阅读训练：树木的智慧

There’s nothing better than a walk in the countryside for lifting our spirits. Connecting with nature has been proven to help our mental health. For some, the best tonic is to stroll through a forest, but as we admire the trees that surround us, it’s worth knowing these trees are doing more than just being nice things to look at.

We’re already aware of the healing properties of trees – they produce oxygen and clean the air we breathe by absorbing about a quarter of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Deforestation isn’t helping with this which is why so many people want to save them. But there’s more to these impressive forms of vegetation than we might think. Researchers have discovered evidence that proves they are actually intelligent.

It’s thought that trees talk and share resources right under our feet, using a fungal network. Under the ground are tree roots, and mingling among them, along with bacteria, are thousands of superfine threads of fungi, known as hyphae. And research has shown that they are all interconnected. They can help each other by sharing nutrients, and they can even warn of approaching threats. Scientists say it’s like the trees are talking to one another.

Ecologist Suzanne Simard has called this network the Wood Wide Web. She discovered that parent trees use this network to help their offspring. Speaking to the BBC, she said: “We found that the parent trees would favour those seedlings that were of their own kin versus the strangers” by sending them more nutrients. She also found that trees are smart enough to change their behaviour and have managed to adapt and survive in a changing environment.

So it seems trees really are the stars of our natural world, and with around three trillion of them on our planet, it’s time to show them some respect if we want them to flourish.

词汇表

countryside 郊外，乡下

lift one’s spirits 振奋精神

tonic 使人精神振作的事情

forest 森林

healing properties 治疗功效

oxygen 氧气

carbon dioxide emissions 二氧化碳排放

deforestation 毁林，大面积砍伐森林

vegetation 植被，植物

resources 资源

fungal network 真菌网络

tree root 树根

bacteria 细菌

fungi 真菌，真菌类植物

hyphae 菌丝

nutrient 养分，营养物

Wood Wide Web “树联网”

offspring 后代，产物

seedling 幼苗

kin 同族，亲戚

flourish 茁壮成长

1、阅读课文并回答问题。

2、选择意思恰当的单词或词组来完成下列句子。

Watching the comedy film really _______ after a hard day at work.

To survive in the modern world, the business has to _______ its working practices.

My brother and his _______ always come over for dinner on Sundays.

None of the crops grew because there was a lack of _______ in the soil.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the wonders of the _______.