Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms prove as disastrous to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in wait for them, as do brigands for travelers. One day, as I was looking for a bee in some goldenrod. I spied one partly concealed under a leaf. Its baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move. On lifting the leaf, I discovered that a hairy spider was hidden there and had the bee by the throat. The killer was evidently afraid of the bee’s sting and was holding it by the throat till quite sure of its death. Vergil speaks of the painted lizard, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy of the honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys bees; but our tree toad, ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up wholesale. Quick as lightning, that subtle but clammy tongue darts forth and the unsuspecting bee is gone. Vergil also accuses the titmouse and the woodpecker of preying upon the bees. Our kingbird has been charged with a like crime, but he devours only the drones. Either the workers are too small and quick for him, or else he dreads their sting.
1. The selection enables us to conclude that the writer has been a student of *
A. books
B. music
C. art
D. nature
2. The article as a whole could be called *
A. description
B. narration
C. exposition
D. fiction
3. Black spiders are compared to *
A. bandits
B. porters
C. guides
D. couriers
4. Vergil’s statement of enmity between bees and lizards is repeated by the writer and *
A. elaborated
B. substantiated
C. supplemented
D. corrected
5. The meaning of “clammy” is *
A. feverish
B. damp and cold
C. forked
D. frigid
6. Which is the most probable meaning of “subtle”? *
A. refined
B. sly
C. evasive
D. inflexible
7. In relationship to bees, spiders might be called *
A. friends
B. dependents
C. relatives
D. foes
8. That the woodpecker is an enemy of bees is stated by Vergil as an *
A. explanation
B. accusation
C. assertion
D. implication
9. The kingbird is eliminated as a serious menace because it devours only *
A. queens
B. workers
C. drones
D. spiders
10. The selection is chiefly about the bee’s *
A. activities
B. anatomy
C. environment
D. antagonists​