1 . Some of the oldest living things on our remarkable planet are trees. The record holders are bristlecone pines (狐尾松) of the western United States, quite a few of which are known to be more than 3,000 years old. One individual, discovered in 2012, is estimated to be more than 5,060 years old, making it the oldest known non-clonal tree in the world!
So, how do trees survive for thousands of years?
The other part of the answer has to do with how trees age. In fact, there is quite a debate about whether ancient trees can be considered “immortal (永生的)”. That is, will such trees ever die if they are not killed by an outside force? We may never know the answer to that, but, at the very least,
Older trees benefit greatly from having bodies made mostly of dead woody tissue. In fact, an old tree might be as much as 95 percent dead tissue! Given that it isn’t alive, wood does not require metabolic (新陈代谢的) activity to maintain it,
| A．so an old tree doesn’t really need to do much to keep living |
| B．This is a question that has something to do with the good luck of trees |
| C．However, bristlecones are certainly not alone in terms of the oldest creatures |
| D．This is a fascinating question for biologists that does not yet have a settled answer |
| E．What’s more, some ancient trees have superior chemical defenses against pests and diseases |
| F．which means that trees can survive everywhere without being limited by external and internal conditions |
| G．we know that ancient trees age in ways that are dramatically different from the ways that most animals and even other plants age |
2 . Fashion house Alabama Chanin has a new line of organic cotton clothing made from its own cotton field. It’s not just an experiment in keeping production local but also an attempt to bring back to life the tradition of clothes-making in the Deep South.
Alabama Chanin, the fashion and lifestyle company founded by Natalie Chanin and Billy Reid, is best known for her flowing, made-to-order organic garments (衣服), entirely hand-made and inspired by the rural South of the 1930s and ‘40s’. “It’s not just ‘factory work’,” Chanin says. “This is a skill that’s dying out in this country. ” “It’s part of the nation’s ‘cultural sustainability to preserve these things’,” Chanin says, “to be able to make our clothes.”
Her business partner, K. P. McNeill, is the one who first thought about growing their own cotton. The ideas of going from field to garment made Chanin think of how generations ago, manufacturing was of a vertical (纵向的) affair. Could that be done today? And organically? They came up with a plan to test it. Reid says it meant no artificial chemicals. “A lot of the weeds had to be pulled by hand. It’s not just your normal cotton operation that’s automated,” Reid says.
Chanin holds a piece of ivory-colored cloth made from the hand-picked cotton grown in the Alabama field. “I’ve never seen cotton quite as clean and clear as this,” Chanin says, “I don’t think people have seen that since cotton was really a driving factor of destruction in this country.”
Chanin says this project is about transforming cotton into something more modern. “I mean, cotton has an ugly history. It has built fortunes, it’s destroyed nations, it’s enslaved people,” says Chanin. “But to me this cotton is part of making a new story for cotton.”
1. What do we know about Alabama Chanin?| A．It just focuses on the ready-made suits. |
| B．It preserves traditional craftsmanship. |
| C．It leads the way in the fashion industry. |
| D．It ensures sustainable economic growth. |
| A．To highlight production efficiency. |
| B．To question the cotton’s cleanliness. |
| C．To contrast cotton’s historical image. |
| D．To praise the cotton of high quality. |
| A．Fashion keeps changing all the time. |
| B．A bad reputation often ruins tradition. |
| C．Honoring the past builds the future. |
| D．Modernization easily beats tradition. |
| A．From Cotton Field to Garment |
| B．Creating Clothes That Do Matter |
| C．From Old Times to Modern Days |
| D．Launching a Fashion Movement |
3 . Kew Gardens is not only a popular tourist destination in London, but also a botanic garden and a research center that has the largest collection of living plants at a single site. So, let’s explore the Royal Botanic Gardens with CGTN’s reporter Robyn Dwyer.
