1 . How to grow tomatoes?

Given the proper climatic conditions, you can grow tomatoes nearly anywhere. Before you grow tomatoes, check if your area has the right climatic conditions for this purpose.     1     And if it doesn’t, just give up this idea.

    2    One is to grow them from seed and the other is to grow them from the plants. The seeds usually take six to eight weeks to grow. If you don’t know how to grow tomatoes from seed, you can consider buying the plants directly. Many of these plants can be found at most garden centers.

Tomatoes don’t grow well in cool conditions.     3     Tomatoes require areas with full sun and should have enough protection from strong winds as well, that’s more, they require a lot of water; therefore, you had better water your tomato plants regularly.    4    

Check tomato plants daily for any ripe produce. Picking often helps more to grow. Once the end of growing season is coming, it’s helpful to remove any flowers as well.     5    If you still have a lot of green tomatoes during this time, go ahead and pick them. These can be stored in a warm area up to four weeks, and then they will turn red.

A．It's not that difficult to grow tomatoes.

B．Doing this can help existing fruits grow.

C．If it does, find some land for growing some.

D．There is one popular way to grow tomatoes.

E．There are two ways for you to grow tomatoes.

F．Pay attention to all these things to grow tomatoes well.

G．They require an average temperature of 65 °F or higher to grow well .

2 . On a sunny but bitterly cold February day, a line of small children snaked their way from Dale to Dale Fort on the Haverfordwest estuary. They were the last of more than 2,000 volunteers who over the last year have collected, stored and put seagrass seeds into little bags, ready for planting. These seagrass seeds were soon to join others on the seafloor a few hundred metres off-shore from Dale to recover two hectares of seagrass meadow (草甸). This recovery is the latest attempt to change a century of destruction.

In the UK, we can only estimate the loss but in Denmark, seagrass records dating back to the 1880s give a very serious and accurate picture. At the turn of the last century, fishing was vital to the Danish economy. It was known then that seagrass meadows were a vital habitat for young sea fish and so in 1908 botanist Carl Ostenfeld was asked to study the seagrasses, then found in all the estuaries and entrance of Denmark. That study provided a clear standard against which to measure the loss of seagrass in Denmark, a loss that currently stands at 95 percent.

Why does this matter? Seagrass not only provide a nurturing habitat for fish but also stabilises the shore and absorbs energy, reducing the impact of storms. Boat anchors (船锚) are one cause of damage to seagrass; seashore development another. But the main cause is river water pollution, particularly nutrients from fertiliser and dirty water. These excess nutrients cause algal (藻类) growth that blankets the seagrass, cutting out light, and then later, when it dies off and rots, removes all oxygen.

One of the important messages is, if you stop killing sea life and protect it, then it does come back. We can turn the oceans around and we know it makes sense economically, for human health and, of course, for the environment.

1. What did the kids do in Dale over the last year?

A．Have an interesting trip.

B．Gather seagrass seeds.

C．Protect seagrass from snakes.

D．Make an important study.

2. What can we know about Carl Ostenfeld’s study?

A．It was carried out in the UK and Denmark.

B．It contributed to Danish economy greatly.

C．It showed the loss of seagrass in Denmark.

D．It made some practical measures for Denmark.

3. Which of the following affects seagrass most seriously?

A．Algal growth.

B．Seashore development.

C．Air pollution.

D．Boats anchors

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To show recovering seagrass is beneficial.

B．To ask people to plant much seagrass.

C．To present the dangers to seagrass.

D．To persuade people to catch fewer sea fish.

3 . Trees are “social creature” that communicate with each other in cooperative ways that hold lessons for humans, too, ecologist Suzanne Simard says. Simard grew up in Canadian forests as a child of loggers before becoming an ecologist. She's now a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia.

