Nowadays, the Greek Island of Ikaria in the Aegean Sea is a popular tourist destination famous for its sandy beaches, picturesque villages and beautiful natural landscape.      ▲     

Hundreds of years ago, Ikaria was a prime target for the pirates. To protect themselves from their attacks, the locals started building "anti-pirate" homes deep into the mountains, to make their island look uninhabited from the sea. At one point, the entire population of Ikaria hid itself in rock houses that didn’t attract attention unless you literally walked past them.

Historical records show that pirates caused Ikaria and other islands of the Aegean trouble since the 1st Century BC, but things only got worse with the passing of time. Piracy got so bad that the locals destroyed their own ports to prevent attacks. But that wasn’t enough. The rule then was lax(懒散松懈的), which only encouraged pirates to attack islands like Ikaria, and locals didn’t have many options to deal with the situation. They could either stand their ground and probably die, or leave their ancestral home and move somewhere safer. They chose the third option.

With no real hope of successfully resisting pirates, the people of Ikaria gave up their homes on the coast of the island and moved inward, into the mountains, making it seem like they had left the island entirely. Many moved in stone-built homes, or “anti-pirate houses”, which lacked the comfort of their village houses, but offered perfect camouflage(伪装). To avoid attracting attention, houses would generally have just one level, and they would have no chimney(烟囱), to prevent columns of smoke. Locals would mostly interact at night and avoid using fire or any sources of light, and they didn’t even keep dogs, for fear that their barking would attract unwanted guests.

1.What can be put back into the “ ▲ ”?

A And it has always been the slice of paradise.

B But it wasn’t always the perfect place it is today.

C However, Ikarians built homes to be seen by no-one.

D The locals tried their best to built it into a paradise.

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据空白处前面的“Nowadays, Ikaria is a popular tourist destination...”和后文描述，伊卡里亚岛以前是海盗经常出没的地方。现在伊卡里亚是一个受欢迎的旅游胜地，以其沙滩、风景如画的村庄和原始的自然景观而闻名，空白处发生转折，引出它之前不是现在这样的。故选B。

2.What does the underlined word “uninhabited” mean?

A Without high buildings.

B With beautiful scenery.

C Without much danger.

D With no one living there.

解析：选D。D 词义猜测题。根据前文的“the locals started building ‘anti-pirate’ homes deep into the mountains”当地人开始在深山里修建房屋以及后文“the entire population of Ikaria hid itself in rock houses that didn’t attract attention”伊卡利亚岛的所有居民都躲进了不引人注意的岩石房子里，即把这个岛营造成一种“无人居住”的样子。故选D。

3.What was the locals’ third option?

A Destroying their own ports.

B Risking their lives for home.

C Moving deep into the mountains.

D Settling down in some safe places.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据第三段倒数第二句“They could either stand their ground and probably die, or leave their ancestral home and move somewhere safer.”可知，他们可以选择坚守阵地直至牺牲生命来保卫他们的家园，也可以选择搬家去一个更安全的地方，但是他们都没有选，而是做了第三种选择，即本文提到的他们在深山里修建“反海盗”房屋。故选C。

4.What did the locals do in order not to be noticed?

A They communicated with each other at night.

B They built the houses high enough.

C They cooked food at midnight.

D They raised pet dogs at home.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第四段最后两句可知，为了避免引起注意，当地人修房子只修一层高，没有烟囱，人们晚上才相互走动交流，晚上不使用火或任何光源，也不养狗。故选A。