1 . Scientists have been experimenting with playing sounds to plants since at least the 1960s, during which time they have been exposed to everything from Beethoven to Michael Jackson. Over the years, evidence that this sort of thing can have an effect has been growing. One paper, published in 2018, claimed that an Asian shrub known as the telegraph plant grew substantially larger leaves when exposed to 56 days of Buddhist music — but not if it was exposed to Western pop music or silence. Another, published last year, found that marigolds and sage plants exposed to the noise of traffic from a busy motorway suffered growth difficulty.
Plants have been evolving (进化) alongside the insects that eat them for hundreds of millions of years. With that in mind, Heidi Appel, a botanist now at the University of Houston, and Reginald Cocroft, a biologist at the University of Missouri, wondered if plants might be sensitive to the sounds made by the animals with which they most often interact. They recorded the vibrations made by certain species of caterpillars (毛毛虫) as they chewed on leaves. These vibrations are not powerful enough to produce sound waves in the air. But they are able to travel across leaves and branches, and even to neighbouring plants if their leaves touch.
They then exposed tobacco plant — the plant biologist’s version of the laboratory mouse — to the recorded vibrations while no caterpillars were actually present. Later, they put real caterpillars on the plants to see if exposure had led them to prepare for an insect attack. The results were striking. Leaves that had been exposed had significantly higher levels of defensive chemicals, making them much harder for the caterpillars to eat. Leaves that had not been exposed to vibrations showed no such response. Other sorts of vibration — caused by the wind, for instance, or other insects that do not eat leaves — had no effect.
“Now speakers with the right audio files are more often being used to warn crops to act when insects are detected but not yet widespread,” says Dr. Cocroft. “Unlike chemical pesticides, sound waves leave no dangerous chemicals.”
1. What can we learn about plants from the first paragraph?| A．They may enjoy Western music. | B．They can’t stand Buddhist music. |
| C．They can react to different sounds. | D．They can make different sounds. |
| A．Plants can make a cry for help. | B．Plants evolve alongside insects. |
| C．Plants are sensitive to the sounds. | D．Plants have been studied for years. |
| A．They can recongnize harmful vibrations. | B．They look like laboratory mice. |
| C．They can threaten the caterpillars. | D．They can release poisonous chemicals. |
| A．Disadvantages of chemical pesticides. | B．Application of the experimental results. |
| C．Interaction between plants and insects. | D．Warning system of widespread insects. |
2 . In 1986, when he was only a prince. King Charles told a television interviewer that it was important to talk to plants. He was widely laughed at. But his wisdom seems to have been ahead of its time, for there is now plenty of evidence that plants can detect (察觉) sound, react to it, and even perhaps produce it.
Scientists have been experimenting with playing sounds to plants since at least the 1960s, during which time they have been exposed to everything from Beethoven to Michael Jackson. Over the years, evidence that this sort of thing can have an effect has been growing. One paper, published in 2018, announced that an Asian plant grew much larger leaves when exposed to 56 days of Buddhist chants — but not if it was exposed to Western pop music, or silence. Another, published last year, found that plants exposed to the noise of traffic from a busy motorway suffered slow growth, and produced a range of stress compounds (成分).
Another research reports that certain frequencies (频率), played in some environments like greenhouses, can affect seed growth and even improve crop production. And plants can make noises, too. Earlier this year a group of researchers at Tel Aviv University published an article in Cell Press, reporting that several plants gave out different noises in response to different stresses — although not at the sorts of frequencies that humans can hear. Humans can only hear frequencies of up to 16 kilohertz. Scientists discovered sounds given out by plants were up to 250 kilohertz.
If all that sounds strange, perhaps it should not. After all, sound carries useful information.
From an evolutionary point of view, there is no reason to expect that information to be applied only by animals.
