The octopus’sreputation as a human-killer isn’t simply an exaggeration-it is a t

The octopus’s（章鱼）reputationas a human-killer isn’t simply an exaggeration（夸张）—itis a total myth. The octopus can indeed be a deadly hunter, but only of itsnatural victims. Some shellfish（壳类动物）and an occasionalsick or incautious fish have reason to be frightened of this multi-armedhunter, but a person is much too large to interest even the biggest octopus.Even the largest among octopi is much smaller than most people imagine. Farfrom being large enough to swallow a ship, as monster octopi in movies havebeen known to do, the largest octopus, found on the Pacific coast, weighsaround 110 pounds and grows to no more than ten feet in width.

   The hard, parrot-like beak（喙）of an octopus is not used for attacking deep-seadivers, but for cutting open shellfish. Indeed, the octopus possesses such atiny throat that it cannot swallow large pieces of meat. Instead, it feeds bypouring digestive juices into its victims, and then sucking up the soupyremains. A shellfish that finds itself in the grasp of an octopus has only ashort time to live. But human beings are perfectly safe. Still, people rarelycare to go close enough to these careful creatures to get a good look atthem.

1.This passage is mainly about          .

A．the horrors of theoctopus

B．the largest octopus inthe world

C．octopi and their behavior

D．the octopus’s deadlyhunting method

2.It is implied but not stated in the passage that          .

A．people have unreasonablefears about the octopus

B．the octopus is notinterested in human beings

C．the octopus is afraid ofhuman beings

D．the octopus is a verycruel sea animal

3.What does the underlined part “careful creatures”refer to in the last paragraph?

A．Octopi.        B．Shellfish.     C．Fish.    D．The victims.

4.The hard beak of the octopus is used for          .

A．attacking deep-sea divers   B．cutting up large pieces of meat

C．cutting open its victims        D．defending itself

5.From the passage, we can conclude that          .

A．the octopus is notdangerous to man

B．people often fearcreatures that are not dangerous to them

C．the octopus only huntsits natural victims

D．things described inmovies are not to be believed

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.A

4.C

5.A

【解析】

试题