本篇文章是前程百利小编为大家整理科学美国人文章，这篇文章很适合作为托福听力的背景知识来运用，对于背景知识大家要学会积累，而且背景材料的分析也很重要，请看下文分析。
原文：
Healthy ants wanted nothing to do with free-radical-rich foodstuff, but ants exposed to a pathogenic fungus sought it out, which upped their odds of survival. Christopher Intagliata reports.
We humans take medicine when we're sick. As do our primate cousins. Chimps, for example, snack on a bitter African shrub to combat intestinal worms. But the habit extends even to invertebrates. Take fruit flies—which sip alcohol to ward off parasitic wasps. Or wood ants, which line their nests with antifungal, antibacterial tree sap. Now researchers in Finland report that ants there that have encountered a pathogenic fungus appear to fight the infection by eating foods high in free radicals. Those are molecules with a talent for causing cell damage, in this case, to the cells of the fungus. That's according to a study in the journal Evolution. [Nick Bos et al, Ants medicate to fight disease]
The researchers collected some 400 wild ants. They exposed some to the fungus, and left the rest alone. Then they offered up a sort of eggy custard—either plain, or laced with free radicals—in the form of hydrogen peroxide. Uninfected ants didn't want anything to do with the radical-rich food. Which makes sense.
“Exactly, I mean we don't take painkillers on a daily basis, or we don't take antimicrobial agents on a daily basis. Because that would have really severe side effects on the organism." Dalial Freitak, an insect immunologist at the University of Helsinki.
Sick ants, on the other hand, preferred the peroxide diet—even before developing a full-blown infection. And the medicine upped their odds of survival some 30 percent. "I would definitely go for it!"
As for free radicals in the wild? Dalial says ants might get them from the honeydew substance that aphids produce. Or decomposing corpses—another ant favorite. No word on whether they sometimes seek out antioxidants.
专业词汇
Foodstuff n. 食品，食物;粮食，食料
Pathogenic adj. 致病的;病原的;发病的(等于pathogenetic)
Fungus n. 真菌，霉菌;菌类
Primate n. 大主教;灵长类的动物;首领adj. 灵长目动物的;首要的
Combat n. 战斗;争论adj. 战斗的;为…斗争的vi. 战斗;搏斗vt. 反对;与…战斗
Antifungal adj. 抗真菌的;杀真菌的
Antibacterial n. 抗菌剂;抗菌药adj. 抗菌的
Medicate vt. 用药治疗;加药品于
长难句解析：
1. Or wood ants, which line their nests with antifungal, antibacterial tree sap.
难句类型：
which引导的非限制性定语从句
句子主干：
wood ants, which line their nests
难句拆分：
which line their nests with antifungal, antibacterial tree sap，which引导的非限制性定语从句，作wood ants定语
2. Now researchers in Finland report that ants there that have encountered a pathogenic fungus appear to fight the infection by eating foods high in free radicals.
难句类型：
That引导的宾语从句
句子主干：
Now researchers in Finland report that
难句拆分：
hat ants there that have encountered a pathogenic fungus appear to fight the infection by eating foods high in free radicals，That引导的宾语从句作report的宾语。
文本结构特点：
本篇文章主要讲的是人们生病的时候要吃药，蚂蚁生病的时候也要吃药。蚂蚁通过分解真菌来解除体内的毒素。
好了，以上就是前程百利小编为大家整理的备考托福听力背景材料以及专业词汇的学习。希望能在备考托福的路上助大家一臂之力。最后，小编预祝大家在托福考试中取得好成绩。
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