1 . A houseplant is pretty to look at and brings fresh air to your home. Besides, looking after a plant will give you something more to do and care about. Let’s look at the four best houseplants you can grow.
 Australian Pine A perfect “living decoration” to add in your house, it is good to look at and has a comforting feel. It can also serve as the perfect Christmas tree. It grows around 10 feet tall indoors. Remember that it requires plenty of light and fresh air. Otherwise, it becomes weak and an easy target for mites (螨虫). |  Dracaena The green and yellow pattern on its leaves looks great. It can grow to be around 10 feet tall. Just make sure you keep the soil surface dry between your watering periods because it gets influenced by too much water. Also, having this plant around a dog can be dangerous. It can be poisonous to dogs if they eat it. |
 Grape Ivy If you want something off the ceiling (天花板), this houseplant is the one for you. It’s a climbing plant, and it will make for a beautiful hanging basket decoration. The plant is full of life wherever it is hung. It needs to be kept wet in all its parts for good growth. |  Peperomia It is little in size, with long leaves. It adds energy to your living room and creates a comforting environment. As it’s not a very tall plant, you needn’t worry about how much space it will take up. The plant likes a dry surface of the soil. |
So what are you for? Choose the one that attracts you most, and give your home a wonderful addition.
1. Which of the following can serve as a Christmas tree?| A．Australian pine. | B．Dracaena. | C．Grape ivy. | D．Peperomia. |
| A．be careful with mites | B．hang it from the celling |
| C．keep dogs away from it | D．leave the surface of the soil wet |
| A．Its leaves are short. | B．It is small in size. |
| C．It likes much water. | D．It is a climbing plant. |
| A．Politics. | B．Business. | C．Travel. | D．Life. |
2 . It happens every spring. Flowers suddenly come out everywhere on the same day, as if they made an appointment with one another. But how exactly do plants “know” when to flower?
It is a question that has puzzled biologists for years. But according to Science Daily, a US research group may have finally answered it —the secret lies in a protein (蛋白质) called FKF1. This allows plants to sense the differences in day lengths so that they can tell the seasons are changing.
Researchers discovered the FKFI protein when they were studying a plant called Arabidopsis. They found that the FKFI protein is a photoreceptor (感光器). This means it is sensitive to, and can be activated by sunlight.
“Plants produce this protein every day in the late afternoon throughout the year. If there is no light at this time, for example, in winter when the sun goes down early, the protein won’t be activated,” explained Takato Imaizumi, the leader of the study. “But when spring comes and the days get longer, the FKF1 protein can be activated by daylight and the plants ‘know’ it is time to flower.”
Although researchers have only studied how the FKF1 protein works in the Arabidopsis, they believe that the process is similar in other plants, including crops like rice and wheat. This could be useful to the agricultural industry in the world.
1. The underlined word “activated” in paragraph 3 probably means__________.| A．woken | B．prevented | C．produced | D．weakened |
| A．produce more rice and wheat in winter |
| B．develop the global agricultural industry |
| C．grow plants that flower the whole year |
| D．produce more protein to activate plants |
| A．a travel brochure | B．a science magazine |
| C．a medical magazine | D．a personal journal |
3 . In the Hollywood movie The Martian, actor Matt Damon plays an astronaut who grows food on Mars (火星) to survive alone on the red planet.
After seeing the movie, Washington State University physicist Michael Allen and University of Idaho food scientist Helen Joyner decided to carry out a case study helping students figure out how to farm on Mars. In the case study, students had to imagine they were mining on Mars and decide how to feed themselves there before starting on the journey. They got advice from Allen and Joyner on how to select crops and take the challenges of growing crops over long periods on Mars. Students used a scoring system to select three foods to plant on Mars.
Allen found the results impressive: among 30 students, “no two people have ever gotten the same answer”, he said.
Human travelers to Mars will likely have to make use of resources on the planet rather than take everything they need with them on a spaceship. This means farming their own food on another planet, one that has a very different ecosystem (生态系统) from Earth’s.
