VOA标准英语2013--Plants, Humans Share Sensory Awareness

 

Plants, Humans Share Sensory¹ Awareness²

The Botanical Garden is a blooming paradise, about four hectares filled with a rich array of some 3,800 species drawn³ from Israel’s diverse landscape and from around the world.

Danny Chamovitz, director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University, visits the garden often to conduct research or just to take a stroll. It's the perfect setting to talk about his new book: “What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses.”

“I wrote the book because I had come to realize that a lot of what I take for granted -that plants have senses, that plants see, that plants smell, that plants know when we’re touching⁴ them - most people don’t know," he said. "And so I wrote the book to show how complex a plant’s life is and to show the science behind it.”

Earlier in his career as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University, Chamovitz researched how plants use light, isolating⁵ the genes⁶ responsible for photosynthesis⁷. Sitting beside a shade tree, he gently pulls on a low-hanging branch, thick with leaves.

“You can see that its stems are longer than the ones that are at the top, which are in the light," he said. "And it knows this because it can actually differentiate⁸ between higher amounts of light and smaller amounts of light and it uses this information either to make itself longer to get toward the light, or once it’s in the light, to make its leaves broader so that it can do its photosynthesis and make the energy.”

Then Chamovitz rips one of the leaves. He says this simple act sends a message to other leaves on the same branch or tree.

“The leaves next to it know that this plant was ripped. They know it because they can smell it," he said. "What they think is that some bug⁹ has come along and eaten the leaf. And when a bug eats a leaf, the leaf then gives off a gas that goes to the other leaves around it, and then those leaves absorb the gas, in other words they smell it, and then they start making chemicals that will make them less tasty to the bugs¹⁰ in order to protect themselves.”

Plants are rooted in earth and are acutely aware of the world around them. They know up from down, and respond to gravity in some of the same ways humans do. They know the difference between hot or cold touch.

But if you think music helps plants grow, think again. 

“There is no evidence whatsoever¹¹ that plants have any musical taste,” Chamovitz said.

But, Chamovitz explains, plants and humans do share a common, though distant, genetic¹² past. Nearly two billion years ago, they were the same single-cell organism.

“Evolution is so amazing that we can see such different adaptations to the world and still live," Chamovitz said. "But what is common is that both animals and plants, both the oak tree and humans, have to know what their environment is. We have to know when we’re thirsty. We have to know where the water is. We have to find mates. We have to know when we’re cold and we have to adapt.” 

Humans developed a central nervous system to integrate all that information. Plants did it without a brain. Humans and plants exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen for life. Knowing how plants respond to a world with more people and a warming climate is key to our own survival, according to Chamovitz. 

“If we don’t understand how plants adapt to their environment, we won’t be able to assure our own future on this planet, because we won’t be able to feed ourselves,” he said.

A biologist, Chamovitz says that while humans share a lot of biology with plants, we have something that plants don’t have: the ability to care about the future. 

1 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

5 isolating   

adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• Colour filters are not very effective in isolating narrow spectral bands. 一些滤色片不能很有效地分离狭窄的光谱带。 来自辞典例句
• This became known as the streak method for isolating bacteria. 这个方法以后就称为分离细菌的划线法。 来自辞典例句

6 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

7 photosynthesis   

n.光合作用

参考例句：

• In apple trees photosynthesis occurs almost exclusively in the leaves.苹果树的光合作用几乎只发生在叶内。
• Chloroplasts are the structures in which photosynthesis happens.叶绿体就是光合作用发生的地方。

8 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

9 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

10 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

12 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。