1. What was most people’s attitude to Charles’ opinion?| A．Unclear. | B．Positive. | C．Cautious. | D．Negative. |
| A．Different sounds have different effects on plants. |
| B．Buddhist chants don’t make a difference to plants. |
| C．Western pop music does good to plants’ growth. |
| D．The noise of traffic produces stress compounds. |
| A．The sounds are strange. | B．The plants grow in greenhouses. |
| C．The plants are under great stress. | D．The sounds are at high frequencies. |
| A．It’s the important to talk to plants. |
| B．Sounds make a difference to plants. |
| C．Plants can discover and even make sound. |
| D．Humans can’t hear sounds produced by plants. |
3 . Bred to be more sweeter, today’s cherries, bananas and apples taste different than they used — to but not necessarily better. Among fruit farmers, the word “quality” is now routinely used as a standard for “high in sugar”, though firmness, color and size are also considerations. In a recent study about ways to enhance the sweetness of fruit using “molecular (分子的) approaches”, a group of plant scientists wrote that, in general, the sugar content of many fruits are now higher than before owing to continuous selection and breeding. Modern apple varieties, the scientists stressed, were on average sweeter than older ones.
The sweetness of fruit depends not just on how it is bred but also on growing conditions, yield and harvest. The lead researcher, Sugiura, said, “If you could taste an apple harvested 30 years ago, you would feel the difference.” He believed that modern apples are picked so early that even if they are bred for sweetness, they often don’t develop their full character. The fragrance (香味) never develops in fruit that is harvested too early.
Jim Cooper, an apple farmer in England, is regretful to admit the fact that many people will never taste the “strawberry hint” in a really ripe Pearmain, a type of heritage apple. In a way, the rise of consistently sweeter fruit in our lifetimes has been a victory of plant breeding. After all, it’s a rare person who would seek out bitter grapes if they could have sweet ones instead.
But the sweetness of modern fruit is not without its problems, especially for people with diabetes (糖尿病), who have to reduce their intake of higher-sugar fruits. Fruit that is bred sweeter also tends to be lower in the chemicals that make it healthy. Considering health, maybe the real problem with modern fruit is that it has become yet another sweet thing in a world with sugar. Even grapefruits, which used to be quite bitter, are sometimes now as sweet as oranges. If you’ve never tasted a sour cherry, how can you fully appreciate a sweet one?
1. In what aspect is many fruits different from before?| A．Sugar content. | B．Soft skin. | C．Bright color. | D．High yield. |
| A．They are bred too early. | B．They taste so sweet. |
| C．They are losing a good flavor. | D．They need a higher yield. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Critical. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．It’s a wise choice to breed fruits for sweetness. |
| B．Breeding sweet fruits improves the quality of fruits. |
| C．Some fruits like grapes and cherries taste the same. |
| D．The sweetness of fruits will cause health issues. |
4 . Scientists have known for years that plants respond to sounds around them. For example, flowers make sweeter nectar (花蜜) to the sound of buzzing bees. But now scientists in Israel have shown that plants also seem to be doing some “talking”.
Professor Lilach Hadany and her team at Tel Aviv University set up microphones to record tomato and tobacco plants under different conditions. Their recordings showed that the plants made ultrasonic (超声波的) sounds.
When the researchers adjusted their recordings so that humans could hear them, they heard sharp clicking noises. Plants clicked hardly at all when they had enough water. But as their soil got drier, they clicked more and more. When scientists cut off a stem (茎) from the plants, the plants also clicked more. But the clicking wasn’t the same as when the plants needed water.
It’s not clear how the plants make the sounds and whether the plants are making the sounds on purpose. But the plants are definitely making noises, and creating much more noises when they’re stressed (not enough water, stem cut off) than when they’re not.
The researchers trained an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to identify the different kinds of clicking sounds. The system was able to tell the difference between plants that needed water and plants with cuts about 70% of the time. The result suggests that researchers may one day be able to use a plant’s sounds to figure out when it is having trouble, and what trouble it is having. That could be very helpful to farmers.
The new discovery raises many more questions. One important question is: Do plants make sounds to communicate with each other? Other research has shown that plants do seem to communicate in some ways. Plants being attacked by insects send chemicals into the air. Soon, nearby plants (that haven’t been attacked yet) start to make other chemicals that don’t taste good to insects. It’s possible that the ultrasonic sounds could work in a similar way.