One challenge for those who would like to live on Mars is the fact that there can be no farming tools. Like real astronauts, students taking part in the study cannot take farming tools with them. As Joyner put it to his student astronauts, “You are starting with nothing.” Besides, students also have to deal with a very limited choice of diet. “If you had to eat a single food for the rest of your life, could you do it?” Joyner asked.
But Allen believes the case study is about more than farming and eating on the Red Planet. “I’m not teaching about growing food on Mars,” Allen said, “I’m teaching about living with choices. I’m teaching about problem solving.”
1. What made Michael Allen and Helen Joyner carry out the case study?| A．A trip. | B．A book. | C．A movie. | D．A lecture. |
| A．start with everything | B．try different tools |
| C．watch the movie | D．select three foods |
| A．They have a limited choice of diet. | B．They have a lot of farming tools. |
| C．They have to take part in the study. | D．They have to select crops on Mars. |
| A．how to look for foods on Mars | B．to know more about Earth |
| C．how to solve problems | D．to learn about gardening |
| A．a research on how to farm on Mars | B．a Hollywood movie The Martian |
| C．how to survive alone on Earth | D．how to design a scoring system |
4 . 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 |
| A．Only in Asia. | B．Only in the USA. |
| C．In wet and warm climates. | D．All over the world. |
| A．Build large buildings. | B．Make water pipes. |
| C．Make musical instruments and paper. | D．All of the above. |
| A．Over 1,000. | B．Over 800. | C．Over 600. | D．Over 400. |
5 . In a tiny, lab-grown garden, the first seeds ever sown in lunar dirt have come up. This small crop, planted in samples (样本) returned by Apollo tasks, offers hope that astronauts could someday grow their own food on the moon.
But plants planted in lunar dirt grew more slowly and were thinner than others grown in volcanic(火山的) material from Earth, researchers report 12 May in Communications Biology. That finding suggests that farming on the moon would take a lot more than a gardening skills.
“Ah! It’s so cool!” says a botanist (植物学家) Richard Barker. “Ever since these samples came, back, there’s been botanists that wanted to know what would happen if you grew plants in them,” says Barker, who wasn’t involved in the study. “But everyone knows those precious samples are priceless, and so you can understand why NASA was unwilling to publish them.”
The team planted seeds in tiny pots that each held about a gram of dirt. Four pots were filled with samples returned by Apollo 11, another four with Apollo 12 samples and a final four with dirt from Apollo 17. Another 16 pots were filled with earthly volcanic material used in past experiments to copy moon dirt. All were grown under LED lights in the lab and watered with nutrients.
“Nothing really compared to when we first saw the seedlings as they were coming up in the lunar dirt,” says Anna-Lisa Paul, a plant biologist. “That was a moving experience. We could not speak when we watched the very first plants growing in unique materials.”
Plants grew in all the pots of lunar dirt, but none grew as well as those planted in earthly material. “The healthiest ones were just smaller,” Paul says. The moon-grown plants were tiny. Faced with that, explorers need to do more research to let plants grow strongly on the moon. I believe we will succeed in time.
1. What does the research on plants grown in the lunar dirt show?| A．Growing foods on the moon is necessary. |
| B．Skills are the key to farming on the moon. |
| C．Farming’ on the moon needs many factors. |
| D．Astronauts want to grow food on their own. |
| A．Some plants need planting in special soils. |
| B．Botanists are interested in studying new things. |
| C．It is a selfish action for NASA to keep the secret. |
| D．The samples brought from the moon are valuable. |
| A．It is practical. | B．It is hopeful. |
| C．It only attracts astronauts. | D．It challenges most experts. |
| A．The First Plant Has Been Grown in Moon Dirt |
| B．Astronauts Have Brought Things Worth Spreading |
| C．Botanists Have Found a New Kind of Plant Lately |
| D．Farming on the Moon Has Been Accepted by People |
6 . They give us paper and fuel, as well as vital ecological services-like cleaning the air, storing carbon and providing habitat. We’re talking about trees, of course. But human changes to the environment largely appear to be causing profound transformations in trees around the world.
