1 . An environmental group in Colombia is leading a project to save wild areas in the San Lucas Mountains with the help of coffee growers.
Since 2016, San Lucas areas have been threatened by mining and coca (古柯) planting Gold miners and coca growers make more money than coffee farms. Now the group WebConserva helps link coffee farmers with coffee processors from around the country in order that they can earn more. At the same time coffee farms can serve as boarders around the forests to protect the biodiversity within.
To date, the project includes 10 families who farm 400 hectares of coffee plants. WebConserva said it hopes, in time, 200 families will be included. At that level. 20,000 hectares of untouched forest could be protected. The families promise not to cut down trees to expand their crops or to hunt wild animals. In return, they receive $300 for 125 kilograms of coffee.
Arcadio Barajas is among those taking part. His coffee farm sets up a barrier between cattle farms and forests where wild animals live, thus reducing the possibility of conflict between cattle farmers and wild animals. “Cutting down the forest to plant coca and killing wildlife were against my faith, and now I feel that growing coffee lets me be a good guard of the land,” he said.
Amnobis Romero is a former coca grower and miner. “Many families depended on illegal activities to support their children years ago. Now, we feel it a duty to look after this biodiversity and leave it for future generations,” he said. Activists want San Lucas to be protected as a national park, but the process has been slow. Carlos Valderrama, director of Webconserva, hopes the project can build production system that will last far into the future. “It protects forests, biodiversity and ecosystems at the same time as improving coffee growers’ quality of life,” he said.
1. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Coffee farmers. |
| B．WebConserva members. |
| C．Gold miners. |
| D．Coca growers. |
| A．By increasing cattle farms. |
| B．By setting up a barrier. |
| C．Ry developing gold mining. |
| D．By encouraging coffee farming. |
| A．Families have enough money for their kids. |
| B．Coffee planting will last for several generations. |
| C．Coffee farming changed the former coca growers’ lives. |
| D．The project benefit the forests more than the local farmers. |
| A．Families protecting wildlife will get very rich. |
| B．WebConserva benefits ecosystems and local people’s life. |
| C．Gold mining and coca farming have been replaced rapidly. |
| D．San Lucas will develop into a national park in the near future. |
2 . Ariel Novoplansky, an ecologist in Israel, set up an experiment among pea plants to study how they communicate with each other.
In the experiments Ariel put the pea plants in rows of containers. The center plant in the row was the target. The pea plants had been grown with two main roots. On one side, each pea plant had one root in its own pot and the other reaching into a neighbor’s pot. The central plant connected to its closest neighbor, which connected to another neighbor, and so on down the line. On the other side, all the plants kept their roots in their own pots, unconnected to their neighbors.
With everything ready, the ecologist created a dryness for the central target plant, which had quickly closed up its leaf pores (气孔) to save water. Amazingly, the connected plants on one side gradually closed up their leaf pores, even though only one of them had experienced real dryness. On the other side, with unconnected roots pea chain, all their pores stayed open. This means the warning signal didn’t travel from the stressed plants leaves through the air, but only from its roots through the soil.
It’s possible that plants are just eavesdropping (偷听) even if the damaged plant didn’t mean to send signals to them. Maybe the damaged plant leaks certain chemicals and nearby roots could sense those signals. But the plants with connected roots that weren’t dried out passed on the drought signals to their neighbors too, which means simple eavesdropping probably isn’t the answer. They seem to be having a real conversation, picking up information on one side and sharing it with a neighbor on the other.
The benefit to a plant that receives this information is pretty clear. But what’s the benefit to sending a danger signal to your neighbor? Remember, your neighbor may actually be you.
1. Which aspect of the experiment does Paragraph 2 mainly concern?| A．Its finding. | B．Its application. | C．Its purpose. | D．Its design. |
| A．By connecting their roots. | B．By opening their leaf pores. |
| C．By spreading a special smell. | D．By leaking certain chemicals. |
| A．Confidential. | B．Cooperative. | C．Long-distance. | D．Air-to-air. |
| A．To better its surroundings. | B．To make itself strong. |
| C．To develop its root. | D．To keep itself safe. |
3 . A recent study suggests that logging (cutting down trees to use the wood) does not necessarily mean that things can’t live in the left-over forest any more. In fact, chopping down trees sometimes attracts more plants and wildlife than in forests where the trees have been left untouched.
