1 . Indoor plants might look as if they just sit around not doing much, but in many ways they are the unsung heroes of the home.     1    , but studies have shown that they can promote people’s wellbeing by improving their mood (心情), reducing stress and helping their memory. What’s more, indoor plants are easy to look after and are not very expensive.

What are indoor plants?

Indoor plants, also known as houseplants or pot plants, are plants that like to grow indoors. Many of these species (物种) are not ideally suited to growing outside in the UK, especially in the winter.     2    .

Why are indoor plants good for you?

Will Spoelstra, who works at the Royal Botanic Gardens, says, “    3    . I find during the winter months, plants around the house can really lift your mood.” Several studies have backed this up and found that indoor plants can improve creativity, focus and memory. There is also research showing that pot plants can clean the air around them by removing harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide. They also remove some harmful chemicals from paints or cooking.     4    .

Which plants can you grow?

Aloe vera, peace lilies and spider plants are some of the species that are easy to grow indoors. You can buy plants from supermarkets, garden centres or online. Younger plants are often cheaper than fully grown ones, and you get to care for them as they mature — which is part of the joy of owning plants. “    5    ,” Spoelstra says. “It can bring a new interest and focus into people’s lives and help to make the link between home and nature.”

A．All plants are different

B．Not only do they look beautiful

C．There are many benefits to growing plants indoors

D．Instead, they grow better inside, where it is warmer

E．Plants like peace lilies and devil’s ivy are among the best

F．Changing the pot of your plant from time to time will also help

G．Learning about the requirements of each plant can be very rewarding

2 . Animals can adapt quickly to survive unfavorable environmental conditions. Evidence is mounting to show that plants can, too. A paper published in the journal Trends in Plant Science details how plants are rapidly adapting to the effects of climate change, and how they are passing down these adaptations to their offspring(后代).

Plants are facing more environmental stresses than ever. For example, climate change is making winters shorter in many locations, and plants are responding. “Many plants require a minimum period of cold in order to set up their environmental clock to define their flowering time,” says Martinelli, a plant geneticist at the University of Florence. “As cold seasons shorten, plants have adapted to require shorter periods of cold to delay flowering. These mechanisms allow plants to avoid flowering in periods when they have fewer opportunities to reproduce.”

Because plants don’t have neural(神经的) networks, their memory is based entirely on cellular(细胞的),molecular(分子的),and biochemical networks. These networks make up what the researchers call somatic memory(体细胞记忆). “It allows plants to recognize the occurrence of a previous environmental condition and to react accordingly,” says Martinelli.

These somatic memories can then be passed to the plants’ offspring via epigenetics(表现遗传). “Several examples demonstrate the existence of molecular mechanisms modulating plant memory to environmental stresses and affecting the adaptation of offspring to these stresses,” says Martinelli.

Going forward, Martinelli hopes to understand even more about the genes that are being passed down. “We are particularly interested in decoding the epigenetic alphabet without changes in DNA sequence(序列),”he says. “This is especially important when we consider the rapid climate change, we observe today that every living organism, including plants, needs to quickly adapt to survive.”

1. What adaptations have plants made to shortened cold seasons?

A．They have shortened their flowering time.

B．They have got more chances to reproduce.

C．They have avoided flowering in cold seasons.

D．They have adjusted their environmental clock.

2. What can we learn about somatic memory?

A．It is entirely based on neural networks.

B．It can help the plants’ offspring to survive.

C．It can help relieve environmental stresses.

D．It disturbs the plants’ biochemical networks.

3. What does the underlined word “modulating” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Adjusting.	B．Treasuring.
C．Recording.	D．Sharing.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Plants are smart about flowering time

B．Plants can also adapt to climate change

C．Environmental stresses challenge plants

D．Mysteries of plant genes are to be unfolded

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.

2. What can we know about stem cells in plants according to the text?

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.

3. What does the underlined word “propagation” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Spread.

B．Change.

C．Existence.

D．Self-repair.

