paper/2b77f4a1-95c6-4797-83fe-9d152488f9e7（在线机考练习与音频请访问该页面） - 数据更新：2026-10-29 ## 题目原文 00:00:00,180 And welcome to Insect Biology 101. I'd like to begin this course with a few remarks about good insects and bad ones. Bugs are all around us, and that's both a benefit and an annoyance. Sometimes maybe even serious harm. First, let's talk about the good things that insects do for us. 00:00:17,760 Probably the most important insect for humans, and maybe for all other life, is the bee. Bees help plants in the process of pollination and thus are necessary to most flowers and fruit-producing trees. That is, they carry pollen from male flowers to female. If it weren't for bees, we'd have very few food plants and no fruit either. In fact, there would be no we. No lesser thinker than Albert Einstein pointed out that without bees, humanity would be dead within a year or less. We'd starve. It's that simple. That should maybe make us just a little humble. A little less dramatic is the fact that bees also make the honey we eat. Moreover, they produce beeswax, which is useful in candles and is also used as a first-rate furniture polish. Sure, these may not be vital to our lives, but they can serve as reminders of how important bees are. That's a point I keep coming back to in this course. Though, in all fairness, I should point out that butterflies aid in pollination as well as bees. 00:01:17,160 Now, here in Michigan, what's the worst part of summer? Yep, that's right, mosquitoes. But I'm talking about helpful insects, right? So let's look at the dragonfly first. If there were no dragonflies, there would be even more mosquitoes. Dragonflies mainly eat mosquitoes and also a few other insects. Yes, that's right. They don't just fly around, and they also help to eliminate harmful insects. So the next time you see a dragonfly, don't you dare kill it. 00:01:47,440 Now, let's talk a little about those harmful insects. Take the mosquitoes I just mentioned as an example. Not so many years ago, mosquitoes here in America weren't just annoying. Some were even deadly. They carried malaria and yellow fever. My own ancestor, the Confederate General John Bell Hood, lived through the worst battles of Civil War, only to die at age thirty-eight from yellow fever. A pest, not a bullet. Well, besides the mosquitoes, in summer, there is also a kind of insect that never seems tired. Right, that is the fly. Before I go on talking, I must mention an African fly called the tsetse fly, which feeds on blood and can cause serious diseases in the people and animals that it bites. Besides, it is still a bearer of sleeping sickness, which affects around three hundred thousand people every year in Africa and can be treated only with toxic drugs that are hard to administer. Worse still, the drugs sometimes don't work. Other insects, of course, destroy food crops. In China, for instance, locusts continue to be a danger to the harvest in some areas. Less important, but still annoying, moths eat people's clothes and dust mites slowly destroy carpets. Worse, but still in the home, termites or white ants eat wood, the wood of your house. If they are not stopped, they can eventually destroy the whole building. Usually, they seriously damage a building before anyone even notices them. So, as we all know, insects can be a real trouble. 00:03:20,100 So what to do? You can go ahead and start killing harmful insects. In the early decades after the Communist Revolution in China, Chairman Mao encouraged the people to swat every fly they could see. Slogans on the walls of buildings called them "little capitalists." But flies reproduce too quickly for this to be a long-term solution. 00:03:40,740 For some decades in the West, to kill insects with chemicals seemed a good remedy. Unfortunately, chemicals can only be used in a limited area for a limited time. It's a small-scale solution. The insects come back. 00:03:54,960 Worse still, some of the poisons used, like DDT, were found harmful to the environment. Many kinds of wildlife, like hawks, were harmed. And people in chemical-using rural areas have one of the highest rates of liver cancer in the world. It's no secret that chemicals remain harmful to humans. 