1 . I remember as a young child bringing a bunch of brilliant yellow flowers to my mother. It didn’t matter that the stems felt sticky or that both my parents cursed the presence of these flowers in the lawn. I thought they were beautiful!
And there were so many of them! We spent hours picking the flowers and then popping the blossoms off with a snap of our fingers. But the supply of dandelions (蒲公英) never ran out. My father or brothers would chop off all the heads with the lawnmower at least once a week, but that didn’t stop these hardy wonders.
And for those flowers that escaped the honor of being hand-delivered to my mother or the sharp blades of the lawnmower, there was another level of existence. The soft roundness of a dandelion gone to seed caused endless laughter of delight as we unconsciously spread this flower across the yard.
As I worked in my garden last week, pulling unwanted weeds out of the space that would become a haven for tomatoes, corn, peas and sunflowers, I again marveled at the flower that some call a weed.
And I thought, if only I had the staying power of a dandelion. If only I could stretch my roots so deep and straight that something tugging on my stem couldn’t separate me completely from the source that feeds me life. If only I could come back to face the world with a bright, sunshiny face after someone has run me over with a lawnmower or worse, purposely attacked me in an attempt to destroy me. If only I could spread love and encouragement as freely and fully as this flower spreads seeds of itself.
The lawns at my parents’ home are now beautiful green blankets. The only patches of color come from well-placed, well-controlled flowerbeds. Chemicals have managed to kill what human interference couldn’t. Still, I hope you and I can be different. I hope that we can stretch our roots deep enough that the strongest poison can’t reach our souls. I hope that we can overcome the poisons of anger, fear, hate, criticism and competitiveness.
1. The author’s parents probably viewed the dandelions in the lawn as ________.A.unwanted weeds | B.hard y wonders | C.supplies of seeds | D.patches of colors |
A.The flowers were meant as a joyful gift to her mother. |
B.The flowers that some called a weed were difficult to pull out. |
C.The flowers were tough enough to spread new lives themselves. |
D.The flowers evolved into a stronger species because of frequent mowing. |
A.The author’s family enjoyed the dandelions as much as she did. |
B.The author purposefully replaced some dandelions with crops. |
C.The dandelions were never successfully removed from the lawn. |
D.The author felt sorry but encouraged by the fate of the dandelions. |
A.You reap what you sow. |
B.Never judge a book by its cover. |
C.United we stand, and divided we fall. |
D.Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine. |
2 . Keeping plants at home is a healthy and comfortable way of life. The following houseplants can create a most beautiful piece of green for your home.
Bird’s Nest Fern (蕨)The bird’s nest fern is a good choice for anyone with a house that wouldn’t support sun-loving species. It’s a hardy fern variety adapting to living on forest floors, where the air tends to be cool and damp. It likes to be misted as well, but this doesn’t always mean you need a misting bottle—spraying (喷洒) it in the sink or hanging it near a shower often works as well.
Chinese Money PlantThis is a flowering species that might be most appropriate for experienced plant gardeners looking for a new challenge. It prefers a moderate amount of indirect light, and tends to dry out slightly between watering sessions. It produces new plants easily without any input, directly from its root system. These can coexist in the same pot for a time.
Resurrection PlantThis native of the Mexican desert has adapted to surviving in extreme drought by curling (蜷缩) into a ball and remaining in seemingly lifeless state for years, if necessary. In this form, it can be transported by the wind across the dry landscape to areas with water. It will revive within hours in a shallow bowl of water, unfolding and transforming into a fresh and green moss (苔藓).
Snake PlantThis is a striking houseplant that can be an especially good option for new plant owners who you might not trust to keep a plant alive. It grows happily in almost any condition. While it prefers bright light, it doesn’t mind shade or even artificial light. Plus, thanks to its thick, fleshy leaves, it stores water with remarkable efficiency, which makes it survive without water in the earth.