Palm House
The first stop is the Palm House, a giant indoor rainforest with a wide range of plants. Visitors can enjoy these exotic plants while researchers can study the secrets of these flora. Eatable plants such as cocoa tree and African oil palm are all preserved here to keep the diversity of food resources. At the same time, it houses many medical use plants, including some that are used to treat cancer.
Temperate House
Known as the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse, the Temperate House is home to1,500 species of plants from temperate regions of the world. Some of the species kept here have gone extinct in the wild, such as Encephalartos woodii, a cycad from South Africa. And some are already extinct like Saint Helena olive, but the Kew has stored its DNA.
Mediterranean Garden
In the Mediterranean Garden, one can see plants from the Southern Europe, such as rosemary, olives and cork oak. Walking in the garden, one can feel the non-indoor vibe (氛围) of the Mediterranean and learn about the economic as well as scientific uses of these plants.
On International Day for Biological Diversity this year, join CGTN to travel around the world’s national parks and reserves across seven continents. Our next program is to visit penguins and seals in the Antarctic Ice Aquarium Norway. Please stay tuned!
1. What do the three stops have in common?| A．They store plants for medical use. |
| B．They have plants of economic value. |
| C．They house plants of seven continents. |
| D．They own plants for scientific research. |
| A．Palm House. | B．Temperate House. |
| C．Antarctic Ice Aquarium. | D．Mediterranean Garden. |
| A．A botanic dictionary. | B．A TV travel series. |
| C．A trip advertisement. | D．A biodiversity essay. |
4 . You don’t have to use a dandelion (蒲公英) to know which way the wind blows. But it can help. Dandelion seeds fly freely in the wind. But those seeds on any given dandelion have different fates. Some are to float north when the wind blows them, while others are fated to fly east, south, west or some direction in between. “How do dandelion seeds respond to the wind depends on where they sit on the dandelion head?” says Jena Shields, a biophysicist at Cornell University in Ithaca.
One day, Jena happened to watch her little child play with dandelions. She noticed that the dandelion seeds didn’t all fall off the same. Some came loose more easily than others, but it depended on how the child blew on the seed heads. Jena got the inspiration for the research from it. So Jena set out to study what was going on.
She measured the force it takes to blow dandelion seeds away. To start with, she glued (粘贴) a wire to the different seeds. Then she pulled them at various angles. This seed-by-seed study mimicked what happens when the wind pushes them over.
The findings show that each seed falls off most easily in the wind from one direction, and seeds from one head don’t go the same way. The feathery seeds on the side facing the wind will fall off most easily. The others hold on more tightly until the wind shifts. Besides, once blown off a dandelion, a seed’s umbrella-like feather carries it on the wind that pulled it away. And it helps explain why the plants are so successful in spreading.
However, Jena also found an exception. A sudden strong blow was still able to blow all the seeds away in the same direction. So when a strong wind blows or excited children try their best to blow, all the seeds could be blown off at once.
1. Why did Jena do research on dandelion seeds?| A．To correct people’s misconception of dandelions. |
| B．To figure out how dandelion seeds react to wind. |
| C．To explain why dandelions fly far without wind. |
| D．To satisfy her child’s curiosity about dandelions. |
| A．Predicted. |
| B．Proved. |
| C．Explored. |
| D．Copied. |
| A．They fly for the similar distance. |
| B．They tend to fly in one direction. |
| C．They come off easier in the wind from one direction. |
| D．They break free from feathers to fly once coming off. |
| A．To make up for the research. |
| B．To stress the point of the text. |
| C．To make a summary of the text. |
| D．To provide examples for the research. |
5 . A recent study suggests that logging (cutting down trees to use the wood) does not necessarily mean that things can’t live in the left-over forest any more. In fact, chopping down trees sometimes attracts more plants and wildlife than in forests where the trees have been left untouched.
Experts believe that about 70% of the world’s forests have had at least some logging. Until recently it wasn’t clear exactly what impact this had on other wildlife in forests. However, new research carried out on the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia, shows that logging can encourage healthy animal and plant life.