1. What do the researchers find in their recordings?| A．Plants’ stems click less when they are cut off. |
| B．Plants click harder if they have enough water. |
| C．Plants make more noises when they are thirsty. |
| D．Flowers make sweeter nectar to the sound of bees. |
| A．There are still some unknown issues. |
| B．Not all of them are able to make sounds. |
| C．There are ultrasonic sounds around them. |
| D．They make less noises when they’re stressed. |
| A．To help farmers drive away insects. |
| B．To identify people who are in trouble. |
| C．To show the growing process of plants. |
| D．To distinguish types of clicking sounds. |
| A．Methods for plants to protect themselves. |
| B．Other questions raised by the new finding. |
| C．When plants communicate with each other. |
| D．Under what conditions plants attract insects. |
5 . The world loves a cup of tea. It only takes a few grams to make a cup of tea and millions of tons of tea are consumed every year. Tea can be good for you because it contains some things that help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Tea also contains caffeine(咖啡因), which improves not only mental alertness but can also increase anxiety and cause other problems.
What would be agreeable is a tea plant that provides all the taste and goodness but with little or none of caffeine. Chen Liang and Jin Jiqiang in the Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences think they have found just such a plant, growing wild in a remote area in southern China’s Fujian Province. Known locally as hongyacha, the discovered plant grows only between 700 meters and 1,000 meters above sea level around a handful of Chinese villages. As they report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, not only is the tea plant naturally caffeine-free but it also contains a number of unique medicinal compounds that, the locals believe, offer considerable health benefits.
The researchers are now exploring methods to protect hongyacha in its natural habitat while further studies are carried out. It can take time—and sometimes it does not work—for new plant varieties to be bred for commercial use. A pair of naturally caffeine-free coffee plants were discovered in 2003, but little progress has been reported. Tea lovers will be watching hongyacha with interest. And others will wonder what else is out there.
1. What’s the disadvantage of drinking tea according to paragraph 1?| A．It can make people hard to sleep. | B．It can make people feel anxious. |
| C．It can get people addicted. | D．It can take people much time. |
| A．It is nothing but just medicine. | B．It can only survive in greenhouses. |
| C．It is a good pick for caffeine lovers. | D．It has a good taste and little caffeine. |
| A．Its future location. | B．Its natural habitats. |
| C．Its future market. | D．Its production process. |
| A．A health magazine. | B．An advertising brochure. |
| C．A travel guidebook. | D．A newspaper. |
6 . Britain has a stubborn enemy called the “devil plant”, the Japanese knotweed (虎杖). The name originated in Japan, but it became a promoter behind a plant disaster in Britain. Initially it was introduced to England as a landscape plant. However, over time it has evolved into a harsh plant difficult to control.
The plant is disreputable (坏名声的) mainly because of its strong ability to survive. The Japanese knotweed can grow at an amazing speed. What’s more, Japan’s knotweed is penetrating. As long as you give it a small gap, it can follow it and make rapid growth. This gap may be a crack in the road, or a wall crack in the house, and even some Japanese knotweed will start to grow from the foundation of the house, gradually “destroy” the whole house. Such an invasion (入侵) is a nightmare for the British. The British simply love and hate the plant, but so far, they are still unable to find an effective way to remove it.
Fortunately, China’s knotweed is not identical to Japan’s, and in the China’s ecosystem, there are many natural enemies against it. As a result, China has not experienced a knotweed invasion as severe as Britain. Additionally, its tender stem can be made into delicious food. The root of knotweed is a very good Chinese medicine. Therefore, in some places there’s also a need to plant knotweed, to obtain economic benefits.
This case gives us a profound inspiration that it is important to be careful when introducing alien species and to fully understand the characteristics of plants or animals and the effects they may cause in a new environment, otherwise it may be easy to spend a huge amount of money every year to clean up the Japanese knotweed, as in the UK.
