1 . “A beautiful field of flowers can be a rather noisy place. It’s just that we can’t hear the sounds.” Scientists at Tel Aviv University have conducted a six-year experiment, proving that plants make noise in certain stressful situations.

Plants produce a high frequency (频率) clicking sound, and when short of water, or damaged, the clicks become far more regular. They also made different sounds, depending on whether they were thirsty or injured. “Each plant and each type of stress is related to a specific sound,” said Professor Lilach Hadany, who led the research study.

Focusing particularly on tomatoes, wheat and corn, the plants were placed in a soundproof(隔音的)room and recorded by microphones. Some plants were starved of water, others cut, and a control group was left undamaged. The researchers used an algorithm (算法) to separate the noises, suecessfully telling the difference between the sounds depending on whether they were dry or cut. The algorithm did this in a greenhouse setting which included far more surrounding sounds, but it was still able to recognize the particular cries for help of the plants.

On average, the human ear can hear sounds up to around 20kHz, while the sounds produced by plants are in the 40-80kHz region, far beyond our hearing. “The sounds made by plants can’t be heard by humans but can probably be heard by various animals, such as bats, mice and insects,” Hadany tells us. Though this has yet to be proven, it’s possible that these creatures use this information to choose which plants to eat.

A study led by Reda Hassanien of China Agriculural University in Beijing years ago, also proved that plants reacted to sound waves, with some plants greatly increasing their yield. While evidence shows that plants can react to sounds, there’s no evidence today that they can actually hear them.

1. What can we know from the six-year experiment?

A．Plants of different types make the sound of the same frequeney.

B．Plants produce more regular sound in certain stressful situations.

C．Plants make sounds with a much lower frequency when stressed.

D．Plants make the sound of the same frequeney whatever the situation.

2. What is the algorithm used for in the research?

A．To record the sounds.	B．To control the sounds.
C．To produce the sounds.	D．To identify the sounds.

3. What has been proven by scientists according to the passage?

A．Plants can hear each other’s cry for help.

B．Animals can hear the sounds made by plants.

C．Plants can make sounds and respond to sound waves.

D．Animals decide what to eat based on the sounds plants make.

4. Which of the following is the best title of the text?

A．Sounds That We Can’t Hear

B．Beautiful Songs from Plants

C．Plants React to Different Types of Stress

D．Plants Talk, Especially When Stressed

2 . With so many different kinds of plants out there, telling them apart can seem like an impossible task. But you don’t have to have a degree in botany to start putting names to the plants you come across. Learning to recognize various species begins with studying the plants’ unique physical features carefully and recording what you see.

    1     If you spot a plant outdoors and don’t have the first clue as to what it is, start identifying it by scanning your surroundings. In particular, consider the overall climate, the conditions of the terrain, and any nearby water sources. A quick glance should be able to tell you what you’re looking at.

Study the plant’s features carefully. Whenever you come across a species you’ve never seen before, stop and take note. Look over each of the individual parts, like the stems (茎，梗), leaves, and flowers.

    2    

Use viewing aids to take a closer look. A magnifying glass will allow you to zoom in and analyze a plant’s features in more vivid detail. Similarly, you may require a pair of binoculars or a telescopic lens when you want to inspect a particular specimen (样本) from a distance.     3    

Write down the plant’s key features.     4     Be sure to make mention of attributes like size, shape, color, and texture, as well as any unique patterns or other distinguishing marks. In order to learn to identify plants on your own, you’ll need to hone (磨练) your use of descriptive language to be as precise as possible.

Ask an expert to take advantage of their firsthand experience. Show your notes and any photos you’ve taken to a botanist, gardening specialist, or respected outdoorsman and see if they can help you discover the identity of a certain plant.     5     People who have spent years studying plants can often pick them out by sight or description.

A．Observe the plant carefully at first.

B．Take your environment into consideration.

C．Record each characteristic in your own words.

D．Judge the age and shape of the plants you have found.

E．Without these tools, you’ll be stuck doing a lot of guesswork.

F．You’ll have an opportunity to absorb a little of what they know.

