In Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard takes us through her career in the forests, working on plantations to identify links between crop production, herbicide (除草剂) use and species diversity. In carrying out these studies, she goes on to discover that trees communicate through underground fungi (真菌) networks. At the centre of these webs is an individual known as the “mother tree” that coordinates, feeds and sustains the other members of the forest.
The strength of this story isn’t only in the discoveries she makes, but her courageous persistence. She recalls how some members of her profession almost laughed her out of the room on first hearing her findings, not helped by the fact that she was a woman in a male-dominated field, trying to convince a room full of foresters that their age-old methods were imperfect.
Like Robin Wall Kimmerer combining ecology and the human spirit, Simard demonstrates that scientific research is not only about figures and conferences, but a voyage of passion and self-reflection that depends on the instinctive character of the human mind and the precision of experimentation. Simard’s ancestry is rooted in the outdoors, yet she recognises that the old ways of working with the land must evolve. She refuses to let cultural biases (偏见) influence her, instead listening to what the forest tells her.
This book also shares insights into Simard’s personal life: friendships, marriage, motherhood and breast cancer. She connects these seemingly separate parts of her life to her research into tree relationships, air, Earth and beyond. Her own relationships, not just with people but with trees, become reflections on connections with Earth. Her book thus invites us to embrace this connection with Earth when she writes: “I can’t tell if my blood is in the trees or if the trees are in my blood.”
【小题1】Which aspect of the “mother tree” does the first paragraph focus on?| A．Its central role in the forest. | B．Its communication with fungi. |
| C．Its influence on species diversity. | D．Its unique effects on crop production. |
| A．Her absence of determination. | B．Her doubts about fellow colleagues. |
| C．Her lack of supporting evidence. | D．Her challenge to long-held beliefs. |
| A．By counting on human instinct. |
| B．By prioritizing figures and conferences. |
| C．By completely getting rid of cultural biases. |
| D．By passionately studying the true needs of nature. |
| A．Interconnectivity is at the core of her writing. |
| B．Her writing inspiration comes from observation. |
| C．Reflection is the key to developing relationships with trees. |
| D．Her experiences are separate from her work on studying trees. |
