1 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Plant lovers believe that talking to plants helps them grow. Scientists have discovered there could be real
The research
2 . When most of us read the words “plant-based diet”, we tend to think of foods such as salads and grain. But there is another option — the newest super-food: seaweed. The brownish-green oceanic plant like matter that washes up on beaches is in fact edible. Nori, the papery sheets used to wrap sushi rolls, is likely the most well-known and enjoyed seaweed, but these large leafy algae (海藻) come in hundreds of colorful varieties. Seaweed helps to support other life in the ocean and to clean the water surrounding it. When out of the water, seaweed can bring more nutrition and minerals to our diets.
“Even though we try to eat healthily, we’re relying on land-based and soil-based agriculture for the most part,” said Sarah Redmond, founder and owner of Springtide Seaweed in Gouldsboro, Maine. “Seaweed is a really interesting alternative because it provides the nutrients that are really hard to find in other land plants.”
For humans, seaweed is a one-stop shop for our necessary nutrient needs. “Seaweed is an excellent source of dietary fiber and minerals,” said Mary Ellen Camire, professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine.
Though nutrition varies slightly between green, brown and red varieties, across the board seaweed contains a number of vitamins, including B,C,E and K, omega-3 fatty acids, protein and 10 times more minerals than land-based plants, according to a recent study.
However, you don’t need to pile your plate high with seaweed. “Some brown seaweed is very high in iodine (碘),” Camire said. “It has so much iodine that consumers are advised to eat it no more than three times per week.”
Seaweed is just as beneficial to the planet as it is to our personal health. Seaweed pulls carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and uses it to make more carbohydrates (碳水化合物). “We are not sure how much seaweed farming it would take to have a significant effect on global warming, but it helps,” Camire said.
Seaweed also consumes elements that can harm the ocean. It can also provide a place for smaller sea creatures to hide from their enemies, establishing environments that can help restore diverse ocean life in over-fished habitats.
1. What does the underlined word “edible” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Fit to be eaten. | B．Large in size. | C．Hard to notice. | D．Good for health. |
| A．It can replace most vegetables and grain. | B．It provides people with important nutrition. |
| C．It attracts Mary Ellen Camire to agriculture. | D．It is bad for people’s health in the long run. |
| A．Choose seaweed low in iodine. | B．Combine seaweed with other foods. |
| C．Control the amount of seaweed you eat. | D．Remove brown seaweed from your plate. |
| A．By setting up new habitats for sea creatures. |
| B．By releasing friendly gases into the atmosphere. |
| C．By providing plenty of carbohydrates for fishers. |
| D．By using carbon dioxide to produce useful substances. |
3 . Scientists have shown how plants can protect themselves against genetic (基因的) damage caused by environmental stresses. The growing tips of plant roots and shoots have an in-built mechanism (机制) that spells cell death if DNA damage is detected, avoiding passing on faulty DNA.
Plants have small populations of stem cells (干细胞) at the tips of their roots and shoots, which enable them to continuously grow and produce new tissues throughout their lifetime. These stem cells serve as ancestors for plant tissues and organs. However, any genetic faults present in the stem cells will continue to exist and be passed on permanently throughout the plant’s life, which could last thousands of years.
Given the critical role of stem cells and their exposure to potentially dangerous environments at the growing tips of roots and shoots, safeguards are necessary to prevent stem cell faults from becoming fixed. Researchers Nick Fulcher and Robert Sablowski, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, aimed to uncover these protective mechanisms. Through experiments involving X-rays and chemicals, they discovered that stem cells were more sensitive to DNA damage compared to other cells.
When DNA damage occurs, the cells have the capacity to detect it and cause programmed cells to die, preventing the propagation of the damaged genetic code to the rest of the plant tissues. This process has similarities to the safeguard mechanism found in animal cells, which has been broadly studied due to its relevance in preventing cancer.
The identification of a similar protective system in plants is of great interest in the field of plant development. It also helps scientists develop plants that can better handle environmental stress. So knowledge of how plants deal with these stresses is of fundamental significance to agricultural science’s response to climate change.
1. What is the function of the in-built mechanism in plants?| A．To produce more roots and shoots. | B．To increase the overall lifetime of the plant. |
| C．To enhance plant growth and nutrient intake. | D．To stop genetic faults in stem cells passing on. |
| A．They are relatively abundant in quantity. | B．They are resistant to environmental stresses. |
| C．They make quick response to DNA damage. | D．They have the ability to repair damaged DNA. |
| A．Spread. | B．Change. | C．Existence. | D．Self-repair. |
| A．The way of dealing with climate change on the earth. |
| B．The significance of identifying the protective system in plants. |
| C．The method of ensuring plant survival under environmental stress. |
| D．The urgency of developing plants that can handle environmental stress. |
4 . Readers can explore the wonders of nature with Big Tree. The book was written by famous author and illustrator (插画家) Brian Selznick. It is filled with detailed black-and-white illustrations, which took years to complete.