4. What does the last paragraph focus on?

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 . At first, the grains of rice that Ingo Potrykus held in his fingers did not seem at all _________, but inside, these grains were not white, as ordinary rice is, but a very pale yellow — thanks to beta-carotene (胡萝卜素), a building block for vitamin A.

For more than a decade Potrykus had _________ creating a golden rice that could improve the lives of millions of the poorest people in the world, strengthening their eyesight and their _________ disease.

_________ imagining golden rice was one thing and creating one quite another. Year after year, Potrykus and his colleagues ran into one _________ after another until success finally came in the spring of 1999.

At that point, he tackled an even greater challenge. The golden grains _________ pieces of DNA borrowed from bacteria and flowers. It was what some would call Frankenfood, a product of genetic engineering. As such, it _________ a web of hopes and fears.

The debate began the moment genetically engineered crops (GM crops) were first sold in the 1990s, and it has _________ ever since. First to start major protests against biotechnology were European environmentalists and consumer-advocacy groups. They were soon followed by their U.S. counterparts (相对应的人事物).

The hostility is _________. Most of the GM crops __________ so far have been developed to produce a plant that is not harmed by chemicals used to kill weeds (杂草) in the fields. These genetically engineered crops are often sold by the same large, multinational corporations that __________ the weed-killing chemicals that farmers spray on their fields. Consumers have become suspicious (怀疑的).

The benefits did seem small __________ golden rice was developed. It is the first strong example of a GM crop that may __________ not just the farmers who grow it but also the consumers who eat it. In this case, those include at least a million children who die every year because they are weakened by vitamin-A deficiency (缺乏) and an additional 350,000 who go blind.

Many people __________ poverty and hunger look at golden rice and see it as evidence that GM crops can be made to serve the greater public good. They see a critical role for GM crops in feeding the world’s ever-increasing population. As former U.S. President Jimmy Carter put it, “Responsible biotechnology is not the enemy; __________ is.”

1.

A．typical

B．special

C．local

D．white

2.

A．dreamed of

B．come in handy

C．been reminded of

D．broken up

3.

A．attempt at

B．effort to

C．resistance to

D．majority of

4.

A．But

B．And

C．While

D．Since

5.

A．surprise

B．obstacle

C．norm

D．opposition

6.

A．achieved

B．stressed

C．overlooked

D．contained

7.

A．was caught in

B．was alive with

C．be conscious of

D．was honored by

8.

A．announced

B．maintained

C．escalated

D．applied

9.

A．brilliant

B．understandable

C．discharged

D．rewarding

10.

A．introduced

B．reminded

C．respected

D．overlooked

11.

A．toss and turn

B．give and take

C．produce and sell

D．demand and supply

12.

A．until

B．after

C．although

D．when

13.

A．feature

B．mark

C．build

D．benefit

14.

A．worried about

B．ashamed of

C．filled with

D．admired for

15.

A．terror

B．misery

C．starvation

D．crisis

5 . With no special equipment, no fences and no watering, two abandoned agricultural fields in the UK have been rewilded (重新野化), in large part due to the efforts of jays, which actually “engineered” these new woodlands. Researchers now hope that rewilding projects can take a more natural and hands-off approach and that jays can shed some of their bad reputations.

The two fields, which researchers have called the New Wilderness and the Old Wilderness, had been abandoned in 1996 and 1961 respectively. The former was a bare field, while the latter was grassland—both lay next to ancient woodlands. Researchers had suspected that the fields would gradually return to wilderness, but it was impressive to see just how quickly this happened, and how much of it was owed to birds.

Using aerial data, the researchers monitored the two sites. After just 24 years, the New Wilderness had grown into a young, healthy wood with 132 live trees per hectare, over half of which (57%) were oaks. Meanwhile, the Old Wilderness resembled a mature woodland after 39 years, with 390 trees per hectare.

“This native woodland restoration was approaching the structure (but not the species composition) of long-established woodlands within six decades,” the researchers explained in the study.