G．Most plants can be grouped and distinguished by these structures.

3 . Kew Gardens is not only a popular tourist destination in London, but also a botanic garden and a research center that has the largest collection of living plants at a single site. So, let’s explore the Royal Botanic Gardens with CGTN’s reporter Robyn Dwyer.

Palm House

The first stop is the Palm House, a giant indoor rainforest with a wide range of plants. Visitors can enjoy these exotic plants while researchers can study the secrets of these flora. Eatable plants such as cocoa tree and African oil palm are all preserved here to keep the diversity of food resources. At the same time, it houses many medical use plants, including some that are used to treat cancer.

Temperate House

Known as the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse, the Temperate House is home to1,500 species of plants from temperate regions of the world. Some of the species kept here have gone extinct in the wild, such as Encephalartos woodii, a cycad from South Africa. And some are already extinct like Saint Helena olive, but the Kew has stored its DNA.

Mediterranean Garden

In the Mediterranean Garden, one can see plants from the Southern Europe, such as rosemary, olives and cork oak. Walking in the garden, one can feel the non-indoor vibe (氛围) of the Mediterranean and learn about the economic as well as scientific uses of these plants.

On International Day for Biological Diversity this year, join CGTN to travel around the world’s national parks and reserves across seven continents. Our next program is to visit penguins and seals in the Antarctic Ice Aquarium Norway. Please stay tuned!

1. What do the three stops have in common?

A．They store plants for medical use.

B．They have plants of economic value.

C．They house plants of seven continents.

D．They own plants for scientific research.

2. Which one suits a visitor preferring outdoor sites?

A．Palm House.	B．Temperate House.
C．Antarctic Ice Aquarium.	D．Mediterranean Garden.

3. Where is the text most probably taken from?

A．A botanic dictionary.	B．A TV travel series.
C．A trip advertisement.	D．A biodiversity essay.

4 . High-resolution (高分辨率) satellite imagery has been used to map every single tree in Africa, showing a technique that could help improve the monitoring of deforestation (森林砍伐) across the world. Florian Reiner at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and his colleagues used images from sate lies to map canopy (树冠) across the entire African continent.

Modern sate lies usually catch tree canopies at a resolution of 30 meters — fine for measuring the size of forests, but less good at mapping individual trees. The satellite data Reiner and his colleagues used had a resolution of 3 meters, enabling the study to map all trees, including those not part of a forest.

The results suggest that 30 percent of all trees in Africa aren’t in a forest and instead are across farmland, savannah and urban areas. “Many countries in Africa lack thick forests, but have a lot of trees.” says Reiner. “These trees are extremely important to the local ecosystems, the people and the economy. By tracking every single tree, researchers can start to monitor how these trees are coping with climate change or whether they are sensitive to deforestation.” It could also improve the monitoring of reforestation efforts, which are growing in popularity as a way of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“At a local level, being able to consistently monitor when and where trees are disappearing or reappearing can lead to more actionable insights,” says John Francis at the Alan Turing Institute in London.

“The study is a proof of concept rather than a map ready for immediate commercial use,” says Reiner. “It’s research work. It’s showing what could be done,” he says. But he is already working with colleagues to scale up the tracking approach to cover the entire global canopy: “We’re hoping that this will be seen as a way forward in monitoring tree resources.”

1. Why is high-resolution satellite imagery used to map every single tree?

A．To know the exact height of the tree.

B．To have a clear picture of the canopy.

C．To help monitor the deforestation.

D．To improve the satellite technology.

2. What is John Francis’ attitude towards the map?

A．Doubtful.

B．Disapproving.

C．Indifferent.

D．Favorable.

3. What do Reiner and his colleagues expect to do?

A．Protect the trees only in Africa.

B．Put the map into commercial use.

C．Track the entire global canopy.

D．Improve the imagery technology.

4. What is probably the best title?

A．Ways to Measure the Size of Forests in Africa

B．Coping with Climate Change by Tracking Every Single Tree

C．A Map from the Satellite Ready for Immediate Commercial Use

D．High-resolution Satellite Imagery Used in Monitoring Deforestation

5 . Welcome to Science on Sundays

Science on Sundays is a programme of free monthly science talks which always brings the latest discoveries in plant science, as well as research linked to the plant collection at the Botanic Garden, to the visitors in a 30-minute short period of time. The programme in April is about tulips(郁金香).

