1 . Wildflower meadows are beautiful; so beautiful in fact that a village in Britain has found they act as natural speed traps from motorists slowing down to look at them.
The village of Long Newnton in Gloucestershire has a problem with fast-moving traffic between nearby towns. Almost all drivers moving through areas they frequent will break posted speed limits, and neither a 30 mile per hour limit, nor warning signs made any difference.
Officials first planted flowers along the roadside during the pandemic to help improve biodiversity. But they noticed that as well as attracting more wildlife, motorists also slowed down when they passed the flowers. The village, between Tetbury and Malmesbury, has traffic regularly travelling between them, and the small parish council(教区行政机构) receives limited funds from the government for traffic control measures.
Putting two and two together, the village is now relying on its flowers to do the work that the road signs could not, paying for the blooms with crowdfunding(众筹) in the village.
Why exactly people slow down isn’t entirely clear. “Evidence has shown that if you introduce things like wildflowers, drivers will slow down because they feel like they’re coming into somewhere that’s looked after,” said Jenny Forde, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Cotswold District Council. A crowdfunding campaign has raised almost £8,000 for traffic-calming measures, which will be used to fund a three-year care program for the wildflowers.
A sign that flashes and records data when people are breaking the 30 mph(48 kmph) speed limit was also fixed by the council. According to the data, 90% of motorists drive below the speed limit. It goes to show that something the homeschooling revolution in America is getting right applies elsewhere too, and that rewards for good behavior will always outperform(胜过) punishment for bad behavior.
1. What problem are villagers in Long Newnton facing?| A．Drivers often overspeed through the village. |
| B．Warning signs are unserviceable inside the village. |
| C．Traffic accidents often happen between the towns. |
| D．Large numbers of people are pouring to visit the village. |
| A．Acting as traffic signals. | B．Attracting more tourists. |
| C．Increasing plant diversity. | D．Advising drivers to slow down. |
| A．The longest journey begins with the first step. |
| B．Rewards outweigh punishment in some way. |
| C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
| D．A good beginning is half of success. |
| A．Pay for Flowers with Crowdfunding | B．Natural Traps Found in Long Newnton |
| C．More Measures Taken to Regulate Traffic | D．Handle Speeding with Wildflowers’ Help |
2 . Lichens (地衣)
Lichens look like splashes of paint left behind by a careless painter. Unlike many plants, they do not require soil to grow. They grow on trunk of trees in steaming tropical rain forests, on farmers’ fenceposts, on the bricks of big-city buildings, and on old gravestones. Lichens can tolerate extremes of climate. They grow on rocks in hot springs, on wind-swept mountaintops, and on stones in the driest deserts. In the Arctic, lichens are the principal source of food for reindeer. Whole mountainsides in Antarctica appear green and orange because of the presence of lichens; they are one of the few plants that can survive there. They are among the oldest of known plants. Recently, scientists discovered lichen fossils on a rock in a mine in southwest China that date back 600 million years.
When conditions become harsh, lichens become dormant (休眠). If there is not enough moisture, they simply dry up, but a short rain or even a heavy dew gives them new life. When growing on rock surfaces, lichens produce acids that dissolve (溶解) the minerals, contributing to the process of weathering by which rocks are slowly turned to soil. This property enables lichens to be pioneers. They appear on barren rock rubbed clean by glaciers, fires, lava flows, or floods, beginning the process of soil formation that allows mosses (苔藓) and other plants to later take root. But, despite their hardiness, lichens are extremely sensitive to airborne particles(颗粒). That’s why they serve as an early warning system for air pollution.
It is the acids lichens produce that give them their distinctive colors. Lichens are often spoken of in the same breath as mosses, and some lichens are even called mosses, but true mosses are all distinctively green, whereas lichens appear in many vivid colors. At one time, acids from lichens were used to make dyes, such as the purple dye, the blue dye, and the red dye, and they are sometimes still used that way today. Some lichens, such as oakmoss, contain oils that produce fragrant odors used in scented soaps, cosmetics and perfumes. Some lichens are also known to have antibiotic properties to kill bacteria.
So definite are the form, color, and characteristics of these organisms that for hundreds of years lichens were constantly under scientists’ microscope.
1. What characteristic of lichens is mainly talked about in paragraph 1?| A．They grow only on rock surfaces. |
| B．They live primarily in cold places. |
| C．They have adapted to a wide variety of environments. |
| D．They live in remote locations far from human communities. |
| A．have their primitive structure |
| B．grow in areas before other plants do |
| C．are found in remote parts of the world |
| D．develop so early in the history of the planet |
| A．as a means of coloring clothing |
| B．as a type of medicine |
| C．as a source of food |
| D．as an ingredient in perfume |
| A．Lichens are important in Canada because of their abundance in the north. |
| B．Extracts of lichens were sold as herbal medicines to facilitate hair growth. |
| C．Glacier Park’s vast array of lichens indicate relatively good air quality. |
| D．A German botanist first found lichens are composed of two life forms. |
3 . A hungry fly speeds through a forest. It smells nectar (a liquid that insects feed on) and lands on a green leaf. It starts to drink the sweet liquid. Suddenly, the fly's world turns green. The two sides of the leaf close against each other. Long green teeth lock together around it. The fly has been caught by a Venus flytrap. There is no escape.
The Venus flytrap is perhaps the most famous killer plant. However, scientists have only recently started to understand how it hunts and eats. After years of study, plant scientist Alexander Volkov believes he now knows the Venus flytrap's secret. “This,” says Volkov," is an electrical plant."
There are three small hairs along each of the Venus flytrap's two leaves. When an insect touches a hair, it creates an electrical signal in the leaf. The insect can continue feeding—for now. But if it touches another hair within 20 seconds, the trap snaps shut. This system allows the plant to tell the difference between a drop of water, for example, and a moving creature.
Once trapped, an insect has little chance of survival. Instead of nectar, the Venus flytrap now releases a different liquid —one that slowly eats away at the insect. Ten days later, almost nothing is left. The plant's leaves open again, and the Venus flytrap is ready for its next meal.
Besides the Venus flytrap, there are around 700 species of killer plants around the world. Some are deadly. Sundews catch insects using a sticky liquid on the end of long hairs. A butterwort's leaves are covered with tiny, gluey hairs that trap small insects. Pitcher plants have long tubelike leaves into which insects fall and die. Some pitcher plants are large enough to catch and eat small animals like frogs and mice.
1. What is special about the Venus flytrap?| A．Its trap closes very slowly. | B．It has to feed on flies. |
| C．It produces electrical signals. | D．It just makes one kind of liquid. |
| A．To explore how the insect survives. |
| B．To explain how the Venus flytrap works. |
| C．To describe different types of killer plants. |
| D．To introduce an experiment carried out on a plant. |
| A．The sundew. | B．The butterwort. |
| C．The pitcher plant. | D．The Venus flytrap. |
| A．What meals a Venus flytrap prefers. |
| B．What the features of deadly plants are. |
| C．Where the deadly plants are found. |
| D．How other killer plants catch insects. |