Experts believe that about 70% of the world’s forests have had at least some logging. Until recently it wasn’t clear exactly what impact this had on other wildlife in forests. However, new research carried out on the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia, shows that logging can encourage healthy animal and plant life.
Scientists from Oxford University used tens of thousands of camera traps (cameras connected to sensors that only photograph when movement is detected) to find out how many animals were in forests that had been logged and how many were in forests where the trees just died naturally. The scientists worked out that the total weight of birds in logged forests was more than double, and for mammals it was more than three times as much. They also found that animals in logged forests get two and a half times as much energy from food than in untouched forests. The scientists think there is more food available in logged forests because more light reaches the forest floor when some of the canopy (dense tree tops) has been cleared away. This extra light helps smaller plants grow bigger, giving more food to wildlife like insects, deer and wild pigs. Yadvinder Malhi, an ecologist, said, “The whole forest gets more edible and more tasty.”
The study makes it clear that although more animals and plants might be able to live there, logging even part of a forest is still bad. That’s because untouched forests, with more and bigger trees, absorb lots of carbon dioxide, a gas that causes climate change. However, the study is important because conservationists didn’t think logged forests were important to protect. The new research shows that even damaged forests can have lots of wildlife that needs protecting.
1. What does the recent study find?| A．More plants and wildlife will live in forests where humans don’t cut down the trees. |
| B．Cutting down the trees in a forest will attract more plants and animals to live there. |
| C．70% of the world’s forests have had at least some logging. |
| D．Plants and wildlife can’t live in the left-over forest any more. |
| A．Monitoring the changes in the number of animals. |
| B．Detecting how many trees in the forests died naturally. |
| C．Finding out how many animals were in the forests. |
| D．Connecting the sensors to detect any movement. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Conservationists are supposed to protect the wildlife in the logged forest. |
| B．Logging forests is the direct reason that causes climate change. |
| C．Conservationists think untouched forests are more important than the logged ones. |
| D．Compared with untouched forests, Logged forests can’t absorb any carbon dioxide. |
4 . Scientists say the plant enset, an Ethiopian staple (主食), could be a new superfood and a lifesaver in the face of climate change. “This is a crop that can play a really important role in addressing food security and sustainable development,” said a university professor in Awasa, Ethiopia.
Enset, or “false banana”, is a close relative of the banana but is consumed only in one part of Ethiopia. The banana-like fruit of the plant is inedible (无法食用的), but the stems and roots can be processed to make porridge and bread.
However, Ethiopia is isolated (隔离) by dry lowlands, which are unsuitable for enset to grow. And the procedures for enset raising and preparing require special knowledge. Therefore, despite its wild relatives distributing across Africa, enset is only used as a crop in Ethiopia and has never been widely adopted elsewhere.
Using agricultural surveys and modelling work, scientists found the crop could potentially feed more than 100 million people and boost food security in Ethiopia and other African countries.
Study researcher Dr James Borrell, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, said planting enset as an alternative crop for tough times could help support food security. “It’s got some really unusual characteristics that make it absolutely unique as a crop,” he said. Reaching ten meters tall, as few as 15 enset plants can feed a person for a year. Also, it has flexible harvest times, stores well, and is relatively drought and disease tolerant. All these features have earned it the name, “the tree against hunger”.
There is growing interest in seeking new plants to feed the world. Nearly half of all the calories we eat come from three species - rice, wheat, and corns. “We need to diversify the plants we use globally as a staple because all our eggs are in a very small basket at the moment,” said Dr Borrell.
1. What can we know about enset?| A．It is widely consumed in Ethiopia. | B．Its stems and roots can serve as a staple. |
| C．It is mainly grown in dry lowlands. | D．It distributes throughout the world. |
| A．Lack of related knowledge. | B．Poor quality of farmland. |
| C．Low productivity. | D．Strict storage condition. |
| A．Its advantages. | B．Its edibility. | C．Its variety. | D．Its distribution. |
| A．People are fed up with existing staples. | B．A world of biodiversity is needed. |
| C．Crop varieties should be increased. | D．Food security has been addressed. |
1. What kind of plant can you start with according to the speaker?
| A．Something big. | B．Something easy. | C．Something safe. |
| A．At least six hours. | B．About five hours. | C．Less than four hours. |
| A．To keep it safe from thieves. |
| B．To keep it safe from hungry animals. |
| C．To prevent kids from entering. |
| A．A radio program. | B．A newspaper. | C．A scientific research. |
6 . Houseplants have been rising in popularity for good reasons. They can brighten our spaces, freshen the air and benefit our mental health. While the benefits aren't quite as measurable as getting our daily minerals and vitamins, plenty of positive findings show plants help us thrive.
