1 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Food from the air

Everyone has seen plants growing, but have you ever thought     1     they get their food? In the seventeenth century, a European scientist     2     (call) Van Helmot asked this question. Like most people, he thought that plants must get their food from soil. However, Van Helmot decided       3     (test) the theory with experiments.

First, he dried some soil, put it into a pot and weighed it. Next, he weighed a small tree, planted it in the pot and added rain water. Then, he watered it     4     (regular) with rain water.

After five years, he removed the tree from the pot and weighed it again. He found that the tree had gained     5     huge amount of weight. When he weighed the soil, however, it was almost exactly the same as it had been five years    6    . So Van Helmot drew the    7    (conclude) that the tree grew by drinking water. Though it turned out to be wrong, he showed the importance of the use of scientific evidence to support ideas.

We now know that plants and trees make their own food. Their leaves, when exposed     8     the air and sun, are like factories    9     can change the energy from the sun into chemical energy. During this process (过程), oxygen and sugar     10     (produce). The oxygen is released back into the air, and the sugar is used by the plant as food.

2 . Why did the woman’s plants die, according to the man?

A．From not enough water.

B．From not enough sun.

C．From not enough plant food.

3 . Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology who called herself a “forest detective”, was raised in mountains in Canada. Few scientists make much impact with their PhD thesis, but, in 1997, she did just that. Her research on the “wood wide web” made the cover of Nature and transformed our understanding of forests. What was then a challenge to traditional ideas is today widely accepted.

A mushroom is the part of a fungus (真菌) that sticks up above the ground. Thin, white threads grow from its stem deep into the soil. These threads are called hyphae (菌丝). Hyphae connect themselves to tree roots. They also stretch from root system to root system, like an underground network. This network may go for miles. Hyphae pick up nutrients and water from soil. The fungus threads that connect to tree roots share their nutrients and water with the trees. In return, they sip a bit of the sugar the trees make. Sharing helps both trees and mushrooms live. It’s also how trees communicate.

When a tree is being eaten by bugs, it makes chemicals to shoo them away, sort of like bug repellent (驱虫剂). The chemicals travel through the tree, down its roots, and into the hyphae network. Other trees connected to the network taste the chemicals. That tells them a nearby tree is under attack, so they start to make their own bug repellent. Trees do more than share warnings through the hyphae. They also help each other. In the fall, paper birch trees drop their leaves and can no longer make sugar. So, a fir tree that stays green all winter uses the network to send extra sugar to the birch until spring comes again. This system of sharing information and nutrients through the hyphae is sometimes called the “wood wide web”, because it works a bit like the Internet.

Local climate sets the stage for the wood wide web, researchers say. In cool temperature and boreal forests, where wood and organic matter decay slowly, network-building EM fungi rule. By contrast, in the warmer tropics where wood and organic matter decay quickly, AM fungi dominate. These fungi form smaller webs and do less intertree swapping, meaning the tropical wood wide web is likely more localized.

Ecologist Thomas Crowther’s results suggest that as the planet warms, about 10% of EM-associated trees could be replaced by AM-associated trees. Microbes in forests dominated by AM fungi deal with carbon-containing organic matter faster, so they could liberate lots of heat-trapping carbon dioxide quickly, potentially accelerating a climate change process that is already happening at a frightening pace.

1. What do we know about Suzanne Simard?

A．She was a professor and a forest detective.

B．Growing up in the countryside, she made the cover of Nature.

C．Like many other scientists, she made big influence on her PhD thesis.

D．Her idea of the “wood wide web” used to challenge people’s thoughts.

2. Which of the following is not hyphae’s role in the forest ecosystem?

A．They facilitate tree communication.	B．They form an underground network.
C．They produce sugar and share it with trees.	D．They share nutrients and water with the trees.

3. How do trees use the “wood wide web” to deal with insect attacks?

A．They release warning signals through leaves.

B．They produce real bug repellent to kill insects.

C．They make use of hyphae to produce chemicals.

D．They send chemical signals through the network.

4. What might be the impact of replacing EM-associated trees with AM-associated trees?

A．It might slow down carbon release.	B．It would break down organic matter.
C．It might speed up climate change.	D．It might lead to faster tree growth.

