When talking of a typical mineral mine, people will probably think it's underground. It's unlikely that the picture of plants and soft greenery would cross their minds. Now, new explorations into phytomining may change that viewpoint. Instead of traditionally mining metals like nickel, iron or cobalt from rocks, phytomining uses plants as an alternative source (来源) for these minerals. Using plants to extract (提取) metals can have significant environmental benefits over rock mining.
Phytomining was first studied in 1983, but it hasn't yet been adopted by the metals industry. In 2004, Indonesian soil scientist Aiyen Tjoa from Tadulako University in Central Sulawesithe took her research to Sorowako, a small town in Indonesia with one of the largest nickel mining areas, to look into plants that continued to live after years of mining. She brought samples back to her lab and found that these super plants were more than just surviving—they were growing.
The plants were absorbing and storing nickel from the soil. Large quantities of metals kill most plants, but these, known as hyperaccumulators, were learning to adapt. If these plants were storing metals, that meant that science could find a way to extract the minerals for use and quite frankly, scientists easily did. When the shoots are harvested and burnt, the metals are separated from the plant material in the ashes.
Tjoa returned to Sorowako and spent years searching for new hyperaccumulator species. After a plant is considered a possibility, there's a simple test paper that turns pink when placed against the leaf of a hyperaccumulator plant. Two local Indonesian plants, sarcotheca celebica and knema matanensis, were found but there are many others still to be validated.
Tjoa's research caught the attention of Satria Bijasksana, a professor of rock magnetism. Together, they designed an experiment to understand magnetic susceptibility (磁化率) when plants accumulate more nickel. Their research led to the discovery of two new species of hyperaccumulators. Besides, this research serves as the basis for the potential that plants can give to the mining industry, offering great advantages to our ecosystem and towards building a more sustainable (可持续的) future.
1. Why did Aiyen Tjoa go to Sorowako in 2004?| A．To work with the local government. | B．To study the plants surviving mining. |
| C．To improve the soil in the small town. | D．To research into underground mining. |
| A．They are rich in metals. | B．They are free of minerals. |
| C．They are very easy to discover. | D．They are too fragile to survive. |
| A．monitored | B．preserved |
| C．confirmed | D．adapted |
| A．A New Creative Mining Way Meets Challenges |
| B．Many Plants Can Act as Sources of Many Metals |
| C．Now Scientists Can Extract Minerals from Plants |
| D．Phytomining Will Take the Place of Traditional Mining |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Vegetarians would rather not be forced to eat meat. Yet the reverse compulsion is hidden in the proposals for a new plant-based “planetary diet.” Nowhere is this more visible than in India.
Earlier this year, the EAT-Lancet Commission released its global report on nutrition and called for a global shift to a more plant-based diet and for “substantially reducing consumption of animal source foods.” In countries like India, that call could become a tool to aggravate an already tense political situation and stress already undernourished populations.
The EAT report assumes that “traditional diets” in countries like India include little red meat, which might be consumed only on special occasions or as minor ingredients in mixed dishes.
In India, however, there is a vast difference between what people would wish to consume and what they have to consume because of innumerable barriers around class, religion, culture, cost, geography, etc. Policymakers in India have traditionally pushed for a cereal-heavy “vegetarian diet” on a meat-eating population as a way of providing the cheapest sources of food.
Currently, under an aggressive Hindu nationalist government, Muslims, Christians, disadvantaged classes and indigenous communities are being compelled to give up their traditional foods.
None of these concerns seem to have been appreciated by the EAT-Lancet Commission’s representative, Brent Loken, who said “India has got such a great example” in sourcing protein from plants.
But how much of a model for the world is India’s vegetarianism? In the Global Hunger Index, the country ranks 102nd out of 117. Data from the National Family Health Survey indicate that only 10 percent of infants of 6 to 23 months are adequately fed, which is why calls for a plant-based diet modeled on India risk offering another whip with which to beat already vulnerable communities in developing countries.
A diet directed at the affluent West fails to recognize that in low-income countries undernourished children are known to benefit from the consumption of milk and other animal source foods, improving cognitive functions, while reducing the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies as well as death.
EAT-Lancet claimed its intention was to “spark conversations” among all Indian stakeholders. Yet vocal critics of the food processing industry and food fortification strategies have been left out of the debate. But the most conspicuous (明显的) omission may well be the absence of India’s farmers.
1. What is more visible in India than anywhere else according to the passage?| A．People’s positive views on the proposals for a “planetary diet”. |
| B．People’s reluctance to be compelled to eat plant-based food. |
| C．People’s preferences for the kind of food they consume. |
| D．People’s unwillingness to give up their eating habits. |
| A．Radically change their dietary habits. | B．Keep them further away from politics. |
| C．Make them even more undernourished. | D．Substantially reduce their food choices. |
| A．People’s diet will not change due to the EAT-Lancet report. |
| B．Many people simply do not have access to foods they prefer. |
| C．There is a growing popularity of a cereal-heavy vegetarian diet. |
| D．Policymakers help remove the barriers to people’s choice of food. |
| A．It may benefit populations whose traditional diet is meat-based. |
| B．It may be another blow to the economy in developing countries. |
| C．It may worsen the nourishment problem in low-income countries. |
| D．It may help narrow the gap between the rich and poor countries. |
【推荐2】The common cold is the world’s most widespread illness, which is probably why there are more myths (误区) about it than any of the other illnesses.
