Submitted by: Submitted by Orchid
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Date Submitted: 04/26/2011 09:10 PM
Reading Comprehension
Passage 1
5 Spiders produce three basic types of webs. The sheet web is a two
dimensional layer of threads seemingly laid out at random. The space web
is a three- dimensional, wispy structure. The orb web, by far the most
familiar, is the two- dimensional cartwheel pattern.
Of the 30.000 spider species, some 6.000 are orb spinners. For three
10 Decades Dr. Peter N. Witt has studied orb spinners, especially a species
called Areneus diadematus, and their webs. Witt is a German-born medical
doctor and self- taught arachnologist, whose passion is to understand the
ways of spiders. Witt has delved deeply into the behavior of spiders and
vastly expanded our knowledge about orb spinners and their webs. Some
15 of his findings have even amazed other arachnologists.
"We have actually compared human building activities to spider
building, and we find an enormous amount of parallet between the two,"
Witt says. For one thing, just like their human counterparts in the building
trades, orb spinners erect a form of removable scaffolding as they weave
20 their webs.
Orb spinners are solitary creatures who dwell one to a web. The web
is home, food source, and mating ground, and it is guarded aggressively.
When a male arrives at mating time, the courtship ritual is an intricate set
of advances and retreats until the female is finally won over and no longer
25 tries to kill her would- be lover.
Orb spinners each weave a new web every day, working in the predawn
darkness and executing the distinctive pattern of concentric circles and
radial lines in a half hour or less. "There is nothing as important as web
building, because without the web there is no food," Witt says.
1.The topic of this passage is
(A) spiders.
(B) different types of webs spiders make.
(C) Dr. Peter N. Witt.
(D) orb spinners and their webs.
2. According to the passage, the difference between the sheet web and the orb web is (A) the pattern.
(B) the size....