1. Why did Britain bring in Japanese knotweed at first?| A．To make profits. | B．For decoration. |
| C．For scientific research. | D．To promote biodiversity. |
| A．Fading away. | B．Dying out. |
| C．Multiplying rapidly. | D．Growing steadily. |
| A．China’s ecosystem is not damaged by knotweed. |
| B．Knotweed is in great demand in the whole China. |
| C．Knotweed has made most of the Chinese people rich. |
| D．Chinese medicine includes knotweed’s stems and roots. |
| A．A Natural Phenomenon We Know |
| B．A Plant That People Love and Hate |
| C．Alien Species’ Effect on the Local Economy |
| D．The Fight Against Invasive Plants and Animals |
7 . It turns out our plants are just like us in some ways. We turn to medicines to relieve a minor flu or headache, and plants too have their ways of self-medicating. They protect themselves from environmental hazards like insects, drought and heat by producing salicylic acid (水杨酸). It is responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin, a drug which has been used by humans for centuries to counter pain and inflammation.
Researchers have found that plants’ salicylic acid, which is produced in chloroplasts (叶绿体), is usually generated in response to the stress caused by climate change. “It’s like plants use a painkiller for aches and pains, just like we do,” said plant biologist Wilhelmina van de ven from the University of California, River-side (U. C. R)
“We’d like to be able to use the finding to improve crop resistance (作物抗性),” said U. C. R.plant geneticist Jin-Zheng Wang. “That will be crucial for the food supply in our increasingly hot, bright world.”
Human skin produces ROS (Reactive oxygen species) (活性氧) in the absence of sunscreen. This causes freckles and burns. Similarly, environmental stresses result in the formation of ROS in plants which, at high levels, can cause death.
At low levels, however, ROS serves an essential function in plant cells. “ROS is a double-edged sword,” said Wang. “At non-lethal levels, ROS are like an emergency call to action, enabling the production of protective hormones ( 激素) such as salicylic acid.” The acid then acts to protect the plants’ chloroplasts, known to be the site of photosynthesis.
“With climate change, things like salicylic acid: helping plants stand up to stresses have become more common. So, being able to increase plants’ ability to produce it represents a step forward in challenging the impacts of climate change on everyday life,” said Katayoon Dehesh, UCR professor of molecular biochemistry.
“Those impacts go beyond our food. Plants being in trouble are a sign of what the future holds for us,” she continued. “Plants clean our air by removing the carbon dioxide from it while also offering us shade, and providing habitats for numerous animals. For humankind, the benefits of boosting plants’ ability to survive are becoming increasingly essential.”
1. What is the main function of salicylic acid in plants?| A．To secure plants. | B．To produce chloroplasts. |
| C．To relieve pain and inflammation. | D．To generate hormones. |
| A．Lack of sunscreen. | B．Chloroplastic acid. |
| C．Environmental stresses. | D．Use of Photosynthesis. |
| A．To explore the history and significance of aspirin in human medicine. |
| B．To invent a device that can make plants do self-medicating. |
| C．To compare the differences between plants and humans in self-medicating. |
| D．To improve crop resistance by increasing plants’ ability to produce salicylic acid. |
| A．Plants can be improved to resist environmental hazards. |
| B．Plants produce their own aspirin to cope with stress. |
| C．Plants and humans share some common features and needs. |
| D．Plants contribute to the well-being of humans and animals. |
8 . When scientists talk about recent extinctions, birds and mammals (哺乳动物) get most of the attention. But the first global analysis of its kind finds it is twice as many plants that have disappeared as birds, mammals, and amphibians (两栖动物) combined.
Researchers reviewed published research, international databases, and museum specimens such as grasses from Madagascar, finding that 571 plants species have gone extinct in the past 250 years. One reason why the total is higher than that of the well-studied animals is that there are simply more species of plants. Looking at percentages, the situation is worse for mammals and birds. An estimated 5% of those species have gone extinct, compared with 0.2% of plants.
The loss includes the Chile sandalwood tree in the South Pacific, which was cut down for its fragrant (芳香的) wood. It was last seen on Robinson Crusoe Island in 1908. The extinction rates among plants have been highest for trees and shrubs on islands, which often have species that occur nowhere else, and in regions with rich diversity, especially the tropics and in Mediterranean climates.