Scientists from Oxford University used tens of thousands of camera traps (cameras connected to sensors that only photograph when movement is detected) to find out how many animals were in forests that had been logged and how many were in forests where the trees just died naturally. The scientists worked out that the total weight of birds in logged forests was more than double, and for mammals it was more than three times as much. They also found that animals in logged forests get two and a half times as much energy from food than in untouched forests. The scientists think there is more food available in logged forests because more light reaches the forest floor when some of the canopy (dense tree tops) has been cleared away. This extra light helps smaller plants grow bigger, giving more food to wildlife like insects, deer and wild pigs. Yadvinder Malhi, an ecologist, said, “The whole forest gets more edible and more tasty.”
The study makes it clear that although more animals and plants might be able to live there, logging even part of a forest is still bad. That’s because untouched forests, with more and bigger trees, absorb lots of carbon dioxide, a gas that causes climate change. However, the study is important because conservationists didn’t think logged forests were important to protect. The new research shows that even damaged forests can have lots of wildlife that needs protecting.
1. What does the recent study find?| A．More plants and wildlife will live in forests where humans don’t cut down the trees. |
| B．Cutting down the trees in a forest will attract more plants and animals to live there. |
| C．70% of the world’s forests have had at least some logging. |
| D．Plants and wildlife can’t live in the left-over forest any more. |
| A．Monitoring the changes in the number of animals. |
| B．Detecting how many trees in the forests died naturally. |
| C．Finding out how many animals were in the forests. |
| D．Connecting the sensors to detect any movement. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Conservationists are supposed to protect the wildlife in the logged forest. |
| B．Logging forests is the direct reason that causes climate change. |
| C．Conservationists think untouched forests are more important than the logged ones. |
| D．Compared with untouched forests, Logged forests can’t absorb any carbon dioxide. |
1. What kind of plant can you start with according to the speaker?
| A．Something big. | B．Something easy. | C．Something safe. |
| A．At least six hours. | B．About five hours. | C．Less than four hours. |
| A．To keep it safe from thieves. |
| B．To keep it safe from hungry animals. |
| C．To prevent kids from entering. |
| A．A radio program. | B．A newspaper. | C．A scientific research. |
7 . There’ s no place like home. It’ s the place where we’ re surrounded by our possessions and creature comforts. We purchase things to give our homes a personal touch. And one thing we’re buying more of is houseplants. But are these “living” additions to our homes good for us and the environment?
Houseplants, also known as pot plants, add a natural touch and they have the ability to brighten up a room on a budget. The Royal Horticultural Society found that nearly 72% of adults in the UK had a houseplant in their home, with this figure rising to 80% of 16-24 year olds. A fifth of owners also said they use plants in the home to boost their health and well-being. And average sales last year were up on the previous year.
It seems millennials (千禧代) are driving the growth in the sales of houseplants. More young people are living in flats without a garden. 24-year-old Daisy Hale said “being able to care for something but not having too much commitment—I guess that’s a classic millennial line—is ideal for my lifestyle.”
From hanging baskets, to cacti (仙人掌) and succulent ferns, the choice of vegetation is endless. They are easy to care for, and there have been unproven claims that they improve the air quality in our home. But whatever their benefits, there are now concerns that they might not be so good for the environment. Some are bought online and shipped from overseas. Fay Kenworthy, co-founder of PlantSwap, a community activity that encourages people to trade plants locally, said “this could defeat many local plants.”
But botanist James Wong argues that home delivery has less of an environmental impact than multiple trips to the garden center in a car. Although he’ s not too concerned about the environmental impact, others are worried about the plastic pots they are in and the type of peat (泥炭) that some of them are grown in. However, a sustainable approach to buying them may be the best way forward if we want to introduce some natural greenery into our homes.