4 . In times of intense stress, people sometimes let it out with a scream and a new study suggests that plants might do the same. Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel has found that plants let out ultrasonic (超声的) screams when damaged or stressed by drought.

The noises, falling within a range of 20 to 100 kilohertz, are too high-frequency for humans to hear, but other plants and some animals perceive them. Insects might be listening for sounds from stressed plants to assess their condition before laying eggs on their leaves. A moth (蛾) may decide against laying eggs on a plant that sounds water-stressed.

Researchers attached recording devices directly to plants to listen for secret sounds inside their stems (茎). In drought, air bubbles formed, burst and caused vibrations (振动) within the tissue that normally carries water up the plants’ stems. The process was picked up by the attached recording devices, but researchers wanted to know if any plant sounds could travel through the air.

So the team placed microphones 10 centimetres from stressed-out tomato and tobacco plants. They subjected one set of crops to drought and another to physical damage. A third group was untouched.

The microphones did pick up distinct sounds. On average, drought-stressed tomato plants let out about 35 ultrasonic screams per hour, while those with cut stems made about 25. Drought-stressed tobacco plants let out about 11 screams per hour, and cut crops made about 15 sounds in the same time. The average number of sounds from untouched plants fell below one per hour.

The researchers also attempted to identify each plant group just based on its screams. Using a type of artificial intelligence calculations, the team picked out distinct features in each set of sounds and successfully sorted their plants into three kinds: “dry, cut or untouched.”

If it is not too costly to set up the recording in a field situation, farmers might be able to hear these stress signals too. In future, enabling farmers to listen for water-stressed plants could “open a new direction”, which will be increasingly important as climate change exposes more areas to drought.

1. The moth is mentioned in paragraph 2 to show __________.

A．moths need enough water when laying eggs

B．some animals are able to hear plants scream

C．some insects are picky about their surroundings

D．wildlife species depend on each other when stressed

2. What can we learn from the research?

A．Plants’ sounds couldn’t be detected by humans.

B．Plants can be grouped according to their features.

C．Plants’ screams are related to stress types in a way.

D．Air bubbles contribute to the lack of water in plants.

3. What does the last paragraph focus on?

A．Supporting evidence for the research result.

B．Potential application of the research findings.

C．A further explanation of the research methods.

D．A reasonable doubt about the research process.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Plants’ Vibrations: Way to React to Stress

B．Stress Signals: Secret Newly Found in Plants

C．Green Screams: Plants Make Noises When Stressed

D．Ultrasonic Screams: Discovery Opens a New Chapter

5 . 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.

2. Why did Sugiura express discontent with the present fruits?

A．They are bred too early.	B．They taste so sweet.
C．They are losing a good flavor.	D．They need a higher yield.

3. What is Cooper’s attitude towards modern fruit breeding?

A．Favorable.

B．Critical.

C．Ambiguous.

D．Indifferent.

4. What does the last paragraph mean?

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.

6 . Pacific Coast Range

Stretching along the west coast of North America from northern California to Alaska, the forests found along the Pacific Coast Range are the largest area of temperate (温带的) rainforest in the world. The forests are home to the coast redwood, the world’s tallest tree. Across the region, the forest understory (林下叶层) is wet and heavily vegetated.

Taiheiyo Evergreen Forests

Found in southern Japan, they are temperate rainforests of evergreen broadleaf trees. The forests can receive more than 100 inches of rain every year. The forests are covered by Japanese cedar and Japanese stone oak, while moso bamboo comprise the understory. The extent of the Taiheiyo forests has been reduced due to development and agriculture. Today,17%of the remaining forest is protected by national parks and other reserves.

Atlantic Oakwood Forest

The Atlantic Oakwood Forest covers the wettest parts of the United Kingdom. A species of oak tree (橡树) called sessile oak occupies the landscape. Unlike other temperate forests, these forests tend to have an open understory of grasses. Much of the historical range of the forest has given to agriculture and other development, though that has changed in recent decades.

Valdivian Temperate Rainforest

This forest is found on the west coast of Chile and Argentina, on the wet, western slopes (斜坡) of the Andes mountain range. With the coastline to the west, the peaks of the Andes to the east, and the Atacama Desert to the north, the region supports a number of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. Uniquely, the forest is covered by evergreen flowering trees, which are native to Chile and little known outside the region.