Introduction

Time: 2:30 pm on Sundays

Title: In Search of Wild Tulips

Objects: adults and children aged 12+

Speaker: Brett Wilson at University of Cambridge

Background Information

The planted tulips are a common sight in spring gardens around the world, but have you ever considered where wild tulips grow? The wild ancestors of our much-loved gardening varieties can mostly be found in the mountains and valleys of Central Asia, far from the Netherlands, where most tulips are grown and bred. At the Botanic Garden, we have a National Tulip Collection where we grow many wild species including plenty of species from Central Asia. Over the last four years, Brett Wilson has been using something learned from books and combining with fieldwork to understand the diversity of tulips, with a view of identifying which species are most at risk of extinction.

Come and listen to Brett speak about the research and the adventures that have occurred in our search to find and protect wild tulips in this remote corner of the world. These will be live face-to-face talks taking place in the Botanic Garden Classroom for those visitors with interest.

1. What do we know about Science on Sundays?

A．It focuses on plants.

B．It is a paid programme.

C．It appeals only to children.

D．It is a live broadcast on weekdays.

2. How does Brett Wilson understand tulips’ diversity?

A．By making assumptions.

B．By picking and collecting tulips.

C．By growing tulips in greenhouses.

D．By combining theory and practice.

3. What is the main purpose of the last paragraph?

A．To ask visitors to plant more tulips.

B．To call on visitors to listen to the talks.

C．To push visitors to take more botany classes.

D．To advise visitors to take adventure in remote areas.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Scientists in Florida have     1     (successful) grown plants in moon soil collected during NASA’s Apollo missions (任务) in the 1960s and 1970s.

    2     NASA-supported study at the University of Florida used soil collected by astronauts    3     (grow) Thale Cress 2 (拟南芥). To compare results, plants were also grown in Earth soil    4     was made to be similar to moon soil. The researchers     5     (add) water and then seeds to the soil, as well as daily nutrients (营养物). After just two days, their growth started.

According to Professor Anna-Lisa Paul, all the plants looked the same     6     the sixth day. After the sixth day,     7    , it was clear that the plants growing in moon soil were not as healthy as those growing in Earth soil.

DNA testing showed that those Thale Cress 2     8     (plant) in the moon soil were under stress. It was also found that the plants grew in different ways in soil from different parts of the moon. The soil collected during the Apollo 11 mission had been on the moon’s surface several billion years     9     (long) than the other soil, and the plants grown in it were the weakest.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson believes this research will help future space missions and that resources on the moon and Mars     10     (need) to develop food for astronauts living and working in space.

7 . 阅读下面材料，在题后空白处填入适当的内容(每空一词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

The record of the    1    (tall) tree in Asia has been refreshed this week, as a team of Chinese researchers announced     2    (recent) that they discovered a giant cypress(柏树)measuring 102.3 meters in Tibet.

The record-breaking high tree, called Cupressus torulosa(西藏柏木),    3    (find) at the national nature reserve of the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Bome county, Nyingchi city, during a scientific investigation led by Peking University in May.

    4    (use) drones and laser radar to map the local cypress aggregation area, the team members confirmed the     5    (present) of the 102.3-meter tree. Besides, they detected a large number of trees over 85 meters high, including 25 over 90 meters. The findings have also contributed    6    the region having the highest density of giant trees in China and Asia after precision measurement, said Ren Yu,    7    is a team member from Peking University.

Mainly distributed in southeastern Tibet, Cupressus, torulosa has a narrow distribution area and     8    small population. Therefore, it has been listed    9    a national first-class protected plant.

The previous China tree height record     10    (hold) was an evergreen fir(常绿冷杉) measured at 83.4 meters by scientists in Tibet last year.

8 . Saving Seeds for Next Year’s Flower Garden

Just like vegetable seeds (种子), you can save flower seeds from your garden this year to plant in the following year.

