A
Next time you find yourself tending to your flower garden, you may want to stay quiet.The flowers are listening.
Israeli scientists discovered that the plants hear bees approaching and attempt to lure them in with sweeter nectar (花蜜)．In several experiments, they found that playing audio recordings of buzzing bees around certain flowers will cause the sugar concentration in the nectar to rise by about 20% in less than five minutes.Such a rapid reaction by plants to sound had never previously been reported.Just to make a comparison, the researchers also tried a higher frequency noise—like that made by a mosquito or a bat—and the flowers did not respond.
The authors pointed out that the behavior is actually in line with the natural order of things, considering that a plant's ability to sense its environment and respond to it is critical for its survival.So, it seems that plants have some sort of consciousness.
This is not the first time that plants have reacted to the sound around them.In a 2009 study, the researchers found that women's voices help make plants grow faster.In that experiment, tomato plants were found to grow two inches taller when they were tended to by a female gardener.
What if we told you that a potato chip bag left on the floor of a break room could listen in on office gossip？As people were talking around the potato chip bag, they were sending tiny sound vibrations (震动) into the air.Those vibrations then hit lifeless objects around the room.If you had a camera that was zoomed in on one of those objects extremely closely, in theory, you could actually see the object move along with the vibrations.You could then feed that video into a computer program that could translate the vibrations and you could play back the audio of the conversation that just took place.
So the next time you're at the botanical garden or in a grocery aisle, be careful what you say.Someone—or something—might be listening.
【语篇解读】 本文是一篇说明文。研究发现，植物会对周围的声音作出反应，而无生命的物体也会随声波的震动动起来。
1．Which of the following best explains “lure” in Paragraph 2?
A．Shut. B．Attract.
C．Trap. D．Lead.
B [词义猜测题。画线词所在句意为：以色列科学家发现，这种植物听到蜜蜂靠近的声音，就会用更甜的花蜜来引诱它们。因此画线词与attract“吸引”意思相近。故选B。]
2．What is vital for plants to survive?
A．The soil they depend on to grow.
B．The audio recordings played to them.
C．The identification to the sound frequency.
D．The power to sense and react to the environment.
D [细节理解题。根据第三段中的“a plant's ability to sense its environment and respond to it is critical for its survival”可知，感知环境并对环境作出反应的能力对植物生存至关重要。故选D。]
3．What can speed up the growth of plants?
A．The women's voice.
B．The strength of the vibration.
C．The species of the young plant.
D．The number of the music played.
A [细节理解题。根据第四段中的“the researchers found that women's voices help make plants grow faster”可知，女性的声音可以加快植物生长的速度。故选A。]
4．What is the main idea of the text?
A．The frequency of vibrations determines plants' growth.
B．Sound vibrations can be processed into audio.
C．Buzzing bees can increase the production of nectar.
D．Plants or lifeless objects may have the ability to listen.
D [主旨大意题。文章开头说植物听到蜜蜂靠近就会试图用更甜的花蜜来吸引它们，后面说薯片的包装袋可能会偷听办公室的闲聊，再结合文章最后一句“Someone—or something—might be listening.”可知，这句话总结了全文大意“植物或无生命物体可能有听的能力”，故选D。]
