Question

Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?

UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined.

Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.

Nitrogen (氮) and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌) networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.

Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.

“We didn’t take any notice of it,” Simard says sadly. “Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.

1.The underlined sentence “the opposite is true” in Paragraph 3 probably means that trees ________.

A. depend on each other    B. protect their own wealth

C. compete for survival    D. provide support for dying trees

2.“Mother trees” are extremely important because they________．

A. know more about the complex “tree societies”

B. seem more likely to be cut down by humans

C. look the largest in size in the forest

D. pass on nutrition to young trees

3.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to ________.

A. how young trees survive    B. how “tree societies” work

C. how forestry industry develops    D. how trees grow old

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Old Trees Communicate Like Humans

B. Young Trees Are in Need of Protection

C. Trees Are More Fantastic Than You Think

D. Trees Contribute to Our Society

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.C

【解析】文章介绍树和树之间不是你死我活的竞争关系，它们之间是相互依赖的，快要死的树会将自己的营养传给小树让它们更好的成长，人们如果知道这些现象，就可以更好的保护这些树。

1.A句意理解题：根据文章第二段的句子：trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition "depending on who needs it".可知上文提到达尔文的适者生存的理论，而相反的是树是彼此依赖的，所以选A。

2.D细节题：根据文章第四段的句子：She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow.可知mother trees之所以重要是因为它们将营养传给小树，选D。

3.B猜词题：it出现在文章最后一段：实际上it指代的是第四段提到的内容，人们砍倒快死的mother trees是不知道树的社会的依存关系，可知it指的是“树的社会”是怎么运作的，所以选B。

4.C标题确定题：根据全文内容，可知文章介绍树和树之间不是你死我活的竞争关系，它们之间是相互依赖的，快要死的树会将自己的营养传给小树让它们更好的成长，从第一段的句子：Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?可知作者想要表达的是树要比我们想象的要更加令人惊叹，所以选C。