In many people’s eyes, plants are quiet. They can’t talk. They can’t walk. And they can’t think like us.
A new BBC documentary series, The Green Planet, gives us a new look at plants. It tells us the wonderful ways that plants behave.
“The Green Planet tells us the secret lives of plants. It is in the same way The Blue Planet opened our eyes to the oceans,” editor Elle Hunt wrote in New Scientist.
Plants compete against each other to live. Each has its own ways. In rainforests, different kinds of plants race for sunlight because only two percent of the sunlight goes through the rainforests. Some plants spread their big leaves to reach light. But some vines（藤蔓）try to catch them to take a ride. Finally, they are both beaten by balsa wood, one of the fastest growing trees. As the tree has slippery hairs on its leaves, the vine can’t get a hold.
Plants also help each other and even communicate. In deserts, the roots（根）of Euphrates poplar（胡杨）, a kind of tall straight tree with soft wood, are connected. If a tree finds water, it will share it with others through the roots. Studies also show that plants use fungus（真菌）in the soil as a way to “talk” with each other. It’s kind of like how Wi-Fi works. If a tomato plant gets a leaf disease, it can tell nearby plants about it through fungus.
The show not only lets us know about the plant world but pushes us to understand that plants are important. Plants are the basis of all life, including ourselves. We depend on them for food that we eat and air that we breathe. It’s time to look after wild plants just as carefully as our houseplants.
【小题1】What is the show The Green Planet about?| A．Plants. | B．Animals. | C．Food. | D．Oceans. |
| A．ugly | B．smooth | C．wide | D．hungry |
| A．By insects. | B．By wind. |
| C．By using strong roots. | D．By using fungus in the soil. |
