题目内容
Plants can’t communicate by moving or making sounds, as most animals do. Instead, plants Produce volatile compounds, chemicals that easily change from a liquid to a gas. A flower’s sweet smell, for example, comes from volatile compounds that the plant produces to attract insects such as Bugs and bees.
Plants can also detect volatile compounds produced by other plants. A tree under attack by Hungry insets, for instance, may give off volatile compounds that let other trees know about the Attack. In response, the other trees may send off chemicals to keep the bugs away ——or even Chemicals that attract the bugs’ natural enemies.
Now scientists have created a quick way to understand what plants are saying: a chemical Sensor(传感器)called an electronic nose. The “e-nose” can tell compounds that crop plants make When they’re attacked Scientists say the e-nose could help quickly detect whether plants are being Eaten by insects. But today the only way to detect such insects is to visually inspect individual Plants. This is a challenging task for managers of greenhouses, enclosed gardens than can house Thousands of plants.
The research team worked with an e-nose than recognizes volatile compounds. Inside the device, 13 sensors chemically react with volatile compounds Based on these interactions, the e-nose gives off electronic signals that the scientists analyze using computer software.
To test the nose, the team presented it with healthy leaves from cucumber, pepper and tomato plants, all common greenhouse crops. Then scientists collected samples of air around damaged leaves from each type of crop, These plants had been damaged by insects, or by scientists who made holes in the leaves with a hole punch(打孔器). The e-nose, it turns out, could identify healthy cucumber, pepper and tomato plants based on The volatile compounds they produce, It could also identify tomato leaves that had been damaged. But even more impressive, the device could tell which type of damage ---- by insects or with a hole Punch ---- had been done to the tomato leaves.
With some fine-tuning, a device like the e-nose could one day be used in greenhouses to quickly spot harmful bugs, the researchers say. A device like this could also be used to identify fruits that are perfectly ripe and ready to pick and eat, says Natalia Dudareva, a biochemist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. who studies smells of flowers and plants. Hopefully, scientists believe, the device could bring large benefits to greenhouse managers in the near future.
【小题1】We learn from the text that plants communicate with each other by____.
A.making some sounds | B.waving their leaves |
C.producing some chemicals | D.sending out electronic signals |
A.They presented it with all common crops. |
B.They fixed 13 sensors inside the device. |
C.They collected different damaged leaves. |
D.They made tests on damaged and healthy leaves. |
A.pick out ripe fruits |
B.spot the insects quickly |
C.distinguish different damages to the leaves |
D.recognize unhealthy tomato leaves |
A.is unable to tell the smell of flowers |
B.is not yet used in greenhouses |
C.is designed by scientists at Purdue |
D.is helpful in killing harmful insects |
【小题1】C
【小题2】D
【小题3】C
【小题4】B
解析【小题1】推理判断题。从句中"Plants can't communicate by moving or making sounds, as most animals do. Instead, plants produce volatile compounds, chemicals that easily chasse from a liquid to a gas",可知选C。
【小题2】细节理解题。从文章倒数第三段To test the nose, the team presented it with healthy leaves from-----可以找到答案D。
【小题3】细节理解题。由倒数第二段"But even more impressive, the device could tell which type of damage - by insects or with a hole punch - had been done to the tomato leaves. "可知答案C。
【小题4】推理判断题。由"With some fine tuning, a device like the e-nose could one day be used in greenhouses to quickly ….,one day是关键,可推断选B。
“If you talk to the plants, they will grow faster and the effect is even better if you’re a woman.” Researchers at Royal Horticultural Society carried out an experiment to find that the voice of a woman gardener makes plants grow faster.
The experiment lasted a month and by the end of the study scientists managed to discover that tomato plants grew up two inches taller when women gardeners talked to them instead of male.
Sarah Darwin was the one making the plants the best growth. Her voice was the most “inspiring” for plants than those of nine other gardeners when reading a passage from The Origin of Species. The great-great-granddaughter of the famous botanist (植物学家)Charles Darwin found that her plant grew about two inches taller than the plant of the best male gardener.
Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said that the finding cannot yet be explained.He says that women have a greater range of pitch and tone(音高和音色)which might have a certain effect on the sound waves that reach the plant. “Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light ,”said Mr Grosbie.
The study began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Survey. Scientists started with open auditions(听力) for the people who were asked to record passages from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's The Origin of Species.
Afterwards researchers selected a number of different voices and played them to 10 tomato plants during a period of a month. Each plant had headphones connected to it. Through the headphones the sound waves could hit the plants. It was discovered that plants that “listened” to female voices grew taller by an inch in comparison to plants that heard male voices.
1.What does the passage talk about?
A. Plants enjoy men’s voices than women’s.
B. A science experiment in a museum.
C. Voice’s influence on plant growing.
D. Strange findings at Royal Horticultural Society.
2.What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?
A. Plants need sound as well as rain and light.
B. Sound is basic for the plant to grow.
C. Sound has a good effect as rain or light does.
D. Plants can’t live without sound, rain or light.
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A. The experiment ended in May.
B. Scientist can explain the findings clearly.
C. Plants enjoy listening to the passages from famous works.
D. The findings are of great importance to human beings.