The story introduces Merwin and Louise, two tiny Sycamore seeds (梧桐树种子) who began life during the time when dinosaurs (恐龙) travelled around the Earth. After they fell from their mother tree, they started a dangerous 147-million-year adventure to the modern day.
After reading it, I met with the famous author and illustrator at his home in La Jolla, California. Selznick explained the lessons that nature offers about helping our planet and each other. “All of us can do something to help the real seed,” Selznick said. “No matter how small you feel, there’s always something you can do.”
As for his main goal when writing Big Tree, Selznick said, “Readers feel like they are learning about interesting stories when they read Big Tree, but actually and secretly, they are learning about real science. That’s why I wrote Big Tree.”
In order to write Big Tree, Selznick went to the New York Botanical Garden, where he talked to a wonderful park manager. She walked him through the forest and talked about the way leaves work, the way trees grow and the way trees experience time.
Selznick said he learned a lot while creating Big Tree. “The manager thinks that forests are really communities. It really surprised me,” he said. “We live in communities, and when we run into trouble or danger, we communicate with each other to find solutions. Trees are doing the same thing. We’re all part of a community. And that, to me, was a really important part of Big Tree.”
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly focus on?| A．The main idea of Big Tree. | B．The discussion about Big Tree. |
| C．The review of Big Tree. | D．The story behind Big Tree. |
| A．To show the illustration art. | B．To share an interesting story. |
| C．To encourage readers to learn. | D．To make real science interesting. |
| A．He did some research. | B．He planted some trees. |
| C．He asked others’ advice. | D．He stayed in the forest alone. |
| A．Trees are important for communities. | B．Trees can communicate with each other. |
| C．Trees can protect people against danger. | D．Trees run into trouble more often. |
1. Why is the baobab’s trunk really fat?
| A．It is shaped by people. |
| B．It stores a large quantity of water. |
| C．It must be strong enough to support the tree. |
| A．About 12 metre. |
| B．About 15 metre. |
| C．About 30 metre. |
| A．Shops. |
| B．Wildlife habitats. |
| C．Bus shelters |
6 . Grapes are popular fresh fruit, and people also love to make them into wine, jam, juice, various candied fruit, jelly, vinegar, grape seed extract and grape seed oil. Grapes are very useful, and many countries have good growing conditions to grow them.
Grapes are used to make synthetic leather.
In order to find more environmentally friendly synthetic leather, Vegea, an Italian company founded in 2018, has developed a product that can be completely recycled from the grape waste left over from winemaking.
Grapes and their derivatives (raisins, wine, and grape juice)are poisonous to dogs: They can cause kidney (肾脏) failure, which can cause their final death.
The grapes you eat are different from the ones used for making wine.
China leads the way in table grape production and consumption.
Thanks to its favorable climate and growing conditions, China has been growing grapes for more than 2000 years. Consumption is expected to increase from 11. 8 million metric tons in 2021-2022 to 12. 4 million metric tons in 2022-2023, making China the world’s largest consumer.
Grapes were probably the first fruit domesticated by humans.
In 2023, researchers published genetic evidence that grape vines (藤) were domesticated around 11, 000 years ago. As the scientists pointed out, “The grapevine was probably the first fruit crop domesticated by humans …It was one of the first globally traded goods.”
| A．Grapes can be deadly to your pet. |
| B．Grapes can be unfriendly to your animals. |
| C．China doesn’t just consume a lot of grapes. |
| D．Therefore, grapes are one of the world’s most economically important crops. |
| E．The quality requirements of the ones you eat (table grapes) differ greatly from those required for wine production. |
| F．Grape leather is being used to produce a variety of products. |
| G．Grape leather is very useful. |
7 . Why do plants grow in some places and not in others? Why does some land have so much growing on it, while other land has almost no plants growing on it at all?
To grow, plants need several things. One is warmth. In very cold places almost nothing grows. Plants also need water. In very dry parts of the Earth only a few unusual plants can grow. That’s why dry deserts everywhere are almost not covered by trees or grass.
Plants must also have a place in which to put down their roots and grow. They find it difficult to grow on hard land. The town is built on hard land. The plants here have only the soil found between the cracks of the stones to grow in.
Another thing plants must have before they can grow is food.
What will happen if we try to make things grow on the sandy beach? A few plants, such as beach grass, will grow in sand, but most plants won’t. Even if the weather is warm enough and we water the plants each day, many of them will die because the sand on this beach has almost no food for plants.
