Honeybees cannot live alone. Their body structure and instincts equip them for life in a colony of community, where they have a complex social organization and the various duties are divided among the individuals according to physical fitness and age. An individual worker bee cannot reproduce itself. While it may continue to live if forcibly isolated from its mates, it fails to care for itself adequately, and soon dies. Most insects have the ability to hibernate in winter, but the honeybee seem to have lost this. Since at low temperatures the bee will die, it must have the ability to make its own environment, so far as temperature is concerned. This makes a colony necessary to the bees in winter, so that they may collectively warm each other. Efficiency if not necessity, demands that the work of the colony be divided, and such a division of labor tends to enhance the reed to maintain the colony. The physical structure of the honeybee is further suited for the defense of the entire colony rather than for its own defense. The bee’s barbed sting is used only once and. is made more effective by the fact that it is left behind in the victim. With the loss of the sting, however, the bee dies. This kind of defensive weapon is not of service to the individual, but to the community.
1. According to the passage, bees are fitted for communal life by virtue of their .
A. flexibility and initiative
B. intelligence and sensitivity
C. independence and endurance
D. instincts and form
2. It can be inferred from the passage that at one time bees had the ability to .
A. increase their activity in lower temperatures
B. leave cold climates during winter
C. remain dormant (休眠的) through periods of cold weather
D. construct insulated hives
3. The passage states that bees differ from most other communities of insects in their need to.
A. reproduce in large numbers
B. control the temperature where they live
C. divide the work of their colonies
D. have a complex defense system
4. The honeybee’s sting is particularly effective because it .
A. has many potential uses
B. can kill several victims at once
C. is located in the rear of the bee’s body
D. remains with the bee’s victim
5. Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage?
A. The Communal Life of Bees.
B. The Structure of the Bees.
C. The Organization of Insect Colonies.
D. The Life of Social Insects.
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