Earth and Sky:Plant Signals 植物的语言

Plant Signals 植物的语言

Can plants smell and taste in the same way that animals do? Can they talk to each other and to insects? Learn how scientists hope to unravel¹ some of the mysteries of plant senses -- on today's Earth and Sky.

JB: This is Earth and Sky. If an insect is damaging a plant, the plant may send out an airborne signal -- like an odor -- attracting just the right predators² -- perhaps flies or wasps³ to attack the offending insect.

DB: Penn State entomologist Jack⁴ Schultz told us that not only can plants send chemical signals to insects -- they can send them to other plants.

Jack Schultz: If you put an unwounded plant in the presence of a wounded plant something will pass through the air -- or at least the evidence is -- that a signal will pass through the air from the wounded plant to the unwounded plant, and turn on defenses in the unwounded plant.

JB: So far, scientists can only see the effects of these chemical signals that fly through the air.

Jack Schultz: We just don't have the instrumentation or the gadgets⁵ necessary to collect those molecules⁷ outside in open air and demonstrate that Molecule⁶ A went from Plant 1 to Plant 2 or from the plant to an insect, and is the cause of the change in the behavior of the receiver organism.

DB: Schultz is working with engineers to develop devices that might one day detect the complex signals sent out and received by plants. Tomorrow -- more on plant senses and defenses. Our thanks to the National Science Foundation -- where discoveries begin. We're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.

1 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

2 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中

4 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

5 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

6 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

7 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。