1. What is special about the bird’s nest fern?A.It prefers shade. | B.It is sun-loving. |
C.It tends to grow in the sink. | D.It can return to life after death. |
A.Bird’s nest fern. | B.Chinese money plant. |
C.Resurrection plant. | D.Snake plant. |
A.They demand attentive owners. | B.They are very drought-tolerant. |
C.They will curl for self-protection. | D.They can store water for drought. |
3 . A forest in Staffordshire (in the UK) transformed into a hi-tech laboratory. Researchers here are investigating how the trees use carbon, and it’s difficult to find out. In an unusual experiment, extra carbon dioxide is piped to the trees, to create the kind of atmospheric conditions expected in the middle of the century. And instruments measure how the forest reacts.
The scientist in charge says there’s still a lot to learn. And he worries that governments and companies are rushing to plant trees as an easy answer to climate change. “If you try and use trees to tidy up the mess that we’re making through emissions, you are putting those trees into a very rapidly changing climate and they will struggle to adapt,” said Professor Rob MacKenzie, University of Birmingham.
This device tracks the movement of carbon dioxide. In a healthy forest, the gas is not only absorbed by the trees but some is released as well. What scientists here are finding out is the way carbon flows into a forest and out of it is a lot more complicated than you might think. So, if mass tree planting is meant to be a solution to tackling climate change, the trees are going to have to be monitored and cared for, over not just decades, but may be centuries as well.
Of all the challenges, the task of planting is the simplest. Shelby Barber from Canada can do an amazing 4,000 trees in a day. “People talking about planting millions billions of trees around the world. Is it possible do you think, physically?” asked BBC.
“It’s definitely possible with the right amount of people, the right group of people. I’ve personally, in three years, planted just over half a million trees.” said Professor Rob MacKenzie.
Once planted, the trees need to survive, and experts are mixing different types to minimize the risk of disease. “It’s a bit like making sure you don’t put all your eggs in one basket, you’re spreading out your risk. And then if one part of that woodland fails, for whatever reason, it gets a disease or it can’t tolerate future climatic conditions, there are other parts of the forest that are healthy and able to fill in those gaps.” said Eleanor Tew of Forestry England.
Suddenly there’s momentum to plant trees on a scale never seen before. So what matters is doing it in a way that ensures the forests thrive — so they really do help with climate change.
1. Why is extra carbon dioxide piped to the trees in the experiment?A.To predict the future atmospheric conditions. |
B.To imitate the possible air condition in the future. |
C.To create an instrument to measure atmospheric conditions. |
D.To investigate the quality of air condition in the future. |
A.oxygen | B.carbon dioxide | C.mess | D.purified gas |
A.Minimizing the area of the woodland. |
B.Studying future climatic conditions. |
C.Planting different types of trees. |
D.Avoiding mixing different species. |
A.It should be advocated in terms of efficiency and convenience. |
B.It is the most effective solution to fighting climate changes. |
C.It will do more harm than good to the health of the environment. |
D.It needs to be studied further as a measure against climate change. |
4 . Common water plant could provide a green energy source. Scientists have figured out how to get large amounts of oil from duckweed, one of nature’s fastest-growing water plants. Transferring such plant oil into biodiesel (生物柴油) for transportation and heating could be a big part of a more sustainable future.
For a new study, researchers genetically engineered duckweed plants to produce seven times more oil per acre than soybeans. John Shanklin, a biochemist says further research could double the engineered duckweed’s oil output in the next few years.
Unlike fossil fuels, which form underground, biofuels can be refreshed faster than they are used. Fuels made from new and used vegetable oils, animal fat and seaweed can have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels do, but there has been a recent negative view against them. This is partly because so many crops now go into energy production rather than food; biofuels take up more than 100 million acres of the world’s agricultural land.