1. Which of the four forest areas occupies the most land?

A．Pacific Coast Range.	B．Taiheiyo Evergreen Forests.
C．Atlantic Oakwood Forest.	D．Valdivian Temperate Rainforest.

2. What do Taiheiyo Evergreen Forests and Atlantic Oakwood Forest have in common?

A．They have open understory grasses.	B．They’re home to extremely tall trees.
C．They’re of great historical significance.	D．They used to be affected by agriculture.

3. What is unique to Valdivian Temperate Rainforest?

A．Wet climate.	B．Coastal location.
C．Evergreen flowering trees.	D．Well-protected national parks.

7 . Emmanuel Mendoza, a college student, is currently running a study at Texas A&M University, where he’s mixing simulated (模拟的)Martian (火星的) soil and frass(粪便)from fly larvae(幼虫)to find just the right recipe for growing plants on Mars.

The seed of this idea was planted when Mendoza was in middle school, watching Ridley Scott’s 2015 film The Martian, in which Mark Watney becomes stuck on the planet and grows potatoes to survive. “That got me really interested in what nutrients or what soil structure Martian soil has that we could potentially take advantage of, ”Mendoza said.

Now, he’s running an experiment growing English peas in simulated Martian soil. “I definitely considered potatoes like Mark Watney, ”he said. “But the fact was that I couldn’t necessarily get the data I wanted out of them. ”

He wanted to be able to measure plant growth as it occurred throughout his experiment. Since potatoes grow underground, he’d only be able to collect data once they were done growing. In the end, Mendoza chose to grow English peas because they’re self-pollinating(自花传粉), grow fairly quickly and he can see the shoots climb.

Martian soil, though it does contain other essential nutrients, isn’t exactly ideal for plants from Earth. It tends to be rocky and lacks the right organic (有机 的)matter. Here’s where the larvae come in. Mendoza turned to the larvae of black soldier flies, which produce a waste known as frass. “They can break down almost any biomatter and turn it into really useful matter, “Mendoza said. “And then you can use the frass as a nutrient alternative to soil.”

For this experiment, Mendoza mixed different percentages of simulated Martian soil and frass to see what best supported growing English pea plants. Now, he said he’s seeing growth across all his plants—even the ones growing in 100%simulated Martian soil.

1. Why does the author mention the film The Martian?

A．To show Mendoza’s enthusiasm for films.

B．To illustrate Mark Watney’s intelligence.

C．To prove Mark Watney’s interest in gardening.

D．To introduce the origin of Mendoza’s experiment.

2. Why did Mendoza grow English peas instead of potatoes?

A．He was unwilling to repeat others’ study.

B．English peas grew far faster than potatoes .

C．Potatoes needed stricter living conditions.

D．It was more convenient to collect the data.

3. What is the function of frass?

A．It serves as certain essential nutrients.

B．It loosens the soil for plants to grow.

C．It makes the soil become quite rocky.

D．It helps black soldier flies grow stronger.

4. How does Mendoza feel about his experiment results?

A．Doubtful.

B．Pleased.

C．Intolerant.

D．Disappointed.

8 . Growing plants at home is a fun and enjoyable activity to do and can be developed as a new hobby.     1     Let’s take a look.

Gardening reduces stress. Gardening is one of the most effective, and fun ways to free yourself from the physical, mental, and emotional stress you have been carrying since the beginning of the week. If you are overworking yourself during the weekdays or seeing yourself drowning in stressful thoughts, try to spend your weekends gardening at home.     2     The sweet smell of the wet soil and the plants’ fascinating colors has a calming effect on our minds.

    3     Just like plants that need sunlight to photosynthesize (光合作用), we also need to be exposed to sunlight. Our body produces or makes natural Vitamin D when the sunlight touches our skin. Gardening outdoors allows us to be exposed to sunlight and, in turn, the sunlight enriches us with Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps protect our body from getting diseases such as cancer.

Gardening is good for your heart. Gardening requires our body to move around by doing simple tasks such as digging the ground, planting seeds, pulling out weeds, and carrying a water container’s load.     4     They allows our body to burn calories and fats, and help strengthen our heart, reducing the risk of suffering from heart attack.