Trees are linked to neighboring trees by a network of fungi below the surface of the earth that resembles the nervous networks in the brain, she explains. In one study, Simard watched as a Douglas fir tree that had been injured by insects appeared to send chemical warning signals to a pine nearby. The pine tree then produced defense enzymes to protect against the insect.

“This was a breakthrough,” Simard says. The trees were sharing “information that actually is important to the health of the whole forest.”

In addition to warning each other of danger, Simard says that trees have been known to share nutrients at critical times to keep each other healthy. She says the trees in a forest are often linked to each other via an older tree she calls a “mother” or “hub” tree.

“In connecting with all the trees of different ages, the mother trees can actually ease the growth of these young trees,” she says. “The young trees will link into the network of the old trees and benefit from that huge resource capacity. And the old trees would also pass a little bit of carbon and nutrients and water to the young trees, at crucial times in their lives, that actually help them survive.”

The study of trees took on a new resonance for Simard when she suffered from breast cancer. During her treatment, she learned that one of the medicines she relied on was actually obtained from what some trees produce for their own mutual defense. She explains her research on cooperation in the forest, and shares her personal story in the new book Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.

1. How could a Douglas fir tree send chemical warning signals to a pine nearby?

A．By an underground network of fungi.	B．By the nervous networks in the brain.
C．By making cooperation with each other.	D．By holding lessons to it as human beings.

2. According to Simard, what was a breakthrough?

A．Simard was-brought up in Canadian forests.	B．She became a professor of forest ecology.
C．The pine tree produced defense enzymes.	D．Vital information was shared among trees.

3. What helped Simard understand trees further?

A．Her rich knowledge of trees.	B．Her childhood in the forest.
C．Her medicine gained from trees.	D．Her research on cooperation.

4. In Simard's book we may discover the wisdom of the forest except          .

A．communicating cooperatively	B．warning each other of danger
C．sharing nutrients at critical times	D．sacrificing mother trees for survival

4 . Global heating appears to be making trees drop their leaves earlier, according to new research, contradicting the idea that warmer temperatures delay the beginning of autumn.

The finding is important because trees draw huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and therefore play a key role in managing the climate.

The rising temperatures also mean that spring is arriving earlier and,overall, the growing season for trees in the planet's temperate zones(温带地区） is getting longer. However, the earlier autumns mean that significantly less carbon can be stored in trees than previously thought, providing less of a brake on global heating.

The new research is based on a huge dataset of observations of European trees, experiments that varied light and CO2 levels, and mathematical models. It showed that as well as temperature and day length, the amount of carbon a tree has absorbed in a season is a key factor in determining when it no longer needs its leaves and drops them. The scientists liken the effect to a person becoming full after a heavy meal and being unable to eat more food.

Earlier models that did not include the amount of carbon a tree absorbs during a season indicated that autumn could be two to three weeks later by the end of the century on current emissions (排放） trends. But the scientists' new model indicates autumn may actually come up to six days earlier. Christine Rollinson, an ecologist at the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, USA, said the earlier models were known to be simplifications but were the best available.

“The big challenge is that autumn has always been a bit of a mess,” she said. “Depending on where you are and which species you're looking at, there's some evidence that leaf fall is happening earlier and some that it's happening later. But understanding how well a tree grows during the season really helps explain that tree-to-tree variation.”

Rollinson said that we can't put all of the responsibility on to growing trees. We can cut emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation to address the climate emergency.

1. What is the result of rising temperature?

A．Later spring.

B．More carbon storage.

C．Shorter growth season.

D．Earlier autumn leaf-off.

2. What does the underlined word “liken” mean in the fourth paragraph?

A．Compare.

B．Owe.

C．Expose.

D．Reduce.

3. What is Christine Rollinson's attitude towards the earlier models?

A．Disapproving.

B．Supportive.

C．Sceptical.

D．Unclear.

4. What is the last paragraph meant to do?

A．Offer a solution.

B．Voice dissatisfaction.

C．Show a new finding.

D．Present more evidence.