Part of this reforestation was done by the wind, and researchers suspect that previous ground disturbance may have aided the woodland establishment—which is good news, as it would suggest that agricultural areas may be reforested faster than anticipated. However, animals—Eurasian jays, thrushes, wood mice, and squirrels—also played an important role in helping the forests take shape. This handful of species provided much of the natural regeneration needed for the forest to develop. Jays, in particular, seem to have done a lot of heavy lifting.

1. What does the underlined word “shed” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Be opposed to.

B．Be ashamed of.

C．Get used to.

D．Get rid of.

2. Which aspect of the changes in the two fields impressed the researchers?

A．The scale of the woodlands.

B．The diversity of the fields.

C．The rate of the changes.

D．The frequency of the wilderness.

3. What does the author want to tell us by providing some data in Paragragh 3?

A．The woodland restoration was approaching the structure of long-established ones.

B．Much of the wilderness of the fields was owed to birds.

C．Previous ground disturbance aided the woodland establishment.

D．How quickly the fields returned to wilderness over time.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The essential role of humans in the reforestation.

B．The factors that contribute to the reforestation.

C．The importance of woodland establishment.

D．The threats faced by a handful of wild animals.

6 . Seagrass meadows(海草床) are wonder plants growing beneath the sea. They feed and shelter sea life and are masterful at storing carbon. Thanks to the assistance of tiger sharks, a huge seagrass meadow in the Bahamas Banks was recently discovered, offering the world a tool to fight climate change.

Seagrass has usually been detected by Earth-orbiting satellites that identify darker patches in the blue water. In this study, tiger sharks were selected as research tools due to their highly consistent associations with seagrass ecosystems. They spend 70% of their time in seagrass meadows. The team equipped eight tiger sharks with satellite tags (电子跟踪器), seven sharks with camera tags, and used a 360-degree camera on a shark for the first time ever.

The data researchers collected was astonishing. The world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, measuring at least 66,900 square kilometers, has been discovered. This reflects a 41% increase from previous estimates of global seagrass. Seagrass can capture (捕获) huge quantities of carbon by photosynthesis (光合作用) and stores it on the seafloor. In terms of climate change, this is excellent news; seagrass is 35 times faster a removing carbon than tropical rainforests. When referred to global seagrass carbon stock estimates, the study indicates that seagrass in the Bahamas may contain 19.2% to 26.3% of all the carbon stored in seagrass meadows on Earth.

Yet seagrass meadows are rapidly disappearing, with over 92% of meadows in the UK gone, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Scientists are collecting seeds and trying to grow new seagrass meadows through restoration projects. This new discovery offers optimism and proves the importance of the ocean for healing.

The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas, which we now know is likely the most significant blue carbon sink(蓝色碳汇) on the planet. What this discovery shows us is that ocean exploration and research are essential for a healthy future. The untapped potential of the ocean is limitless. These meadows can be protected and can be replicated (复制,仿制), offering hope for climate change around the globe.

1. Why were tiger sharks chosen as research tools?

A．They are more flexible than other sea animals.

B．They can quickly adjust themselves to the deep sea.

C．They have a strong connection with seagrass ecosystems.

D．They can be easily equipped with experimental devices.

2. What are the numbers in paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The decline of global seagrass meadows.

B．The impact of climate change on sea life.

C．The rapid increase in the amount of carbon on Earth.

D．The potential value of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem.

3. What are scientists doing to protect seagrass?

A．Planting more seagrass meadows.

B．Developing new technology to collect seeds.

C．Mapping the distribution of seagrass meadows.

D．Encouraging people to join in restoration projects.

4. Which could be the best title for the text?

A．The New Way of Removing Carbon

B．The Significance of Ocean Exploration

C．A New Discovery: World’s Largest Seagrass Meadow

D．Tiger Sharks: Scientists’ Essential Helper to Study Climate

7 . What if someone told you about a kind of grass as tall as the tallest trees? A grass as strong as steel? Would you believe that person? You should, for that grass is bamboo   (竹子), which has more than 1,000 uses. It is not just a material for making useful products. Young bamboo is eaten, often mixed with other vegetables.