By spending our free time gardening and monitoring our plants’ growth, we are also taking care of ourselves as we gain lots of health and emotional benefits. It is a worthwhile activity because we get to see the results of our hard work when our plants start growing fonder and healthier. The way we take care of our plants reflects the way we take care of ourselves.     5    

A．Gardening is an act of self-love.

B．Gardening is good for your bones.

C．Gardening helps your body against diseases.

D．You will see a significant change in your mind.

E．These simple gardening tasks can be considered a low-level exercise.

F．It also has several positive health and emotional benefits that you can enjoy.

G．Returning home to a place full of beautiful plants helps us enjoy the freshness of the air.

9 . Many green plants that are used to decorate living rooms and kitchens are marketed as air-purifying. However, scientists largely agree that plants can’t do very much to clean an entire room. Now, a Parisian company known as Neoplants is trying to change that by growing genetically modified (转基因的) plants that help remove harmful chemicals from the air.

Its first product, called the Neo P1, is a bioengineered version of the pothos (绿萝). Pothos is characterized by its green leaves and is relatively easy to care for. The Neo P1 is meant to capture and recycle dangerous air pollutants commonly found in homes called volatile organic compounds (挥发性有机化合物VOCs), which are often human-made chemicals. So it’s a popular choice for people looking to beautify their living spaces. But the Neo P1 starts at $179, and to purchase one, potential shoppers must first join a waitlist.

The idea of air-purifying plants came from a 1989 study by NASA, in which regular houseplants were tested in two-by-two-foot rooms. When scientists filled these rooms with VOCs, they found the plants could absorb some of the harmful compounds. “Actually, it’d take about ten houseplants per square foot to noticeably improve air quality,” Michael Waring, an environmental engineer at Drexel University who wasn’t involved with Neoplants, reported in a 2019 study. “Plants, though they do remove VOCs, remove them at such a slow rate that they can’t compete with the air exchange mechanisms already happening in buildings,” Waring said.

As for Neoplants, its Neo Pl was tested in a 35-liter glass room. In it, the Neo P1’s results were 30 times better than NASA’s, according to the company — which means it’d still take a large number of them to clean a room. Currently, the company’s engineers are designing testing sites that more accurately resemble living spaces. To Neoplants’ executives, cleaning the air inside a home is a more logical starting point than trying to filter (过滤) the entire atmosphere.

1. What might prevent the Neo P1 from becoming popular?

A．Its poor quality.	B．Its unstable security.
C．Its high maintenance (维护，保养).	D．Its difficult availability.

2. What can be inferred from the 2019 study?

A．Plants can significantly improve air quality in a room.

B．Plants contribute little to removing harmful chemicals.

C．The Neo P1 plays a big role in removing harmful compounds.

D．Houseplants are expected to replace air exchange mechanisms.

3. What are the company’s engineers doing now?

A．Exploring new ways to genetically modify plants.

B．Proving the Neo P1’s effectiveness in a living room.

C．Improving the air exchange mechanisms in buildings.

D．Designing testing sites that are similar to living spaces.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．How do plants reduce air pollution?	B．What is the best plant to help clean the air?
C．Could genetically modified plants clean the air?	D．How can we decorate living rooms with plants?

10 . 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，并将答案填写在答题卡相应的位置上。

From “pocket parks” between communities to forest parks in the outer cities, local governments are     1     (ambition) to make China’s cities greener. That’s     2     there are more parks in cities these days.

From 2021 to 2022, Shanghai transformed 62 woodlands into leisure spaces. These leisure spaces open up forests,     3     allows visitors to enjoy natural beauty as well as wildlife. In urban     4     (area), more companies and universities are sharing their greenery. For instance, the Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science opened its 1,000-square-meter green space to the public.     5     (join) by historical buildings in the area, the park can provide more space for tourists to rest.

Apart from meeting people’s needs, parks can also do good to the environment. Take Beijing’s Central Green Forest Park     6     an example. Since it was opened in 2020, the park     7     (reach)carbon neutrality (碳中和). It means although the park’s facilities produce carbon dioxide, more can be     8     (take) in by the plants there. The park also fully reuses rainwater and creates green energy     9     (supply) the park. As cities in China become greener, “park cities” are becoming a reality. The concept of a park city was     10     (initial) put forward in 2018. It is a concept that takes the form of an improved natural environment in all aspects, noted China Daily.