Nature’s Lungs

We know that trees are nature’s purifier (净化器): They absorb carbon emissions (碳排放)and release oxygen. But their     1       (able) to do that changes as they age. According to Newsweek, trees     2       are at least 20 years old can absorb carbon better than younger ones and older ones. And a recent study by researchers from South Korea’s Forest Research Institute     3       (find) exactly how much carbon that each 25-year-old cherry tree can absorb: 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) each year.

According to the study, there are     4       (current) about 1.5 million cherry trees in South Korea, which means they can take in as much as 13,650 tons of carbon each year.

This may sound like a lot,     5       it’s only the annual emissions of 6,000 cars. And it’s pretty     6       (shock) if you think about it: The annual emissions of a single-car requires 250 mature cherry trees to absorb     7       carbon.

Yet, planting trees is still considered the most effective way     8       (reduce) global warming, according to Professor Tom Crowther of the Swiss university ETH Zurich. “Forest restoration isn’t just one of our climate change     9       (solution), it’s the top one,” he told the Guardian. “What blows my mind is the scale. I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is much    10     (powerful) than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”

From “pocket parks” between communities to forest parks in the outer cities, local governments are     1     (ambition) to make China’s cities greener. That’s     2     there are more parks in cities these days.

From 2021 to 2022, Shanghai transformed 62 woodlands into leisure spaces. These leisure spaces open up forests,     3     allows visitors to enjoy natural beauty as well as wildlife. In urban     4     (area), more companies and universities are sharing their greenery. For instance, the Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science opened its 1,000-square-meter green space to the public.     5     (join) by historical buildings in the area, the park can provide more space for tourists to rest.

Apart from meeting people’s needs, parks can also do good to the environment. Take Beijing’s Central Green Forest Park     6     an example. Since it was opened in 2020, the park     7     (reach)carbon neutrality (碳中和). It means although the park’s facilities produce carbon dioxide, more can be     8     (take) in by the plants there. The park also fully reuses rainwater and creates green energy     9     (supply) the park. As cities in China become greener, “park cities” are becoming a reality. The concept of a park city was     10     (initial) put forward in 2018. It is a concept that takes the form of an improved natural environment in all aspects, noted China Daily.

Like China’s Kunming Institute of Botany, the Millennium Seed Bank(MSB)shines brightly for plant preservation. Located at the Wakehurst wild botanic garden in West Sussex, England, the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB), the world’s     1     (large)seed bank, has announced that it now holds more than 40, 000 wild plant species.     2     the aim of preserving rare, threatened and important wild plants, MSB     3     (create)by researchers from London’s Kew Gardens more than 20 years ago. Now around 2. 4 billion individual seeds from 190 countries are stored in     4     (it) underground rooms. Any seeds that arrive at MSB are dried, cleaned     5     then stored at-20℃. Scientists remove the seeds every 10 years     6     (see) if they can still grow into plants, and to develop new ways of       7     (help) wild plants survive. One of the most remarkable     8     (strong) of MSB is that it serves as a global backup for plant variety. Seeds in the bank include the world’s smallest water lily, a rare Australian pea and Antarctic hair grass, one of two flowering plants     9     grow in Antarctica. The bank ensures that if plants in the wild become extinct, they can be regrown from MSB seeds. There is no doubt that the MSB plays an     10     (extreme) important role in protecting the varieties of plant species on Earth.

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.

When it comes to cacti (仙人掌), we usually think of them living in very dry environments like deserts. However, the plant can now be seen in some Alpine regions of Switzerland and Italy - mountain areas     1     used to be covered by snow.

“In some parts of Valais, we estimate that the cacti can take     2     one-third of the surface,” Yann Triponez, a biologist working in Valais, Switzerland said. Although the plant     3     (be) present in the local area since the late 18th century, recent     4     (discover) showed that cacti are growing faster than usual. “When you have these cacti, nothing else grows,” Triponez said, stating that the plant     5     (cover) the soil and prevents other plants from taking root.

A warmer climate in Alpine areas can be seen     6     a reason for the change. The warming climate has been reducing snow coverage in the area,     7     (give) more soil for the cacti to grow on. It also leads to     8     (long) time periods for the plant to grow. Botanist (植物学家) Peter Oliver Baumgartner told The Guardian that     9     people may have the impression that cacti prefer hot climates, they can live in temperatures as low as-15C. Baumgartner also called on more attention     10     (pay) to local biodiversity since Valais has about two-thirds of the total plant species in Switzerland.