Bamboo grows in many parts of the world. In the USA it grows in many states like Virginia and Florida. Most bamboo, however, is found in wet and warm climates, especially in Asia and on the islands of the South Pacific Ocean.

In most Asian countries, bamboo is nearly as important as rice. This unusual material is used to not only build large buildings but also make water pipes, musical instruments and paper. There are over 1,000 kinds of bamboo. No wonder the lives of nearly half the people on earth would change greatly if there were no longer any bamboo.

1. According to the text, bamboo is actually a kind of         .

A．grass

B．steel

C．tree

D．vegetable

2. Where does most bamboo grow?

A．Only in Asia.	B．Only in the USA.
C．In wet and warm climates.	D．All over the world.

3. What is bamboo used to do in paragraph 3?

A．Build large buildings.	B．Make water pipes.
C．Make musical instruments and paper.	D．All of the above.

4. How many kinds of bamboo are there according to the text?

A．Over 1,000.

B．Over 800.

C．Over 600.

D．Over 400.

8 . On the streets of Manhattan and Washington, D. C., in neighborhoods in Seoul and parks in Paris, ginkgo (银杏) trees are losing their leaves in reaction to the first gust of cold winter air. This leaf drop, gradual at first, and then sudden, carpets streets with golden, fan-shaped leaves. Scientists are documenting evidence of the event happening later and later, a possible indication of climate change. But the story of ginkgos is not the familiar one of human carelessness with nature.

Thanks to fossils found in North Dakota, scientists found a ginkgo has genetically similar ancestors dating back 170 million years to the Jurassic Period. “It almost went extinct. Then humans rescued it and spread it around the world. It’s such a great evolutionary (进化) and cultural story,” says Peter Crane, a ginkgo expert.

One theory for the decline of the ginkgo species began 130 million years ago, when flowering plants began spreading. They grew faster and attracted more pollinators (传粉者) than ginkgos. “It’s possible that ginkgos were elbowed out of the way,” says Crane. Already competing to survive, ginkgos began to disappear during a time of global cooling that began around 66 million years ago. By the time the last ice age ended 11,000 years ago, the remaining survivors were found in China.

Ginkgo trees are smelly. “My guess is that they were eaten by animals that liked smelly things. They then passed through their body and grew.” Crane says. Those same seeds may have helped ginkgo find favor with humans 1,000 years ago. Once cleaned of their outer layer, ginkgo seeds are safe to eat. It’s then, when the trees had long since disappeared elsewhere, that people in China may have begun planting them and eating their seeds. Then gradually ginkgos spread across the world. Now it’s seemingly naturally resistant to insects and high levels of air pollution.

Crane isn’t worried about its future, though: The popularity of the species will help it survive. “Though its status in the wild may be difficult to access, it’s a plant that’s unlikely to ever go extinct,” he says.

1. What may have caused the further delay of ginkgo’s leaf drop?

A．The colder weather in winter.

B．The protection from city councils.

C．The global warming phenomenon.

D．The careless interaction with humans.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The reasons why ginkgos almost died out.

B．The advantages of ginkgos over other plants.

C．The theories of experts for multiplying ginkgos.

D．The competition between various flowering plants.

3. What might have contributed to ginkgos’ survival?

A．Their eatable seeds.	B．Their unpleasant smell.
C．The natural evolution.	D．The careful planting.

4. How does Crane feel about ginkgos’ future?

A．Worried.

B．Optimistic.

C．Uncertain.

D．Hopeless.

9 . A handful of healthy soil could contain great numbers of living organisms. However, poisonous pesticides (杀虫剂) are causing harm and destruction to them, according to a recent analysis.

For the analysis, researchers looked through nearly 400 published studies including over 2,800 experiments on how pesticides affect soil organisms. They found that pesticides harmed organisms critical to maintaining healthy soils, but these harms have never been considered in the safety reviews of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).Poisonous pesticides are driving factors in the sharp decline of many soil organisms, such as ground beetles. They have been identified as the most significant driver of soil biodiversity loss in the last ten years.

