Question

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

Suzanne Simard, forest ecologist(生態(tài)學(xué)家) at the University of British Columbia, explains how trees are much more complex(復(fù)雜的) than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin(達(dá)爾文) thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard and her team have made a new discovery and showed just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their group work and support, passing around necessary nutrition(營(yíng)養(yǎng)) such as nitrogen(氮) and carbon “depending on who needs it”.

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

Simard talks about “Mother trees”. These are usually the largest, oldest plants that on which all other trees depend. These “Mother trees” are connected to all the other trees in the forest by this network of fungi, and may manage the resources of the whole trees and plants in the forest. She explains how these trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important resources to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “Mother trees” without paying attention to these highly complex “tree societies” of the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances to save the whole forest.

“We didn’t take any notice of it,” Simard says sadly. “Mother 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 2 probably means that trees .

A. compete for survival

B. protect their own wealth

C. depend on each other

D. provide support for dying trees

2.“Mother trees”are very important because they .

A. look the largest in size in the forest

B. pass on nutrition to young trees

C. bring more wealth to humans

D. know more about the “tree societies”

3.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to(指代) .

A. how “tree societies” work

B. how trees grow old

C. how forestry industry develops

D. how young trees survive

4.We can learn from the passage that .

A. trees aren’t as complex as we think.

B. Charles Darwin had the same opinion as Simard.

C. if “Mother trees” are cut down, they won’t make difference to young trees.

D. trees can share resources with other ones by the underground fungi networks.

Answer 1