Question

A new study finds that plants communicate with one another to warn of danger.

We often consider plants as the furniture of the natural world. They don’t move; they don’t make sounds；they don’t seem to act on anything. But as is often the case, plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is a chemical (化學(xué)物質(zhì)).

Over the years, scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, give out chemicals into the air to help neighbouring plants. These chemical warnings can spread information about one plant’s disease or infestation (蟲害)，so other plants can protect themselves. But how plants receive and act on the information exactly is still mysterious (神秘的）.

In this week’s Science Magazine, researchers in Japan offered some explanations. They have found out one chemical message and traced it all the way from beginning to end.

The scientists looked at tomato plants infested by a common pest (害蟲）. To start out，they grew plants in two separate plastic spaces connected by a tube (管子）. One plant was infested and placed upwind and the other was uninfested and placed downwind. The downwind plants were later exposed (暴露的）to the pest. The results showed that plants near sick neighbours before were able to protect themselves better against the pest.

They found one chemical appeared more often in the exposed plants. The chemical is called HexVic. The scientists discovered where HexVic came from, and put it over healthy plants. Those plants were then able to produce HexVic. Researchers made sure that uninfested plants could fight off bugs and diseases. How do they know when to protect themselves? They are warned first by their friendly plant neighbours.

It is not a simple story , and it may be happening in many other plants besides tomatoes. It may also be happening with more chemical signals that are still unknown to us. In a word, we know that plants not only communicate, but also look out for one another.

1.The underlined word “traced” in the fourth paragraph probably means _______here.

A. reported B. followed C. doubted D. developed

2.For scientists, which are the right steps to watch tomato plants infested by a pest?

① Place the infested plant upwind.

② Place the uninfested plant downwind.

③ Expose the downwind plants to the pest.

④ Grow plants in two separate plastic spaces connected by a tube.

A. ③①②④ B. ①④③②

C. ④①②③ D. ④②①③

3.You can put the sentence “The researchers also studied leaves from exposed plants and unexposed plants. " at the beginning of Paragraph ____.

A. 3 B. 4 C. 5 D. 6

4.Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A. Communicating Plants and Terrible Diseases

B. Talking Plants and Friendly Warnings

C. Protecting Plants and Clear Information

D. Growing Plants and Mysterious Chemicals

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文敘述了一項(xiàng)新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)植株之間交流是危險的警告。植株之間的交流就是一種化學(xué)物質(zhì)�？茖W(xué)家觀察了害蟲在植株上滋生的過程，發(fā)現(xiàn)在被害蟲感染的植株上有一種化學(xué)物質(zhì)HexVic.這種物質(zhì)放在健康的植株上，也會產(chǎn)生這些物質(zhì)。因此要確保植株健康，首先要有友好的鄰居�？傊�，植株之間不僅交流，而且要互相小心。

1. all the way from beginning to end.可知此處從頭到尾一直在跟蹤，故選B。

2. start out, they grew plants in two separate plastic spaces connected by a tube(管子). One plant was infested and placed upwind and the other was uninfested and placed downwind. The downwind plants were later exposed(暴露) to the pest.可知科學(xué)家觀察害蟲在植株上滋生的步驟為：首先他們在兩個由管子連接獨(dú)立的塑料空間種上植株，一棵植株被感染上害蟲，放在迎風(fēng)的地方，另一棵植株沒有被感染，被放在順風(fēng)的地方。不久順風(fēng)地方的植株也暴露在害蟲面前。故選C。

3. found one chemical appeared more often in the exposed plants. 可知他們在被暴露的植株上發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種化學(xué)物質(zhì)，故在此之前應(yīng)是科學(xué)家把被暴露的植株和沒被暴露的植株進(jìn)行比較，才會發(fā)現(xiàn)他們之間的差別。因此這句話應(yīng)出現(xiàn)在第6段。故選D。

4. new study finds that plants communicate with one another to warn of danger. 可知本文是圍繞著對植物之間互相交流帶來的危險警告。故選B。

考點(diǎn)：科普環(huán)保類閱讀。