1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
3 . With spring around the corner, stores are offering gardeners many choices for seeds. Starting a garden from seeds, rather than buying young plants, is a low-cost way to enjoy many kinds of flowers and food crops.
Planting big seeds is simple.
When choosing containers to start plants, you can use any old plastic containers, newspapers or cardboards.
Gardeners are reminded to be aware that it would be a shame to grow something in a container and then forget what it is called.
And it is never too early to think about the next growing season. Once you have established plants in your garden, consider letting some “go to seed.”
| A．As a matter of fact, starting seeds is easy. |
| B．In fact, choosing the right seeds is important. |
| C．You can also use egg containers or anything that is available. |
| D．You can keep the containers inside your house or under a shelter. |
| E．This means you are growing them for their seeds, not for crops. |
| F．But very small seeds, like celery seeds, need a little equipment. |
| G．Write the names of the seeds on the containers to help you remember. |
4 . When Lauren Schroeder, a teenager from Iowa, US, showed up to a community food drive last year, she didn’t see much food that actually provide people with nutrition — just a lot of canned goods. Determined to make a(n)
Although Lauren had no prior experience
Lauren
Now, she has turned her half acre into a full acre and
| A．survey | B．attempt | C．living | D．change |
| A．care | B．support | C．struggle | D．arrangement |
| A．grew | B．bought | C．collected | D．saved |
| A．establishing | B．designing | C．running | D．appreciating |
| A．mood | B．heart | C．experience | D．gift |
| A．approval | B．respect | C．attention | D．motivation |
| A．creations | B．practices | C．supplies | D．experiments |
| A．checked | B．committed | C．lost | D．released |
| A．paid off | B．ran out | C．broke down | D．turned back |
| A．selling | B．introducing | C．applying | D．donating |
| A．encouraging | B．touching | C．convincing | D．embarrassing |
| A．estimated | B．expanded | C．anticipated | D．mixed |
| A．worried | B．envious | C．proud | D．confused |
| A．focus on | B．give up | C．put off | D．hold up |
| A．comforting | B．protecting | C．visiting | D．assisting |
5 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．Their eatable seeds. | B．Their unpleasant smell. |
| C．The natural evolution. | D．The careful planting. |
| A．Worried. | B．Optimistic. | C．Uncertain. | D．Hopeless. |
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 . Plant biologists have found a way that may enable poor farmers to do away with the need to purchase expensive hybrid seeds every year. Researchers at the University of California report that they have solved a long-standing problem of hybrid seeds by making exact clones of the hybrid plants from seeds.
For long, many crops have been grown from high-yielding, anti-disease or climate-tolerant hybrid seeds. But the seeds of hybrid crops do not produce plants with the same qualities during reproduction and hence farmers cannot save the seeds for the next growing season. They end up paying for new hybrid seeds each sowing season. The discovery, long sought by plant researchers, could make it easier to grow desirable high-yielding crops and make them available to the world’s farmers. Farmers could thus replant seeds from their own hybrid plants and enjoy the benefits of high production year after year, the scientists report.
While the discovery would help farmers, it would also impact the commercial interest of the hybrid seed industry. Siddiq, a former Deputy Director General in the Crop Science Division of the ICAR, said at first sight, this might seem like a setback for hybrid seed companies but there would be plenty of things they can still do. “Rice is grown over such a vast climatic and geographical range that specialized hybrids would have to be developed for each region,” he said. The companies, he said, would continue to improve their hybrids. “It will be interesting to see how all this plays out in the years to come.”
Currently, the high costs of producing hybrid seeds are a major barrier to farmers in developing countries, especially South Asia and Africa. Siddiq said if efficiently used, this method could potentially be a game-changer for poor farmers, who would need to purchase hybrid seeds just once and plant the progeny(后代) seeds from their own harvest in the following seasons.
1. What problem do the researchers aim to solve?| A．Farmers’ income. | B．Farmers’ costs. |
| C．Hybrid seeds’ cloning. | D．Hybrid seeds’ climate tolerance. |
| A．They have a pretty long growth cycle. |
| B．They tend to be affected by various diseases. |
| C．They have stricter requirements for sowing time. |
| D．They fail to reproduce plants with the same quality. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Anxious. |
| A．The future of the hybrid seed industry. |
| B．The drawback of cloning hybrid seeds. |
| C．A method of cloning hybrid plants from their seeds. |
| D．A means of promoting the specialized hybrid seeds. |
When John pulled into his mother’s driveway with his young daughter, Lily, the sight of the familiar lychee (荔枝) tree welcomed them. “Look, Lily,” John said, pointing to the towering tree in the front yard. “It’s the family tree.”
Lily smiled as John treated the tree as if it were a real family member, patting its trunk (树干) affectionately. As they were admiring the tree, the screen door opened and out stepped Grandma Mei, bathed in the warm Florida sunlight. Grandma Mei, who came from the province of Guangdong in China, was known for her green thumb, particularly when it came to lychees.
Seeing her granddaughter, Grandma Mei adjusted her baseball cap and asked if Lily was ready for some lychees. But Lily hesitated, for the fruit’s appearance was unlike any other fruit she had tried before. With a laugh, Grandma Mei gave her a gentle hug. “More lychees for me then, John,” Grandma Mei said.
“Let’s get busy!” John said with enthusiasm, rubbing his hands together. “Family tree’s waiting.”
Hearing Dad calling the tree by name, Lily couldn’t help laughing. “Laugh if you want, Lily, but this tree is really family. On cold nights, before family tree was fully grown, Grandma Mei used to take my blanket and throw it over that tree.” Grandma Mei nodded, adding that she had to protect the tree from bad weather so that it would become a big strong tree and grow fruit for the whole family.
John, eager to start the day’s work, began climbing the tree, determined to harvest the best lychees for the family. Lily watched in amazement, noticing the clusters (簇) of lychees, their skin rough yet inviting.
As John skillfully cut through the branches with a cutter, Lily expressed her concern for the well-being of the tree. John explained to her that cutting the ends of branches won’t hurt family tree. Instead such behaviour made it healthier and stronger.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Lily’s hesitation towards the fruit gradually shifted to curiosity and she wanted to try it.
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Later in the afternoon, they all sat under the tree, surrounded by boxes filled with lychees and sharing stories related to lychees.
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9 . 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. |
| A．Bring flowers. | B．Take a pot plant. |
| C．Buy postcards. | D．Send fruits. |