1. What is the benefit of a houseplant?| A．A houseplant can cure people of many diseases. |
| B．A houseplant is ideal for millennials’ career. |
| C．A houseplant improve the water quality in our home. |
| D．A houseplant can beautify a room with little money. |
| A．The choice of vegetation is endless. | B．People should buy local plants. |
| C．It’s best to buy plants online. | D．Houseplants are hard to care for. |
| A．A fashion magazine. | B．A tour brochure. |
| C．A scientific fiction. | D．A history book. |
| A．Negative. | B．Neutral. | C．Positive. | D．Not mentioned. |
| A．Natural Greenery | B．Millennials’ Choice |
| C．Houseplants: Good or Bad? | D．Hanging Baskets or a Garden? |
Malaindrano is a giant baobab (猴面包树) tree that is hollowed out (使成中空) for the storage of water,
Lack of rain can lead to a lack of food. In the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of people
9 . The Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew,usually known as Kew Gardens,in Richmond upon Thames is a major London tourist attraction and a UNESCO Word Heritage site.
Founded in 1759,Kew began as a royal garden attached to the Royal Kew Palace,home to George III and his many children. The Palace is now open to visitors,but probably the buildings most visitors come to see are the incredible glasshouses. The Palmhouse is one of the largest surviving Victorian glasshouses in the world,with over 16,000 panes of glass. The Waterlily House,which contains some of the world's largest and smallest waterlilies, is also not to be missed.
However, Kew is more than just a garden and green space in the heart of Britain’s capital city. It is also the world’s leading horticultural (园艺学的) center for botanical research and plant science. The Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew,covers approximately three hundred acres of land,and attracts around a million visitors every year.Its collections and laboratories illustrate the important part that plants play in our lives, and highlight the need to protect and conserve them for the benefit of generations to come.
Kew is a vital research and scientific base, with multiple research projects and partnerships stretching across the globe. As a world leader in plant science,Kew employs around seven hundred people, and is home to about nineteen thousand species of living plants. Its Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place holds seeds from around ten percent of the world's plant species for the benefit of humankind, exhibiting around two billion seeds from 28,000 species of plants sourced from approximately 130 countries.
Around eighty percent of our daily calorie intake comes from just twelve plant species.A project of Kew's Millennium Seed Bank recognizes the need for greater genetic diversity in our crops and seeks to preserve food security for future generations.The project collects seeds from the wild relatives of some of our most important food crop plants whose genetic make-up can be used to breed new and useful qualities back into modern agricultural crops so that they can better adapt to future climates and other threats, such as pests and diseases.
1. What can we learn about the glasshouses from Paragraph 2?| A．Every tourist to Kew will come to see them. |
| B．The Palmhouse is the largest glasshouse in the world. |
| C．They are made of about 16,000 panes of glass. |
| D．The Waterlily House displays waterlilies of different sizes. |
| A．Lives. | B．Plants. | C．Gardens. | D．Laboratories. |
| A．To help modern crops become more adaptable. |
| B．To guarantee safe environment for future generations. |
| C．To completely change the genetic make-up of crops. |
| D．To find a way to kill pests and prevent other threats. |
| A．The booming tourism of London. |
| B．The popularity of a royal garden. |
| C．Kew Gardens featuring science. |
| D．Genetic make-up boosting modern crops. |
10 . Gardens come in all shapes and sizes.
One of the most important things to remember when planning a garden is to grow what you love. This way, you’ll be sure to enjoy the process. You can grow vegetables. If you don’t like vegetables, try fruits or flowers. You can grow a garden to feed yourself, your neighbors, and a family that’s going through a hard time.
Once you decide what type of garden you’d like to start, you’ll need to plan a few things before getting to work.
After you have the correct soil, choose your plants. Will you start with seeds or young plants? Growing from seeds is often less expensive. And it’s more satisfying, because you have a chance to watch the growth from seed to plant.
| A．Now you’re ready to plant your garden. |
| B．Starting a new one might seem challenging. |
| C．But growing from young plants is easier. |
| D．First, work out where your garden will lie. |
| E．You’ll be able to plant season after season and try to grow new things. |
| F．It will help you explore and understand the whole progress of these plants. |
| G．There are many different things you can grow and many different reasons to grow. |