In a new study, scientists reviewed global research on trends in tree seedlings (籽苗), growth and death. They combined those data with an analysis of deforestation. And they found that worldwide, older trees are dying at a higher rate than in the past due to factors like rising air temperature, wildfires, drought and pathogens (病原菌).
“And most of the drivers of that decrease in large, old trees are increasing themselves, such as temperature is going up, droughts are more severe, wildfires, windstorms and deforestation are all on the increase—although variable across the globe — they’re generally increasing. And so for both the loss has already occurred, but we expect more continued loss of big, old trees,” said Nate McDowell, an earth scientist at Pacific Northwest National Lab, who was one of the study’s authors.
“So if we have an increasing rate of death, particularly of the larger, older trees, what’s left are the younger trees. So that’s why, on average, through the loss of bigger, older trees, our forests are becoming naturally younger and shorter.”
This is a problem, because old trees are vitally (至关重要) important.
“For sure, the increase in death does limit the carbon storage (储存) of an ecosystem and can force the system to become a carbon source to the atmosphere. The second reason we care is from a biodiversity (生物多样性) perspective (角度): Old trees tend to house a higher biodiversity than young forests do. And another reason is beauty: As a society, we care about these trees. We have national parks named after these big trees. So there’s a personal reason for people to care about this as well.”
1. What’s the result of the new study?| A．Trees are disappearing in a rapid way. |
| B．The global climate is becoming warmer and warmer. |
| C．Older trees are dying at a higher rate than before. |
| D．Wildfires, drought and pathogens happen more often than before. |
| A．Operators. | B．Factors. | C．Researchers. | D．Participants. |
| A．Forests are dying out. |
| B．It’s hard to prevent the death of forests. |
| C．Younger trees are growing faster than older trees. |
| D．The forests are becoming younger and younger. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
7 . If there is one thing that comes to mind when the words “South Pacific” are spoken, then it must be coconut palms (椰子树). Most of us have images of all attractive coconut palms lining sandy beaches. But the coconut tree is more than a central characteristic of picture postcards bought by tourists.
To people of the South Pacific, the coconut tree is also known as the “Tree of Life”. It gets this name because of the different kinds of products which the coconut palm provides from its various parts. From the leaves down to its roots, it plays a great part in the life of many island people. The coconut tree provides food, shelter, fuel as well as income from exports.
Coconut leaves produce good-quality paper pulp (纸浆), hats, wastebaskets and bags. Flesh (果肉) and water (often called the milk) from the young, green coconut can be taken as a healthy food and drink. It is also used in salads and other tasty dishes.
Coconut husks (外壳) it are often thrown away, but they can be used to produce different kinds of useful products such as ropes, fishing nets, and floor coverings.
Coconut water can be used in the production of wine and is also used to treat a number of medical problems.
The white coconut flesh is a good source of coconut oil, coconut chips, and feed for animals.
The trunk of the coconut tree is a strong and durable wood, which can be used to build houses.
Medicines and dyes (燃料) are obtained from the roots.
The English oak, the Lebanon cedar or the Australian gum tree all have a place in history but the coconut palm is the only true “Tree of Life”.
1. Why is the coconut palm called the “Tree of Life”?| A．It has a long lifetime. | B．It is mostly exported. |
| C．It has a vast range of uses. | D．It is necessary for islanders. |
| A．Leaves. | B．Flesh. | C．Husks. | D．Water. |
| A．long-lived. | B．wet. | C．flexible. | D．rough. |
| A．To introduce a useful type of plant. |
| B．To announce some new discoveries. |
| C．To tell readers about island people’s life. |
| D．To explain how to make full use of coconut leaves. |
