1. (2022高一下·上海期中) 阅读理解

From Smells to Soundtracks

When a young sawfly, a bee-like insect, is threatened by its attackers like ants, it emits a mixture of unpleasant smells to defend itself. These emissions can seriously annoy a potential enemy.

Scientists wanting to study these smelly compounds—to understand which aspects of them discourage attackers and why—face great challenges. Meetups between sawflies and ants in a lab are difficult to carry out. There are also a very limited quantity of the insects' emissions. On the side, Jean-Luc Boevé, a zoologist who studies insects, from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, is an amateur musician and composer. He decided to try a different way—the sound approach. "To be honest, I considered this project so unpractical myself that I set it aside," he said. It was months before Boevé and his partner, Rudi Giot, finally made a resolution to get started on it.

They chose 16 sawfly species' emissions to translate into sounds. First, they figured out which molecules (分子) were present in each smelly compound and in what amounts. Then they assigned various characteristics of those molecules matching properties of sound. For example, smaller molecules like a kind of acid found in vinegar, a sour-tasting liquid, evaporate (挥发) quickly, so Boevé and Giot assigned them sounds with higher pitch ( 音 高 ). Larger molecules were given lower-pitched sounds. In all, the scientists created individual audio descriptions for 20 molecules. Then they combined the sounds of each molecule present in a sawfly's smell to construct the insect's soundtrack. If a molecule was of higher proportion in an emission, they assigned it a higher volume. In such a case, the smaller a molecule is, the higher its pitch will be; and the higher the proportion of a molecule is, the higher its volume will be.

To test out the audio descriptions they created, Boevé and Giot examined people's reactions to the soundtracks and compared them to ants' reactions to the original smells. They played the 16 emission soundtracks and the 20 molecule sounds through speakers to about 50 study participants. Then the scientists measured how far people backed up to get to a "comfortable position" away from the noise. Most of the study volunteers told the researchers that the high pitch, as well as the high volume, was what made them withdraw. "Ants and volunteers moved away from a chemical and its matching soundtrack respectively," the researchers wrote.

Boevé said he hoped the process would give other zoologists a new way to compare sawflies' chemical defenses with those from other insects. It may also offer researchers clues about which molecules fight off enemies most.

1. （1） What do we know about Boevé from paragraph 2?

   A . He was devoted to the research for several months. B . He started a new approach after months' hesitation. C . He came up with a creative idea thanks to a composer. D . He was faced with difficulties in studying rare sawflies.
3. （2） What can be concluded in terms of the sound approach?

   A . The volume of sounds is based on the proportion of molecules. B . Smaller molecules and lower pitch share similar characteristics. C . Audio descriptions of the molecules can be divided into 16 kinds. D . Participants were required to compare the sounds with the smells.
5. （3） From paragraphs 4 and 5, we can learn that ________.

   A . the soundtracks are more than what humans are likely to bear B . the ants dislike the sounds as much as humans hate the smells C . humans' reactions to the sounds resemble ants' responses to the smells D . other zoologists are looking for innovative ways of studying molecules
7. （4） This passage is mainly intended to ________.

   A . explain ways to transfer smells into soundtracks B . introduce research on sawfly's effect on humans C . demonstrate a scientific study on insects'smells D . test out people's reaction to various soundtracks