1. According to the passage, plants need things to grow well.| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
| A．缝隙 | B．表面 | C．夹层 | D．底部 |
| A．there isn’t enough sunlight | B．there is too much water |
| C．it is too crowded there | D．it has little food for plants |
| A．science | B．history | C．travel | D．math |
1. What is the passage about?
| A．Several women living under the sea. | B．Sea plants. | C．Sea animals. |
| A．How the sea animals live. |
| B．How the sea plants grow. |
| C．Both A and B. |
| A．Five days. | B．Two weeks. | C．A week. |
9 . When micro-plastics end up in farm fields, the pollution can damage plant growth. But two young researchers now report that combining fungi (真菌) with certain farm wastes can partly overcome that problem.
May Shin, 20, and Jiwon Choi, 18, met in a research design class at the Fryeburg Academy, a high school in Maine. May had desired to explore how micro-plastics might affect the ecosystem. Jiwon was crazy about plants and fungi. The young scientists cooperated to test how long-lived plastics might affect farm crops.
Scientists have shown certain fungi can aid root growth and a plant’s nutrient uptake. Those organisms are named arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Certain farm wastes, like straw, can provide nutrients to plants and help stabilize their roots. Such wastes are also known as mushroom substrate (基质) and people often grow mushrooms in them.
May and Jiwon planted over 2,000 scallion (大葱) seeds in pots of soil. Half the seeds got soil polluted with micro-plastics. The rest grew in plastic-free soil. The plants then were further divided into four groups. The young scientists added AMF to the soil in one group. Another group had a top layer of mushroom substrate. A third group got both treatments. The last group got none. For three weeks, the pair tracked how many scallions sprouted (发芽) in each group and measured the plants’ height once each week.
About twice as many scallions sprouted in clean soil compared to that containing plastic bits. But among plants surviving in the polluted soil, a combination of AMF and mushroom substrate helped them out. Those getting both treatments grew 5.4 centimeters per week. That was faster than either of the treatments alone or those getting none.
Jiwon and May then looked at the plant roots with a microscope. Where AMF had been added, it grew into those roots. That increased the scallion roots’ surface area, May said, which should promote their uptake of nutrients. So “I see this project as coming up with a sustainable solution for plant growth in polluted soils,” said May.
1. Why did May and Jiwon work together?| A．To see the effects of long-lived plastics on farm crops. |
| B．To find the relationship between plants and fungi. |
| C．To design a research on the growth of plants. |
| D．To explore the way that the ecosystem works. |
| A．To prove the existence of micro-plastics. | B．To compare fungi with farm wastes. |
| C．To tell the advantages of farm wastes. | D．To provide some related information. |
| A．Its purpose. | B．Its design. | C．Its findings. | D．Its reasons. |
| A．By keeping the plants more resistant to pollution. | B．By allowing the plants’ deep area more freedom. |
| C．By making nutrients more available to the plants. | D．By exposing the roots to a larger surface area. |
10 . When I was a kid, a sycamore (枫树) grew in front of my home. At the age of 10, I was just tall enough to reach its lowest branch and lift myself into its embrace. Sometimes two or three of my friends would join me in the sycamore, or in the maple down the street, or Mrs. DiMarco’s old peach tree, some of whose stout horizontal branches allowed us to sit shoulder to shoulder, eating sweet fruit.
In my small town there are some kinds of trees, their branches spreading wide, open for business. But I have not yet seen a climber. Perhaps computer games have replaced tree climbing, or maybe the activity went the way of monkey bars, which came to be viewed as too risky and have largely disappeared from playgrounds.
It is a sad loss. I have always believed that, since low-hanging branches provide no benefit to the tree, they must be meant for the child. Robert Frost understood this when he wrote:
When I see baches (桦树) bend to left and right,
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
My only disagreement with Frost is his inference that tree climbing is a gender-specific task. Both boys and girls make a joyful climb.
The campus of the university where I teach has all sorts of trees. During a recent walk, I found myself bending under the branch of an immense spruce (云杉). I grabbed the thing, and a moment later was sitting on a branch. Then the memories came flooding back. The old sycamore, the friends, and finally, the reluctance to return to earth when the parental call to supper came.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t hear the student calling to me from below. He asked what I was doing. I didn’t waste time on explanations. “Come on up,” I said “The air’s fine.” But he only laughed and waved me off. He didn’t know what he was missing.
1. What does the underlined word “stout” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Slim. | B．Bent. | C．Smooth. | D．Strong. |
| A．Why kids don’t climb trees. |
| B．Why monkey bars are dangerous. |
| C．Why there is no business under trees. |
| D．Why kids are addicted to computer games. |
| A．Some branches of trees are useless. |
| B．Trees are intended for kids to climb. |
| C．Trees are a source of inspiration for poets. |
| D．Climbing trees is a unique right of boys. |
| A．The explanations to his question. |
| B．The fresh air above the tree. |
| C．The pleasure of climbing trees. |
| D．The sense of safety on earth. |