However, that research has always been ignored. The EPA, which is responsible for pesticide supervision(监管)in the country, openly acknowledges that somewhere between 50 and 100 percent of all agriculturally applied pesticides end up on the soil. Yet, to assess pesticides’ harms to soil species, the agency just uses a single test species, the European honeybee, to estimate risk to all soil organisms. It spends its entire life above ground in artificial boxes.

Worse still, as soil health gain popularity globally, pesticide companies have jumped up to green wash and promote their products. Every major company is now advertising its role in improving soil health, such as advocating planting cover crops. As general beliefs, these practices are indeed good for soil health and, if adopted responsibly, are a great step to take. But companies know that these practices are often accompanied by increased pesticide use. Chemicals and pesticides have to be applied more frequently to kill weeds before crops are planted.

The long-term environmental cost can no longer be overlooked. Soils are some of the most complex ecosystems on Earth, containing nearly a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity. Protecting them should be a priority, not an afterthought.

1. What does the underlined word “They” refer to in Paragraph 2?

A．Soil organisms.	B．Ground beetles.
C．Artificial boxes.	D．Poisonous pesticides.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．The honeybee is a typical species living in nature.

B．The assessment of pesticides’ harms is one-sided.

C．Less than half of applied pesticide go to the soil eventually.

D．The EPA attaches great importance to pesticide inspection.

3. Why do pesticide companies advocate planting cover crops?

A．To obey the EPA’s rules.

B．To increase their product sales.

C．To protect the environment.

D．To shoulder their social responsibility.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Soil: essential to agriculture.

B．Pesticides: harmful to soil health.

C．Organisms: significant to harvest.

D．Pollution: destructive to biodiversity.

10 . Under a midday summer sun in California’s Sacramento Valley, rice farmer Peter Rystrom walks across a dusty and bare plot of land, dry soil crunching (碎裂) beneath each step. In a typical year, he’d be walking across green rice fields in inches of water. But today the soil is dry and baking in the 35℃ heat. It hasn’t rained for 4 weeks in a row.

“Climate change is expected to worsen the state’s extreme swings in rainfall,” researchers reported in Nature Climate Change in 2018. Low water levels in rivers have forced farmers like Rystrom, whose family has been growing rice on this land for four generations, to reduce their water use.

“If we lose our rice crops, we have to deal with severe food crisis. Climate change is already threatening rice-growing regions around the world. This is not a future problem. This is happening now,” says plant geneticist Pamela Ronald of the University of California, Davis, who identifies genes in rice that help the plant stand up to dryness, disease, flood, etc.

To save and even boost production, rice growers, engineers and researchers have turned to water-saving irrigation (灌溉) routines. Building canal systems and reservoirs (水库) can help farmers dampen their fields. But for some, the solution to rice’s climate-related problems lies in enhancing the plant itself. They hold that establishing rice gene banks that store hundreds of thousands of rice varieties ready to be bred into new, dryness-tolerant varieties is more practical and effective. Solutions may be hidden in the DNA of those older breeds.

Three decades have passed since its initial development, and some researchers are looking beyond the genetic variability preserved in rice gene banks, searching instead for useful genes from other species, including plants and bacteria. But picking genes from one species and putting them into another, or genetic recombination, remains debatable. The most famous example of genetically changed rice is Golden Rice (GR). “Looking ahead, it will be crucial for countries to embrace GR rice. But it will take time,” says Ismail, principal scientist at IRRI,

1. What problem does Rystrom have to deal with?

A．Thirst.

B．Drought.

C．Hot sun.

D．Dusty weather.

2. What can be inferred from Para. 3?

A．Downtrend of rice-growing areas is severe now.

B．Climate change is a threatening factor in the future.

C．Humans will face starvation if crop failure happens.

D．Food crisis is a common occurrence around the world.

3. What’s the purpose of setting up gene banks?

A．To store as many seeds as possible.	B．To cultivate climate-adapted varieties.
C．To improve the efficiency of breeding.	D．To show the technology of gene mapping.

4. What’s Ismail’s opinion about GR?

A．Favourable.

B．Impractical.

C．Disapproving.

D．Insecure.