Question

Caterpillars（毛毛蟲）are cute. They star in children's books. They turn into pretty butterflies. And now it turns out they may hold the key to solving plastic pollution.

Like many great findings and inventions, the discovery of a caterpillar that eats plastic was made accidentally. Bertocchini, a biologist in Madrid, was cleaning her hobby beehives(蜂箱）and used a plastic shopping bag to collect the caterpillars which eat wax(蜂蠟）. When she looked at the bag later, she was surprised to see it was full of holes. She decided to look into this plastic-eating wonders of caterpillars with her team.

They offered a plastic bag from a UK supermarket to a group of 100 wax-eating caterpillars. They began creating holes after 40 minutes; 12 hours later, they had reduced the mass of the bag by 92mg. While there have been other creatures that eat plastics, none of them have been able to do so better than these caterpillars.

"This discovery could be an important tool for helping to cut down the problem of plastic waste and save our oceans and rivers," Bertocchini said. "The caterpillar will be the starting point. Before using this finding in a practical way to solve plastic problems, we need to understand the chemical secrets behind the natural degradation(降解）of plastic. Something in the caterpillar一as well as the caterpillar itself—might play a role".

1.How did Bertocchini find that caterpillars was able to eat plastic?

A.By cleaning her beehives.

B.By making holes in a plastic bag

C.By doing research with her teammates.

D.By putting caterpillars into a plastic bag.

2.Which statement is TRUE about the wax-eating caterpillar?

A.Plastic is their favourite food.

B.They are only found in beehives

C.They are the best in eating plastic.

D.They can eat up a plastic bag in 12 hours.

3.The underlined word "They" in Para 3 refers to _________.

A.wax-eating saterpillars B.Bertocchini and her teammates

C.plastic bags D.UK supermarkets

4.From the last paragraph, we can know that how the caterpillar breaks down plastic is ________.

A.unknown B.interesting C.important D.powerful

5.Which can be the best title of the passage?

A.Animals That Eat Plastic. B.A Possible Key to Plastic Problems.

C.An Important Science Discovery. D.Protecting Environment.

Answer 1