1 . Trees have long played a special role in all aspects of human life. In ancient times, trees provided a place for humans to take shelter from storms, heat and even enemies. Today, the importance of trees continues to increase.     1    

Trees provide the necessary oxygen to breathe. Many industrial and development activities add huge quantities of carbon dioxide to the environment. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and in turn release fresh oxygen in the environment.     2     Thus, they are the most important contributors in maintaining the environmental balance.

Trees can prevent soil erosion (侵蚀) and clean soil. Trees bind (捆绑) the soil of the earth tightly.     3     They are highly beneficial for preventing soil erosion. Besides, poisonous chemicals and pollutants from various factories enter into the soil, thus causing soil pollution. Trees have the ability to store them or change them into less harmful forms.

    4     Trees satisfy the need of fuel for cooking in many areas around the world. Trees also provide wood for furniture and hundreds of household items. Wood pulp (浆) is used for making paper in industries. Also, trees produce a number of fruits and nuts which are sold at market. Some trees are even used to make medicines.

Trees provide life to birds and insects.     5     Insects get their food in the form of seeds, buds, and fruits. Thus trees are the most important supporters of life.

A．This lowers global warming.

B．Trees are of commercial importance.

C．This increases the drying effect on the soil.

D．More benefits of trees are being discovered.

E．They give them food, shelter, cover, and nest sites.

F．Trees provide wood for making furniture and paper.

G．Therefore, fast flowing water or heavy wind is unable to take away soil with it.

2 . Located in a comer of north Brooklyn is a 3,000-square-fbot patch of open space. Keap Fourth, at the intersection of Keap and South 4th Streets, is a community garden established in 2013. It’s a well-known part in this largely Dominican and Puerto Rican neighbourhood, at the edge of trendy Williamsburg. The sun is out, and “it’s nearly planting season,” says Crito Thornton, a volunteer who manages the garden, with a grin. After a long winter made worse by Covid-19 there are finally signs of life in the daffodils blooming around the garden.

Keap Fourth is one of 550 community gardens which have sprung up at New York’s street comers since the 1970s, when the city’s economy collapsed and its landscape became dotted by abandoned lots. Activists sought to transform these urban scars into gardens where residents could relax and grow vegetables. These places now cover 100 acres across the city, tended by a volunteer army of nearly 23,000 green-fingered New Yorkers. The gardens are supported by GreenThumb, a government initiative established in 1978, which is now the country’s largest urban-gardening programme.

Running these spaces is no easy task. Keap Fourth’s neighbourhood has been troubled by drug dealers, who moved across the Williamsburg Bridge after being driven out of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The garden is a popular drop-off point, with suspicious packages found among the greens. But the recent death of a local kingpin (毒枭) in a car accident and the efforts of the police may make the gardens more peaceful, says Mr. Thornton.

The future looks bright. A key issue in the past has been a manpower shortage for the harvest. But volunteer numbers across the city’s gardens have gone up slowly since the pandemic’s onset, as locked-down residents have desired for more open space. And in Keap Fourth’s case, the whole neighbourhood seems to have come together over the past year as few people now undergo the daily commute (通勤) across the river to Manhattan. A bountiful harvest is in prospect.

1. What can we infer about Keap Fourth?

A．It’s mostly owned by volunteers.	B．It can help save people’s lives.
C．It was most depressing last winter.	D．It brings its liveliness to people there.

2. Why have community gardens become popular since 1970s?

A．They have occupied New York,s street comers.

B．They have been regarded as urban scars.

C．They can be a way to take advantage of land.

D．They have covered 100 acres across the city.

3. What’s the author’s attitude to the gardens’ future?

A．Positive.

B．Negative.

C．Objective.

D．Indifferent.

4. What may contribute to the potential harvest this year?

A．The pandemic loss last year.	B．More open space.
C．Togetherness of the neighbourhood.	D．Daily commute across the river.