If you want the same kind of flower or plant for next year’s garden, collect only the seeds from plants marked as “heritage”.     1     Cross seeds with a mixture of two different parents will produce new plants, but they will only look like one of the parents. Therefore, you are taking a risk with planting cross seeds.

Even if you expect plants to be the same as their parents, it is not certain. Wind or insects could bring pollen from one plant to another and accidentally create a mixture.     2     But if you like surprises, start experimenting! You could create a lovely new plant or flower!

Just like everything else in gardening, timing is important. Collect seeds on a dry, sunny day.     3     When their pods open, these plants could send their seeds up to 6 meters away. Once on the ground, it is difficult to collect them. Instead, tie a small bag for seed collection over the pod when it nearly opens.

For plants like sunflowers, cut the head off the plant and drop it into a paper bag.     4     This will save your fingers!

You can place the seeds in a glass box that can be sealed. Then store them in a cool, dry area. Make sure to mark your glass box so you do not forget what they are.     5     But you should plant the new seeds the following year for best results.

A．Keep an eye on some flowers.

B．Let the seeds grow and fall naturally.

C．Give the bag a shake to help separate the seeds.

D．When stored with care, seeds are good for several years.

E．These kinds of plants will grow just like their parent plant.

F．In this case, add more seeds to the soil to make sure that some will grow.

G．You can avoid this by planting only the plant from which you plan to collect seeds.

9 . 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.

2. What can we learn about hongyacha in paragraph 2?

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.

3. What might the follow-up study focus on about hongyacha?

A．Its future location.	B．Its natural habitats.
C．Its future market.	D．Its production process.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A health magazine.	B．An advertising brochure.
C．A travel guidebook.	D．A newspaper.

10 . Few fruits carry more health-promoting antioxidants (抗氧化剂) than blackcurrants (黑加仑). Widely grown in cooler parts of Europe, they are in high demand from consumers seeking chemical-free juices made from the berries. Farmers, though, can struggle to increase productions without relying on chemicals. That could change, not just for blackcurrants but other fruit too, with the careful use of probiotics (益生菌).

Probiotics is mostly known for its use of tiny living things, including certain bacteria, to restore or improve the digestion in people and animals. But plants can benefit from bacteria too. Among other things, bacteria help plants produce things that keep disease-causing viruses off their leaves, support them in collecting nutrition from the environment and help them melt minerals found in the soil.

Knowing all this, Virgilija Gaveliene and Sigita Jurkoniene, of the Institute of Botany Nature Research Centre in Lithuania, set out 10 find a way to use probiotics to increase the production of blackcurrant bushes, which are grown in that country. The researchers also knew from other work that the production of strawberries and raspberries could be increased by exposing plants to a carefully selected mix of bacteria.

As they report in Agricultural Science and Technology, the results were impressive. While thousand blackcurrants collected randomly weighed just over 538 grams, the same number from the field exposed to bacteria treatments weighed nearly 783 grams. A similar increase was also true for the field using the probiotics.

Drs. Jurkoniene and Gaveliene are convinced that the right mix of bacteria can help blackcurrant farmers meet demand without using chemicals. And it could help other growers. What works for berries should, in theory, work for other fruit, like apples, pears and oranges. More experiments are needed to be sure.

1. Blackcurrants are in high demand mainly because _____________.

A．they are widely grown in cooler parts of Europe

B．consumers are looking for berry juices free from chemicals

C．farmers increase production of blackcurrants using probiotics

D．few other fruits are more nutritious than blackcurrants

2. Probiotics can't help plants to _____________.

A．improve their digestion and nutrition	B．get rid of harmful viruses from their leaves
C．collect nutrition from the environment	D．melt minerals obtained from the soil

3. It can be inferred from the passage that _____________.

A．probiotics can only be used to prevent growth of plants

B．blackcurrants grown in Lithuania are more impressive

C．blackcurrant production is increased due to probiotics

D．bacteria must be removed from plants to promote production

4. The passage is most probably selected from _____________.

A．an online novel

B．a science magazine

C．a travel brochure

D．a fashion website