Just a few years later, the world lost the banded Trinity (Thismia americana), a leafless plant that grew entirely underground except for its flowers. Most species of this kind of plant grow in rainforests, but this plant was first described in 1912 in a sandy wetland in Chicago, Illinois, and was wiped out by development.
According to the team’s report in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the total of 571 extinct plant species is four times higher than the official listing kept by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Even so, it is probably still an underestimate (低估), as less is known about the status of plants in Africa and South America than on other continents. Many of these species may disappear, too. A major review of the status of global biodiversity recently estimated that more than a million species, including 14% of plant and animal diversity, are threatened with extinction.
1. What caused the extinction of the Chile sandalwood tree?| A．Climate change. | B．The market demand. |
| C．Environmental pollution. | D．The decline of the habitat. |
| A．It flowered without bearing seeds. |
| B．It disappeared during the 19th century. |
| C．It was a flowering plant without leaves. |
| D．It was a rare plant growing underground. |
| A．Their current situation is more worrying. |
| B．About one plant species dies out every year. |
| C．More plant species will keep alive in the reserve. |
| D．They would be replaced by other new species soon. |
| A．Sports. | B．Nature. | C．Entertainment. | D．Figures. |
9 . At first, the grains of rice that Ingo Potrykus held in his fingers did not seem at all
For more than a decade Potrykus had
At that point, he tackled an even greater challenge. The golden grains
The debate began the moment genetically engineered crops (GM crops) were first sold in the 1990s, and it has
The hostility is
The benefits did seem small
Many people
| A．typical | B．special | C．local | D．white |
| A．dreamed of | B．come in handy | C．been reminded of | D．broken up |
| A．attempt at | B．effort to | C．resistance to | D．majority of |
| A．But | B．And | C．While | D．Since |
| A．surprise | B．obstacle | C．norm | D．opposition |
| A．achieved | B．stressed | C．overlooked | D．contained |
| A．was caught in | B．was alive with | C．be conscious of | D．was honored by |
| A．announced | B．maintained | C．escalated | D．applied |
| A．brilliant | B．understandable | C．discharged | D．rewarding |
| A．introduced | B．reminded | C．respected | D．overlooked |
| A．toss and turn | B．give and take | C．produce and sell | D．demand and supply |
| A．until | B．after | C．although | D．when |
| A．feature | B．mark | C．build | D．benefit |
| A．worried about | B．ashamed of | C．filled with | D．admired for |
| A．terror | B．misery | C．starvation | D．crisis |
10 . Many fruit trees and bushes are very simple to plant using no equipment except some potting soil and a heating equipment. In fact, you can get a handful of cuttings for free from a friend during pruning (修剪) season and end up with a whole homemade fruit farm.
Grapes
They are the first easy species on my list because they will grow in most parts of the US and are easy to root from hardwood cuttings. Hardwood cuttings are pieces of one-year-old wood taken in the late winter before the buds start to grow.
Figs
They are just easy to root, but I put them second on my list because northerners will have a hard time keeping the plants alive. If you live party way north, you can grow figs as long as you choose a cold-hardy variety.
Rabbiteye blueberries
They are an example of another kind of self-rooting plant. After a few years, it will begin to send up suckers from near the base. The suckers that are at least a few inches away from the parent plant will generally grow roots a year after emerging, at which point you can dig down until you’ve found several roots.
Gooseberries
They are simple because they just about root themselves. If you allow (or force) one branch to grow along the ground, then cover part of the branch with rich soil, roots will grow on the underwater part. Cut their stems off next year and you’ll have one or more gooseberry plants to set out elsewhere.
1. What makes grapes the first easy species on the author’s list?| A．Their high production. | B．Their delicious and special taste. |
| C．Their great economic value. | D．Their strong adaptability to grow. |
| A．After growing along the ground. |
| B．Before covering part of the branch. |
| C．After cutting their stems the next year. |
| D．Before roots grow on the underwater part. |
| A．Science. | B．Gardening. | C．Fashion. | D．Entertainment. |