Duckweed, common on every continent but Antarctica, is among the world’s most productive plants, and the researchers suggest it could be a game-changing renewable energy source for three key reasons. First, it grows readily in water, so it wouldn’t compete with food crops for agricultural land. Second, duckweed can grow fast in agricultural pollution released into the water. Third, Shanklin and his team found a way to avoid a major biotechnological barrier: For the new study, Shanklin says, the researchers added an oil-producing gene, “turning it on like a light switch”by introducing a particular molecule (分子) only when the plant had finished growing. Shanklin says, “If it replicates (复制) in other species-and there’s no reason to think that it would not — this can solve one of our biggest issues, which is how we can make more oil in more plants without negatively affecting growth.”
To expand production to industrial levels, scientists will need to design and produce large-scale bases for growing engineered plants and obtaining oil — a challenge, Shanklin says, because duckweed is a non-mainstream crop without much existing infrastructure (基础设施).
1. What can people get from duckweed firsthand?A.Plant oil. | B.Stable biodiesel. |
C.Sustainable water. | D.Natural heat. |
A.Options for renewable energy. |
B.Reasons for engineering genes. |
C.The potential of revolutionary energy source. |
D.The approach to avoiding agricultural pollution. |
A.Industrial levels. | B.Unique design. |
C.Academic research. | D.Basic facilities. |
A.Duckweed Power | B.Duckweed Production |
C.Genetic Engineering | D.Genetic Testing |
5 . Every tree tells a story. They hold our memories, represent belief, and witness countless moments of joy and sorrow. In our imagination, there is always a place for a tree.
For the locals in Naunde, Mozambique, a mango tree provides more than just shade from the Saharan sun. It is also a traditional setting for storytelling, ceremonies, and regulating village life. “It is a place to meet and talk, to seek agreement and settle arguments, to bridge differences and develop unity,” wrote Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the UN. “If you have a problem and can’t find a solution, you meet again tomorrow under the tree and you keep talking.”
The mango tree always stands there, witnessing and remembering everything, and at the same time becomes an inseparable part of the collective memory of the locals. “Each growth layer that trees add every year contains a bit of the air from that year. The trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air through tiny pores (气孔) , which helps build their tissues, so they physically hold the record of the years of their surroundings,” said Benjamin Swett, author of New York City of Trees. In this way, trees also serve as nature’s memory stick, keeping a record of a history as long as themselves.
The English language borrows a lot from trees: We turn over a new leaf and branch out, meaning we move on from the past and start something new. And there are times when we can’t see the wood for the trees. We tend to enjoy the flourishing leaves, branches, and roots of the trees. However, we pay little attention to the forests that embrace trees. The same things often happen to us in our own lives. We often dip ourselves into some bad experiences in life. As a result, we may give up at a terrible moment instead of imagining satisfying success after defeating the failure.
Trees inspire mankind, not just through language, but through ideas. Perhaps the most famous is a tree in a garden in Lincolnshire, England, where an apple fell and inspired young Isaac Newton to wonder: Why would that apple always fall directly to the ground? According to an 18th-century account, Newton was home from Cambridge when he stepped into the garden and into a reverie (沉思) . There, the idea of gravitation came into his mind, inspired by an apple.
1. What is the role of a mango tree in Naunde?A.A spot to bind the locals together. | B.A witness to the changing weather. |
C.A generous food supplier on Earth. | D.A shelter to protect villagers in disasters. |
A.By changing the width of their growth layer. |
B.By sticking out branches in different directions. |
C.By absorbing carbon dioxide to build their tissues. |
D.By reflecting changing climate conditions with their tiny pores. |
A.Suggestions on facing failure. | B.Famous English stories about trees. |
C.The relationship between trees and forests. | D.Lessons from English expressions related to trees. |
A.To explain the necessity of observation. | B.To show how gravitation was discovered. |
C.To stress the importance of trees in inspiring ideas. | D.To introduce how trees serve as a mirror of history. |
6 . To the human ears a field of flowers is silent, save the noise of birds and insects. To certain animal ears, however, a field of flowers is full of conversation.
