题文
Plants may not have eyes and ears，but they can recognize their siblings (兄弟姐妹)，and researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered how.The ID system lies in the roots and the chemical signals they secrete (分泌)．Canadian researchers published that sea rocket，a common seashore plant，can recognize its siblings.Susan Dudley observed that when siblings are grown next to each other in the soil，they “play nice” and don’t send out more roots to compete.However，the moment one of the plants is thrown in with strangers，it begins competing with them by rapidly growing more roots to take up the water and mineral nutrients in the soil.
After reading Dudley’s study，Bais decided to find the method behind the sibling recognition.Working in his laboratory，Bais and his doctoral student Meredith Biedrzycki set up a study with wild populations of Arabidopsis thaliana.In a series of experiments，young seedlings were exposed to liquid media containing the root secretions from siblings，from strangers，or only their own secretions.The length of the longest lateral (侧面的) root was measured.The exposure of plants to the root secretions of strangers induced (引诱) greater lateral root formation than exposure of plants to sibling secretions.Strangers planted next to each other are often shorter，because so much of their energy is directed at root growth.Because siblings aren’t competing against each other，their roots are often much shallower (浅的)．
Biedrzycki did the painstaking laboratory research，observing more than 3,000 plants involved in the study every day for seven continuous days and documenting the root patterns.“Arabidopsis roots are nearly translucent (半透明的) when they are young and were also twisted when I removed them from plates，”Biedrzycki notes.“This manuscript (手稿) is very important for my research since the focus of my thesis project is understanding the biochemical ways behind root secretions.”
The research also may have implications for the home gardener.“Often we’ll put plants in the ground next to each other and when they don’t do well，we blame the local garden center where we bought them or we attribute their failure to a germ，”Bais says.“But maybe there’s more to it than that.”
小题1:Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?A．A Great Biology ResearcherB．Plants Recognize Their SiblingsC．Plants’ Roots and SecretionsD．A Research on Plants小题2:What encouraged Bais to study the sibling recognition?A．Sea rocket.B．Plants’ sensing system.C．Biedrzycki’s thesis project.D．Dudley’s study.小题3:What does the underlined word “painstaking” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?A．important.B．Adventurous.C．Careful.D．Hardworking.小题4:What can we infer from the last paragraph?A．The local garden center should be blamed when plants can’t grow well.B．The local garden center often sells low quality seeds to customers.C．Plants in the home garden can’t grow well because of the germ and seeds.D．Competing against strangers，plants in the home garden can’t grow well. 题型：未知难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:D
小题4:D
解析
小题1: B
解析 标题归纳题。文章第一段第一句就开篇点题，植物可能没有眼睛和耳朵，但他们认识自己的“兄弟姐妹”。下面所有内容都是围绕这一中心展开的。
小题2: D
解析 细节理解题。根据第三段第一句可知，在看了Dudley的研究发现后，Bais决定找出植物识别同胞的方法，故D项正确。
小题3: D
解析 词义猜测题。文章第四段第一句指出，Biedrzycki连续花费7天时间来研究、观察3 000多种植物，由此推知painstaking为hardworking之意。
小题4: D
解析 推理判断题。在文章最后一段作者提到，当家中花园里的植物生长得不好的时候，人们经常会责怪花卉商店或者认为细菌太多。而最后一句作者又暗示，花园里面的植物生长得不好有可能是因为花园里种植了不同种类的植物，它们之间相互竞争，注重根部的生长，从而生长得不好。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“Plants may not have .....”主要考查你对 [日常生活类阅读 ]考点的理解。日常生活类阅读
日常生活类阅读的概念：
日常生活这一话题主要涉及人们衣食住行等方面的活动。这一话题的选材主要针对人们日常的工作，生活以及学习情况。做这一类题时，最主要的是要把握好人物的活动内容，时间和地点。
日常生活类阅读题答题技巧：
【题型说明】
该类文章内容涉及到人们的言谈举止、生活习惯、饮食起居、服饰仪表、恋爱婚姻、消遣娱乐、节日起源、家庭生活等。文章篇幅短小，追根溯源，探索各项风俗的历史渊源，内容有趣。命题也以送分题为主，如事实细节题、语义转换题、词义猜测题和简单推理判断题等。虽然这类文章读起来感觉轻松，试题做起来比较顺手，但绝不能掉以轻心。因为稍不留神，就会丢分。
【备考提醒】
为了保证较高准确率，建议同学们做好以下几点：
1、保持正常的考试心态。笔者在教学中发现，越是容易的试题，同学们越是容易失分。为什么呢？因为在这种情况下，同学们极易产生麻痹思想，认为题目好做，就不引起高度重视，于是思维不发散、不周密。而命题人就是利用同学们的这一弱点，设计陷阱题。所以，无论试题难易与否，我们都要保持正常的考试心态。试题容易，不欣喜；试题难，不悲观。
2、根据前面讲到的方法，认认真真、细细心心做好事实细节题。
3、做好语义转换题。这类题是根据英语中一词多义和某些词语在文中能表达一定的修辞意义的原则而设计的。要求同学们解释某生词的含义，确定多义词或短语在文中的意思，确认文中的某个代词所指代的对象，或者对英语中特有的表达、格言、谚语进行解释。这种题要求同学们一定要根据上下文猜测词义或理解句子，切不可望文生义。
4、做好简单推理判断题。简单推理判断题要以表面文字为前提，以具体事实为依据进行推理，做出判断。这种推理方式比较直接，只要弄清事实，即可结合常识推断出合理的结论。
