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It's easy to understand why water striders—those insects that float and glide across the surface of ponds, streams, and lakes—are sometimes called Jesus bugs or pond skaters. Less clear is how the bugs manage to stay afloat without drowning, especially in turbulent conditions brought by rainstorms or moving water. That is, until now.
1. Studying the insects under powerful microscopes, researchers in China have found that (a) water strider legs (b) water striders leg (c) waters strider leg (d) water striders legs incorporate thousands of microscopic hairs.
2. Measuring about (a) two thousandth (b) two thousand (c) two-thousandths (d) two thousands of an inch long, the hairs are scored by miniature groves. These groves trap air, increasing water resistance of the water striders' legs and overall buoyancy of the insect.
3. "Normal hydrophobicity may support them resting on water," said Lei Jiang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and study co-author. " The air cushion at the leg-water interface (a) allow (b) lets (c) makes (d) enables them to locomote quickly and stably on the water surface—even in rainstorms or other disturbances."
4. Jiang noted that (a) other (b) others (c) the other (d) the others animals developed features, such as the feathers on a duck, that work in similar ways.
5. However, (a) most (b) the most (c) most of (d) the most of animals are far less effective (a) in (b) about (c) at (d) to promoting super water-repellence, he said.
6. Common to ponds, rivers, and lakes, water strides (Gerris remigis) are considered (a) most (b) the most (c) most of (d) the most of advanced surface-dwelling water bug found in nature.
The insects, which measure about two-fifths of an inch long, have two pairs of long, thin legs that they use to float and travel on water surfaces. They also (a) sport (b) wear (c) break (d) spare an additional pair of smaller frontal legs, which can be used to (a) grope (b) grab (c) ground (d) groom prey.
The hair-and-trapped-air combination has such water-resistance qualities that the insects legs can create 4-millimeter dimples in a water surface without (a) to break (b) breaking (c) broken (d) break) through.
The water-resistant legs displace some 300 times their own volume—the source of the insect's remarkable buoyancy. Jiang and colleague Xuefeng Gao found that the water strider's legs are so buoyant, they can support 15 times the insect's weight without (a) it is sinking (b) it sinks (c) it sinking (d) sinking.
This excess floatation capacity may allow the insects to bounce on water surfaces, much like a rubber ball on a cement sidewalk, to avoid (a) drown (b) to drown (c)drowning (d) from drowning during a downpour.
The superfloatation also helps the bugs to skate across water surfaces in search of prey with remarkable speed. The insects can dash at speeds of a hundred body lengths per second. To match them, a 6-foot-tall person would have to swim at over 400 miles an hour . Water striders not only travel quickly, but they venture far away. Scientists say some bugs have travelled hundreds of miles across calm tropical oceans.