According to some predictions, human beings will die out in 2012. Nearly all people think it’s impossible, but there are some more earthquakes in recent years.
Animals can predict the weather or other natural events. It may sound strange, but farmers living in the countryside think so. For hundreds of years , they have observed animals.
“Animals ’ behavior can be connected to future weather conditions or events.” They say. For example, if cows lie down, a rainstorm is coming. There are many traditional stories connecting animals and natural events. Many people think that these stories don’t have scientific evidence( 根据 ) at all. Scientists, however, are beginning to take another look at some of these ideas.
A Japanese earthquake researcher named Kiyoshi Shimamura noticed an increase in dog bites a short time before earthquake hit. Then he did research on twelve public health centers in Kobe, Japan. These health centers treated people after the 1995 earthquake . He got some interesting information about the month before the big earthquake: treatment for animals’ bites had increased . In fact, aggressive(侵略的)behavior in dogs, such as biting and barking loudly , jumped 60 percent.
There are also other changes in animals’ behavior before the earthquake. For example, fish began swimming together in large groups , but only in the middle of the water and not near the edges. Birds flew away from their nests for many days, leaving their eggs unprotected . These animals’ behavior suggests that animals may be able to predict natural events better than people.
小题1:What would cows behave before a rainstorm?
A．Running
B．Biting
C．Lying down
D．Sleeping小题2:What do dogs begin to do just before an earthquake?
A．They leave their homes.
B．They hurt people.
C．They lie down in grass.
D．They stay together in large groups.小题3:Which of the following animals behave strangely before an earthquake according to this passage?
A．Fish
B．Cows
C．Pigs
D．All of the above.小题4:In Kiyoshi Shimamura’s investigation(调查)，before the big earthquake, treatment for animals’ bites had _________.
A．disappeared
B．increased
C．been the same as before.
D．never changed.小题5:What is the main idea of the passage?
A．Natural events and animals’ actions.
B．What animals do during earthquakes
C．Many earthquakes of Japan.
D．Some stories about animals.