Plants bring color and vitality to our worlds. Though maybe only subtly, our mood can be impacted by the surroundings. Green plants and cheery flowers are known to have a positive effect on mood because the mind equates plant life to the soothing, uplifting area of nature.
Taking care of plants gives us a sense of pride and achievement.
Plants' presence can cut down on stress. Interacting with plants reduce signs of both psychological and physical stress. When we engage in positive tasks that require mindful focus, we can absolutely benefit on both physical and psychological levels.
We don't necessarily need houseplants to survive, but they certainly can make a positive difference in our lives when we bring them into our homes. The benefits of indoor plants are undeniable.
| A．Parenting plants can be tough. |
| B．Treat plant care as a mindfulness practice. |
| C．So give plant-parenting a shot for yourself. |
| D．Plants remind us that change is a part of life. |
| E．Keeping plants reminds us of our link to people around us. |
| F．Green gives the mind a comforting sense of calm and positivity. |
| G．Caring for plants during leisure time is beneficial to housewives. |
7 . Tea production in Sri Lanka has thrived for decades. The tea gardens in Hatton, Sri Lanka are actually large tea estates. The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one meter apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimeters high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.
Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilograms of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.
Processing tea shoots into our familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill. There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required. For black tea, the young green leaves are first spread out shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this, the leaves are passed through heavy rollers. This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its color and taste. Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea. The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves. The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.
1. The underlined word “pruning” means ________.| A．reasonable use of weed killer | B．frequent watering |
| C．regular cutting of the plants | D．loosening the soil |
| A．Women pickers are paid less than men. |
| B．Men workers are forbidden to pick the tea leaves. |
| C．Careful women pickers are more welcomed. |
| D．Tea pickings must be done every half a month. |
| A．Four. | B．Five. | C．Six. | D．Seven. |
| A．Tea production in Sri Lanka | B．Tea picking in Sri Lanka |
| C．How to grow tea plants | D．How to process tea |
8 . There's nothing better than a walk in the countryside for lifting our spirits. Connecting with nature has been proven to help our mental health. For some, the best medicine is to take a walk through a forest, but as we admire the trees that surround us. It's worth knowing these trees are doing more than just being nice things to look at.
We’re already aware of the healing properties of trees—they produce oxygen and clean the air we breathe by absorbing about a quarter of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. But there's more to these impressive forms of plants than we might think. Researchers have discovered evidence that proves they are actually clever.
It's thought that trees talk and share resources right under our feet, using a fungal network. Under the ground are tree roots, and “communication” among them, along with bacteria, are thousands of superfine hyphae. And research has shown that they are all interconnected. They can help each other by sharing nutrients, and can even warn of approaching threats. Scientists say its like the trees are talking to one another.
Ecologist Suzanne Simard has called this network the Wood Wide Web. She discovered that parent trees use this network to help their offspring. Speaking to the BBC, she said: “We found that the parent trees would favour those seedlings that were of their own kind” by sending them more nutrients. She also found that trees are smart enough to change their behaviour and have managed to adapt and survive in a changing environment.
So it seems trees really are the stars of our natural world, and with around three trillion of them on our planet, it's time to show them some respect if we want them to flourish.
1. How do trees help improve the air quality?| A．By taking in carbon dioxide emissions. | B．By taking on a nice and clean look. |
| C．By share resources right under the ground. | D．By communicating with each other. |
| A．Roots. | B．Sunshine. | C．Water. | D．Hyphae. |
| A．Friends. | B．Sisters. | C．Neighbors. | D．Children. |
| A．How Trees Help | B．Intelligent Trees |
| C．Stars of Our Natural World | D．Properties of Trees |
