1 . 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.

2 . Growing at high speed and absorbing huge amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide, could seaweeds be the key to fighting climate change? Scientists in Australia think so. In Australia, scientists are taking advantage of the power of seaweeds to absorb CO₂ at a rate that equals to the Amazon rainforest!

Kelp (巨藻) is one of the most common seaweeds. It has many types and grows at great speed. Giant kelp, for example, can grow up to 50 cm per day. Seaweeds use photosynthesis (光合作用) to absorb CO₂, and grow biomass. Seaweeds are thought to absorb nearly 200 million tonnes of our globe’s CO₂ per year.

Pia Winberg, founder of Australia’s first land-based commercial seaweed farm, suggests that growing more seaweeds could be an essential tool in the fight against climate change. “If we used the infrastructure we have in the ocean and created seaweed islands, we would actually remove many climate change issues we have today,” she said.

The Great Southern Reef is an 8,000-km network of reefs in Australia. Golden kelp forms the backbone of the network. With many other species, including giant kelp and bull kelp, growing there, it is a good place for series of relevant projects. The Great Southern Reef project managed by an independent team of seience professionals is working to promote the recognition and management of Australia’s kelp forests. The project estimates that if these kelp forests were cultivated in just 0.001% of the ocean’s surface, the amounts of the CO₂: they absorb could offset (抵消) the carbon emissions of the global aquaculture (水产养殖) industry.

Of seaweeds’ potential, there’s a long chain of wins with this.

1. What is the scientists’ attitude towards growing seaweeds to absorb CO₂?

A．Doubtful.

B．Unclear.

C．Positive.

D．Negative.

2. What can we learn about Giant kelp?

A．It can grow 50 cm per day at most.

B．It is unique to the Great Southern Reef.

C．It is cultivated in commercial seaweed farm.

D．It absorbs nearly 200 million tonnes of CO: every year.

3. Why is the Great Southern Reef suitable for ocean forest project?

A．It is managed by an independent team of science professionals.

B．It has the largest network of reefs in Australia.

C．It is home to many species of seaweeds.

D．It works to protect Australia’s kelp forests.

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Different species of seaweed absorb CO2 in different ways.

B．Bull kelp forms the backbone of the reefs network in Australia.

C．The Great Southern Reef absorbs as much CO2 as the Amazon rainforest.

D．Seaweed forests could be the key to fighting climate change.

3 . “Best space tacos(玉米卷饼) yet,” American astronaut Megan McArthur wrote on social media Twitter on Oct 30, with a photo of her smiling from ear to ear. The taco feast celebrated the first time peppers were successfully grown on the International Space Station.

Life as an astronaut is exciting, but that doesn’t include food. Astronauts have endured packaged food for decades. “If you store packaged food for a long duration, the quality, flavor and nutritional quality decrease, the vitamins degrade,” Gioia Massa of NASA Kennedy Space Center in the US told The Guardian. Growing food in space could be crucial for astronauts on long-duration missions.

“Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for physical and psychological health,” said Mat Romeyn, project scientist at NASA, in a statement. The benefits of growing vegetables in space are obvious, but how are they grown?

Though astronauts have been growing plants in space for decades , cultivating edible(可食用的) food without the benefits of gravity and natural light has been difficult . A plant growth system called Veggie has been used to grow plants on the space station since 2014, according to The New York Times.

The Veggie garden is about the size of a piece of luggage and typically holds six plants. Each plant grows in a “pillow” filled with clay and fertilizer. The “pillows” are important for distributing water, nutrients and air in a healthy balance around the roots.

In the absence of gravity, plants use other environmental factors, such as light, to guide growth. LEDs above the plants produce a light suited for the plants’ growth. According to NASA, Veggie typically glows pink, which enables plants to use both blue and red wavelengths more efficiently. Other spectrums(光谱) of light, like greens, yellows or oranges, are less useful for plants.

So far, US astronauts have successfully grown 10 different crops, including lettuce and radish, on the space station since 2015, according to CNN.

1. Which word can best describe the food consumed by astronauts in space?

A．Low-nutrition

B．Tasty-flavor

C．Poor-package

D．High-calorie

2. What makes it difficult to grow plants suitable to eat in space?

A．The shortage of crop varieties

B．The objection of the International Space Station

C．The lack of gravity and natural light

D．The long-duration missions

3. What can be learned about The Veggie Garden?

A．It can hold 10 different crops for a piece of garden.

B．It has been used to grow plants on the space station for nearly six years.

C．The “pillows” can provide plants with balanced water, nutrients and air.

D．Blue, red and orange lights are important for the growth of plants.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Life of American Astronauts on the Space Station

B．Success of Planting in Space

C．Benefits of Growing Vegetables in Space

D．Varieties of crops on the Space Station