WHY ARE THE RATS TRAVELING?
In some North European countries such as Norway and Sweden, there is a kind of rats called traveling rats, which produce their young seven or eight times a years. The young will grow up in about six months and produce their own young. So, in a few years these rats increase in great numbers. Usually they live together in holes in the depth of high mountains and live on grass and roots of trees. What is strange is that every three of four years, they will migrate in thousands or even in millions, leaving a few of them in their original living place.
The migration mainly goes on atnight. In daytime, they eat and rest. At night, they go just straight forward, even if there is a river before them: the rats in the front will drown themselves while the ones after them will make their way on the bodies of the drowned rats. Sometimes the number of the moving rats may decrease because of illness, bad weather or attacks from eagles, wolves ang so on. Once they reach the seaside, they keep on fearlessly and get drowned to the last one of them.
Why do they make such a migration? Some suggest that there may be too many of them to find food. Some suggest that the migration us the result of the bad temper of the rats. But all these remain to be proved.
Comprehension Questions
1) Why are the rats mentioned in the passage called traveling rats? ____
A. Because they produce their young seven or eight times a year.
B. Because they are interested in traveling.
C. Because every three or four years the rats living together will migrate in thousands or even in millions, leaving s few of them in their original living place.
D. Because they can’t find any fixed living place.
2) Usually a two-year-old traveling rat may hve had its babies _____ at the least.
A. Twice
B. Seven times
C. Ten times
D. Fourteen times
3) What do traveling rats feed on? ____
A. Grass and roots of trees.
B. Crops such as corn, rice ang wheat.
C. Srass, roots of trees and fishes in the sea.
D. Roots of grass, trees and flowers.
4) When the traveling rats migrate, _____
A. They never stop.
B. They pause to eat or have a rest from time to time.
C. They travel mainly at night and stop to eat and rest in daytime.
D. They will turn back if there is a river before them.
5) Which of the following may be the cause of the traveling rats’ death? ____
A. Being pushed into the river by each other rats.
B. Illness, bad weather, attacks from animals like eagles, wolves.
C. Getting drowned in the river or in the sea.
D. Both B and C
6) What’s the believable reason for traveling rats to make such as migration? _____
A. There may be too many of them to find food.
B. The rats are in bad temper.
C. The rats have not enough food to eat and are in dab temper.
D. Done of the above.
Keys:
[FONT="] 1.C 2.C 3. A 4.C 5.D 6.D[/FONT]
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