北京2012年中考英语尖子生特训3.docxVIP

北京2011中考英语阅读快卷（Part 3 ）1二十九My son and I were trying to sell the house we had repaired but in the barn (谷仓) there were bats and they would not leave. The barn was their home. They told us so in their own way. They hung there in the barn and seemed determined to stay for the season. “Don’t worry about it, Dad,” Patrick said, “they keep down the mosquitoes.”Unfortunately they also kept the buyers away. When we asked a person to sell the house for us, he refused to see it because of the bats. “Bats are popular,” Patrick comforted me, “they’re ecological (生态学的).”“Isn’t there a machine you can buy that produces high frequency sounds to keep bats away?”I asked. “I don’t know,” said Patrick, “But I like bats, and whoever buys this house will probably like them too.” “Probably?”I hated that word. “How many bats are there, anyway?”“I counted about 90 last night,” said Patrick, “They were dropping out from under the edge of the roof.”“You mean there are more – outside?”“They’re everywhere, Dad. But look at it this way. When the cold weather comes, they’ll be off to Mexico. Maybe in the spring we can keep them out. Don’t worry about it,” he said for the hundredth time. “It’s not a problem.”The bat expert I called was even more active than Patrick. “I think you’ve got a large number there,” he said in wonder, “I’ve been trying to attract bats to our house for 25 years. A single bat eats up his weight in mosquitoes and black flies three times every night. You’re a very lucky man.”I offered to share my luck with him. He could take them away. “Bats have a remarkable homing instinct (本能),” he said, “They’d fly straight back even if I transported them 100 miles. Once they have settled, you can’t stop them from coming back.”I was silent. Finally we managed to rent the house to a young family, who were also interested in buying it. “What about the bats?”I said to Patrick.“Oh, they love the bats,” he said. “No mosquitoes. No black flies. It’s one of the things that attracted them.”“Do y