The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated North Pole regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected (感染的) people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be doused (浸入) with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty (通风的) rooms. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors such as aspirin, but all they do is to ease the symptoms.
1. What does the fact that the Eskimos don’t always suffer colds show?| A．Colds are truly full of myths. |
| B．Colds are more severe than other illnesses. |
| C．The idea that cold leads to colds is not true. |
| D．The Eskimos are stronger in fighting against viruses. |
| A．Being doused with cold water did harm to one’s body. |
| B．Taking hot baths made the volunteers easy to be tired. |
| C．It was viruses not wet and cold that made people catch colds. |
| D．People who would like to exercise in the rain got colds more easily. |
| A．Viruses can go into people’s warm bodies more easily in winter. |
| B．Staying together indoors makes it easier for viruses to spread. |
| C．People are usually weak because of the extreme cold in winter. |
| D．There is great difference between indoor and outdoor temperature. |
| A．The myths about cold treatment. | B．The experiments on common colds. |
| C．The continued spread of common colds. | D．The reason and the way people catch colds. |
【推荐3】Researchers concerned with space exploration say they have discovered new evidence that Mars once had a large northern ocean. The discovery adds to existing evidence that the ancient Mars had the right conditions to possibly support some form of life.
Today, any water on Mars is believed to be in the form of ice because of the planet’s extremely cold desert temperatures. But there is a rich amount of evidence suggesting that rivers, lakes and even oceans once existed on Mars. A study by the American space agency NASA suggested that billions of years ago, Mars likely had an ocean that covered nearly half of Mars’ northern hemisphere(半球). Another NASA-supported study estimated that about several billion years ago, the climate in much of the planet’s northern hemisphere was very similar to today’s Earth. The study noted that at that time, Mars likely had a much thicker atmosphere than today and had an active northern ocean.
Two American researchers recently released a set of maps to provide new environmental evidence of a large ancient ocean on Mars’ low-lying northern hemisphere. The team collected data from satellite images and photos of Mars. They then combined them to create maps of the planet’s northern hemisphere. Using the maps, the researchers were able to piece together evidence of shorelines that sat at the edge of a huge body of water about 3.5 billion years ago.
The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research：Planets. Benjamin Cardenas, a professor at The Penn State University, was a co-writer of the study. He said the study’s findings showed the possible ocean in that area of Mars was changeable and interesting. “It was dynamic(动态的). The sea level rose significantly,” he said. “Rocks were being deposited(沉积) along its basins at a fast rate. There was a lot of change happening here.” Besides, Cardenas suggested the new study also provided useful information on Mars’ ancient climate and developmental history. “Based on these findings, we know there had to have been a period when it was warm enough and the atmosphere was thick enough to support this much liquid water at one time,” he said.
1. How does the author develop paragraph 2?| A．By giving examples. |
| B．By listing data. |
| C．By making assumptions. |
| D．By drawing comparisons. |
| A．Where they created maps. |
| B．When they landed on Mars. |
| C．Why they studied satellites. |
| D．How they found the evidence. |
| A．It must have been always warm. |
| B．It might have had an active ocean. |
| C．The climate and sea level were unchangeable. |
| D．The atmosphere was too thin to support water. |
| A．A photography book. |
| B．An entertainment magazine. |
| C．A scientific journal. |
| D．An agricultural newspaper. |
【推荐1】Why wouldn’t scientists want to try and save the world’s largest flower, especially when it, Rafflesia, is their country’s national flower? However, when you add to the fact that the world’s largest flower is also the world’s smelliest, then suddenly the “panda of the plant world” begins to look more like a headache.
Sofi Mursidawati, a PhD in agriculture at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on the island of Java, is one of the world’s leading experts on this strange flower, and her efforts to build a body of knowledge that will allow for the creation of the flower into the future could save it from extinction. Rafflesia has no leaves, roots, or stems, but rather only one giant, one-meter-long, 20-pound bloom that smells like rotting meat. Found only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo, its artificial creation in the face of habitat loss is a problem.
With seeds the size of grains, pollinated flowers infect a kind of vines(葬本植物) called Tetrastygma, before slowly growing over many months into an enormous cabbage一sized bulb. The curiosities don’t end there. In fact, it barely qualifies as a plant. It branched away from having genetics that code for photosynthesis(光合作用) millions of years ago, and relies entirely upon its host —the vines for energy.
Just as it’s difficult to get pandas to breed, Rafflesia is a pain in the neck, as the blooms last only a week. After collecting Rafflesia seeds, and a variety of Tetrastygma vines, it took Mursidawati four years to welcome the first smelly flower into the Bogor Botanical Gardens. A decade later, the work was still slow going. However, the creation is doing one thing very well：creating specimens(样本) to send to botanic gardens around the world, creating what will likely be the strange flower’s greatest chance for survival.