00:04:14,520 Like all species, insects adapt to their changing environments at an amazing rate. When a new chemical is introduced to their habitat, the insects that survive are generally the ones with some way of resisting the harmful effects. They then breed with the other survivors, and just like that, insects become resistant to most poison in a few generations. An insect generation, remember, is a couple of months at most. 00:04:39,540 So again, we have to ask, what to do? Well, there are biological solutions. Some of these are pretty simple. One is destroying the insect's habitat. You take away their home or food. Cleaning your kitchen is the best way to prevent roaches. No garbage, no food. Getting rid of marshes and swamps eliminates mosquitoes. Other solutions might include bringing in dragonflies or bats in areas where mosquitoes are many. This is a cheaper alternative to chemicals. 00:05:11,220 Biological methods like this also bring no extra pollution to the environment. But you have to be careful. If you change the environment too much, you might be hurting other forms of life accidentally. One recent method of controlling insect populations involves interrupting their breeding cycle. What does that mean? It means birth control for bugs. 00:05:33,900 Insects are provided with food that makes them unable to reproduce. Since they can't have babies, the population disappears, or nearly so. And since no young are born, resistance is not a problem, with no young insects developing increased resistance. Interrupt the life cycle, eliminate the bug. It's clear that we must have an understanding of the life cycle of the insect. At least, that's the plan. We'll go into more detail as the course goes along. Now, I will stop here to see whether you have any questions or not. ## 题目与答案 ### 31. Bees that help with pillination benefit flowers and certain types of 31_____ . Bees that help with pillination benefit flowers and certain types of 31_____ . **答案**：trees 原文定位：Bees help plants in the process of pollination and thus are necessary to most flowers and fruit-producing trees 同义替换：「benefit」↔「are necessary to」 ### 32. Bees produce was that can be made into candles and 32_____ . Bees produce was that can be made into candles and 32_____ . **答案**：furniture polish 原文定位：Moreover, they produce beeswax, which is useful in candles and is also used as a first-rate furniture polish 同义替换：「made into」↔「useful in」 ### 33. Dragonflies primarily eat 33_____ . Dragonflies primarily eat 33_____ . **答案**：mosquitoes 原文定位：Dragonflies mainly eat mosquitoes and also a few other insects 同义替换：「primarily」↔「mainly」 ### 34. Insects in summer can be harmful because they can carry such deadly diseases as malaria, 34_____ and sleeping sickness. Insects in summer can be harmful because they can carry such deadly diseases as malaria, 34_____ and sleeping sickness. **答案**：yellow fever 原文定位：Some were even deadly. They carried malaria and yellow fever ### 35. Harmful insects may destroy crops, furniture, and even the 35_____ . Harmful insects may destroy crops, furniture, and even the 35_____ . **答案**：whole building 原文定位：If they are not stopped, they can eventually destroy the whole building ### 36. Chemical method for killing bad insects These solutions to insect problems are often not worthwhile because: · They are effective on a 36_____ . Chemical method for killing bad insects These solutions to insect problems are often not worthwhile because: · They are effective on a 36_____ . **答案**：small-scale 原文定位：Unfortunately, chemicals can only be used in a limited area for a limited time. It's a small-scale solution 同义替换：「effective」↔「solution」 ### 37. · They can bring harm to 37_____ . · They can bring harm to 37_____ . **答案**：humans 原文定位：It's no secret that chemicals remain harmful to humans ### 38. · Insects become 38_____ to the chemicals quickly. · Insects become 38_____ to the chemicals quickly. **答案**：resistant 原文定位：They then breed with the other survivors, and just like that, insects become resistant to most poison in a few generations 同义替换：「chemicals」↔「poison」 ### 39. Biological methods · These methods are 39_____ than chemical methods of eliminating harmful insects. Biological methods · These methods are 39_____ than chemical methods of eliminating harmful insects. **答案**：cheaper 原文定位：This is a cheaper alternative to chemicals ### 40. Breeding control method · In order to control the breeding of insects, one needs to understand the insects` 40_____ . Breeding control method · In order to control the breeding of insects, one needs to understand the insects` 40_____ . **答案**：life cycle 原文定位：It's clear that we must have an understanding of the life cycle of the insect --- 以上内容由鸭圈雅思真题库（www.yaquan.site）提供，收录近期雅思考试真题回忆，支持在线机考模式免费练习。