It has long been known that plants communicate when stressed. You need only observe a houseplant to realize that a plant wilts (枯萎) when it needs water, or turns yellow at the edges when it has been watered too much. Some plants may also emit a bitter taste to deter insects from capitalizing on their stressed state; while others may emit organic compounds to alarm other plants in the area.
Now, a new study, conducted by researchers at Tel Aviv University. shows that not only do plants express themselves in the above ways when stressed, they also emit sounds.
According to the study, plants emit sounds at frequencies between 40 to 80 kilohertz- beyond the range of human ears—but within the range of some animals. “While imperceptible to the human ears, the sounds emitted by plants can probably be heard by such animals as bats, mice, and insects, "explained Dr. Lilach Hadany, a Professor at Tel Aviv University and a co-author of the study.
One of the primary breakthroughs of Hadany's study is that the researchers have managed to understand and classify the sounds that plants generate for the first time. Plants that are not stressed produce about one noise per hour, but plants that are stressed, dehydrated, or injured many hundreds of sounds per hour, and each of these sounds seems to be specific to the type of stress the plant is under.
This type of information could be vital for agriculture. Knowing what sounds their plants are making could help farmers determine whether their crops are in danger or drought or disease and allow them to make the necessary changes to let their plants to thrive.
Amazingly enough, the researchers are not actually sure how the plants make sounds, though it may have something to do with cavitation (空穴现象), which is when the water tension in the plants becomes too high and the water turns to gas, making an ultrasonic popping noise.
Whatever the case, this is still a game-changer for plant science, and potentially for the future of agriculture. One day soon your plants may be-able to tell you if they are hungry, thirsty, or just feeling lonely.
1. What does the underlined word “deter” mean in paragraph 2?A.Identify. | B.Ignore. | C.Prevent. | D.Preserve. |
A.The sounds emitted by plants always remain the same. |
B.All animals are not able to hear the sounds produced by plants. |
C.Previous experiments suggested similar findings to the new study. |
D.Researchers have made sense of how plants exactly make sounds. |
A.The new study’s benefits to farmers. |
B.The new study’s limitations in agriculture. |
C.The new study’s impact on further studies. |
D.The new study’s insight into relevant research. |
A.Indifferent. | B.Skeptical. | C.Ambiguous. | D.Favorable. |
1. What is the conversation mainly about?
A.What made Alexa’s plants dead. |
B.Where Alexa planted her plants. |
C.Why it’s hard to keep house plants. |
A.She put it in the sunlight. |
B.She returned it to the shop. |
C.She gave it too much water. |
A.Throw all her plants away. |
B.Find out more about plants online. |
C.Move all her plants out of the sun. |
1. How long do redwood trees usually live?
A.200 to 300 years. | B.500 to 700 years. | C.Over 2,000 years. |
A.Enough sunlight. | B.Cold climate. | C.Plenty of rain. |
9 . My name is Maggie and I am a big red maple tree in the center of Central Park in New York. Every part of me is
One day, I see a big storm
Hours later, when the storm
A.calmly | B.perfectly | C.randomly | D.similarly |
A.debate | B.hesitate | C.stop | D.wait |
A.comments | B.names | C.noises | D.trees |
A.choosing | B.exploring | C.heading | D.seeking |
A.angry | B.anxious | C.doubtful | D.wonderful |
A.accident | B.danger | C.intention | D.thought |
A.blows up | B.dies down | C.draws near | D.moves in |
A.if | B.how | C.why | D.when |
A.decide | B.move | C.stand | D.refuse |
A.makes out | B.goes through | C.turns to | D.tears off |
A.attack | B.disappoint | C.prevent | D.bother |
A.foolish | B.friendly | C.public | D.voluntary |
A.feeding | B.observing | C.sheltering | D.recognizing |
A.appearance | B.decision | C.impression | D.identity |
A.warning | B.promise | C.reminder | D.wish |
Bamboo is called “poor people’s material” and even in China it is not
And unlike the “Tofu” buildings that may
INBAR notes that
Study shows that bamboo is excellent in
Ancient Chinese people preferred living in houses