1. What does the author think of creating Rafflesia?| A．Meaningless. | B．Simple. | C．Attractive. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Rafflesia is different from common plants. |
| B．It’s a problem for Rafflesin to live in the rainforests. |
| C．Rafflesia has already been saved from extinction. |
| D．Soli Mursidawati has created Rafflesia successfully. |
| A．From the sun. | B．From its host. | C．From the earth. | D．From the air. |
| A．The World’s Largest Flower Is Endangered. |
| B．Raflesin Becomes World’s Largest Flower. |
| C．Woman Scientist Creates Various Flowers. |
| D．Woman Scientist Races to Save World’s Largest and Smelliest Flower. |
【推荐2】As I work in the garden, I take my time and the garden is teaching me about working with the earth. I recognize that there will be both successes and failures and there are many variables that affect them both.
The quality of the seeds planted has a bearing on how well the plants will grow. But the weather affects that most. It can be too hot, too cold, or exactly right, and usually fluctuates (起伏) between all three. Weeds seem to grow well in the garden and need to be taken care of and pulled to ensure they do not destroy the fruits, vegetables, and flowers we have so lovingly planted.
I take time to stand back and rest, and to observe the plants and how they are growing. Each plant is unique and develops in the way that is best for them. Some have large broad leaves to protect their fruit from the harsh rays of the sun, while other plants are more open, their fruit needing the light to grow and ripen.
Getting my hands dirty, feeling the sweat on my brow, and the strength and flexibility of my body as I dig, bend and work under the warm summer sun, reminds me I am alive in ways I would not have remembered sitting on the couch.
It is very inspiring to move things around, to transplant, and to disturb the natural order of how plants grow. The garden teaches me that it is important to know when to disturb things and when to let them be. The garden’s life cycle follows a pattern that is repeated according to laws of nature, birth, and growth, and then dies and it teaches us to accept this fact.
Perhaps life is like the garden, successes and failures, time to be active and time to rest, to let go of what is no longer needed, to cultivate (培养) what helps us to grow into our light and power, and to embrace life from beginning to end.
1. What affects how well plants grow most?| A．The weather. | B．The seeds. | C．The soil. | D．The weeds. |
| A．Weeds grow better than fruits and vegetables. |
| B．Gardening is rewarding to the author. |
| C．All plants are unique, but grow in the same way. |
| D．Gardening is quite time-consuming. |
| A．He can build up his body. |
| B．He can get a good harvest by working. |
| C．Gardening gives him an insight into life. |
| D．There are successes and failures in gardening. |
| A．No sweet without sweat. |
| B．As a man sows, so he shall reap. |
| C．What has been done cannot be undone. |
| D．Pursue the best, and accept the worst. |
【推荐3】Ashtyn Perry dug into the ground in Sequoia(红杉)Crest，California. In 2020, a wildfire burned through the mountain community and destroyed dozens of its massive trees. Ashtyn, who is 13 years old, planted a bright green seedling. “It’s really cool to know that it could be a big tree in the future,” Ashtyn said. Ashtyn said she’d like to return once a year to see how it’s growing. She hopes it can become a giant.
Her efforts are part of a project to plant seeds from some of the largest and oldest trees on the planet. The goal is to see if the genes that allowed the parent tree to survive for so long will protect the growth of new trees.
Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, which is an organization that preserves the genes of very old trees, leads the project. The group hopes to save the giant sequoias. Once considered nearly fireproof, the trees are at risk of being wiped out by intense wildfires.
Climate change is partly to blame for the problems sequoias face. Climate change is leading to more intense fires. Another factor contributing to the problem is a century of policies that prevent natural fires from burning. Allowing natural wildfires to burn actually prevents bigger future fires, Brigham said. But now when fires burn, they blaze through vegetation (植被) built up through years of fire suppression (抑制), making the fires more intense.
Last year’s destruction to the sequoias brought Brigham to tears. “They’re so big and so old and so individual and unusual that even people who don’t love trees, love them, ” Brigham said. To save the trees this year, crews wrapped trunks of the largest trees in a fire-resistant foil around the trees. But more needs to be done, Brigham said. This includes thinning the vegetation around the trees and replanting.
1. What do baby sequoias represent for Ashtyn?| A．Hope. | B．Wealth. | C．Progress. | D．Friendship. |
| A．The growing course of small trees. |
| B．The risk of intense wildfires for trees. |
| C．The best genes to help ancient trees survive. |
| D．The possibility of living through natural disasters. |
| A．Natural fires should be left alone. |
| B．Tree trunks should be wrapped tightly. |
| C．Climate change is the cause of wildfires. |
| D．The vegetation around the trees needs protection. |
| A．Tree genes help small trees grow well | B．Wildfires destroy oldest trees more |
| C．People are eager to protect ancient trees | D．Sequoias will disappear on the earth |