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.

Indoor plants are a beautiful way to    1    (bright) up your home, especially in the gray    2    (month) of winter. But there can be a dark side to houseplants if you have children or if children visit your home. It is important that you know which plants are poisonous to children.

Gardening expert Jessica Damiano    3    (recent) wrote about the issue for The Associated Press. She said she often pointed out houseplants in homes that should     4    (keep) out of children’s mouths. Last week, Damiano    5    (visit) her cousin’s home and saw a Dieffenbachia plant in the kitchen. Her cousin told her that her young son,    6    had just begun crawling, had shown interest in     7    leaves. Damiano had to explain to her cousin that eating a small amount of the plant’s stem could cause temporary     8    severe pain. The plant parts can cause throat and mouth swelling. The plant’s sap can cause nose, skin and eye pain. Damiano wrote that parents should teach their young children not to put non-food plant parts into their mouths. “Parents should also educate     9    (they),” she said. She urged parent store search whether the plants in their homes are safe to grow around children. She also suggested     10    (learn) the official botanical names of any houseplants so that they can be able to provide that information quickly to a poison control expert, if needed.

Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings (幼苗) onboard the Tiangong space station.

There have been other rice     1     (experiment) in space. But the one being conducted on Tiangong is the first of     2     (it) kind that aims to produce the complete life cycle of the plant, which begins with a seed and ends with     3     mature plant producing new seeds.

China launched the Wentian space laboratory into orbit on July 24. The space lab, which weighs 23 metric tons and is 17.9 meters tall, is the country’s     4     (large) spacecraft to date. Onboard     5     (be) eight experimental payloads, including the one for the rice experiment.

“We want to investigate how microgravity affects the plant flowering time on the molecular (分子的) level     6     whether it is possible to use the microgravity environment     7     (control) the related process,” said Zheng Huiqiong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Flowering is a     8     (vital) important stage for plant reproductive development.

“If we want to land on and explore Mars, food     9     (bring) from Earth is not enough for the astronauts’ long journey and mission in space. We have to find a sustainable food source     10     long-term space explorations,” Zheng said.

Scientists at the University of Florida have grown plants in soil that came from the Moon. The plants didn’t grow as well as    1    grown in dirt from Earth, but the experiment marks an important step towards growing plants on the Moon.

Soil from the Moon is very different from regular soil. It’s    2    (powder)and doesn’t have many nutrients—things that help plants grow. The soil has a large amount of iron，and is full of tiny pieces of glass    3    smashed meteorites (陨石).The scientists chose a plant called thale cress (鼠耳芥) for their experiment. It’s a small plant     4    (relate) to broccoli that can grow in very little soil. Scientists know a lot about the DNA of thale cress, which helps them understand how it reacts to the soil it    5    (plant)in.

The researchers separated the lunar soil into 12 tiny containers. They got the soil wet with water mixed with nutrients. Then they added seeds. The researchers also planted thale cress seeds in ash from    6    (volcano)—a sort of fake lunar soil. After two days of watering, the scientists     7    (see)green growths in every container. “The seeds started to grow. I can’t tell you    8     astonished we were!” said Paul, the report’s lead author.    9    (show)that plants will grow in lunar soil is    10    (actual) a huge step in that direction.

With high yield and superior quality, Chinese hybrid rice varieties have been introduced around the world,     1     (benefit) more people. The export of China’s hybrid rice technology started many years ago. In 1979, China provided hybrid rice seeds to another country for the first time, and 40 years later, in     2     (real), China’s hybrid rice has been planted in dozens of countries in the world.

In the past 40 years, Chinese scientists     3     (devote) to providing assistance to many other countries. China has trained more than 14,000 hybrid rice professionals for more than 80 developing countries through international training courses. This technology has spread     4     more and more places in the world so far.

Yuan Longping,     5     cultivated the world’s first high-yield hybrid rice strain not only earned respect from Chinese people but also the global community. His hybrid rice research has been     6     (entire) saving millions of people from hunger. Yuan’s dream was     7     (solve) the global food shortage and promote hybrid rice around the world. China has achieved     8     great wonder, feeding nearly one fifth of the world’s population with less than nine percent of the world’s total land. And China is     9     (will) to contribute to global food security and calls for joint efforts to end global hunger and poverty.

It     10     (believe) that Yuan’s dream will come true one day.