The Green Planet （Part Three）綠色星球（三）

萬(wàn)宇婧

前兩期我們了解了北極圈和赤道的不同生態(tài)風(fēng)景，也領(lǐng)略了冰雪世界與熱帶雨林的極致反差，更了解了植物是如何在極端環(huán)境中生存的。本期，我們將了解植物和植物之間、植物和人類(lèi)之間相互依存的關(guān)系。

劇情簡(jiǎn)介

本期以“休戚與共”為主題，展示那些休戚與共的場(chǎng)景和生物。這些場(chǎng)景中，形形色色的生物相互依存、共同生長(zhǎng)。無(wú)論是在荒漠中頑強(qiáng)生存的植物，還是為人類(lèi)生活帶來(lái)便利的單一作物栽培，都讓我們感受到了生命的堅(jiān)韌與偉大。

Scene A

在城市的鋼筋水泥之中，依然有植物隨風(fēng)飄落并野蠻生長(zhǎng)。有的是縫隙中的雜草，有的長(zhǎng)成了大樹(shù)。它們或許不起眼，但就在我們的身邊，極其頑強(qiáng)地生存著。

The relationship between plants and humans isextraordinary. Weve been adapting to each other for aslong as weve been on the planet. We rely upon plantsfor almost everything， the air we breathe， the water wedrink， the food we eat， much of the clothes we wearand in some parts of the world， the very buildings inwhich we live. But that relationship is nowchanging. How it changes next willshape the future of our green planet.

Some plants have the ability to live alongside us， even whenwe make it extremely difficult for them to do so. This is PiccadillyCircus， in the heart of London. It would be difficult to imagine amore 1）hostile place for a plant. And yet， even here， plants willfind a way. Plants like this may seem to follow us wherever wego. We call them， perhaps a little unkindly， weeds. In fact， theseplants are pioneers， theones that are most ableto take advantage ofnew habitats， even very2）harsh ones.

This wall is at leasta hundred years old. Itslike a 3）sheer cliff face，with no sign of soil. And yet this Ivy-Leaved Toadflax thrives here.How？ The plant grows towards the light with its flowers facingoutwards to attract 4）pollinators. But once theyve succeededin doing that， and the seed pod starts to develop， its behaviourchanges. Now the pods turn， and grow away from the light，seeking the darkest place they can find， a 5）crevice perhaps， likethis one. Its all the Toadflax needs. It can now germinate andstart to produce a new plant.

Other pioneers have adifferent strategy. They insteaddistribute their seeds far andwide in great numbers. Sowthistles are masters of this trick.Each of its seeds is equippedwith a tiny downy 6）parachutewhich will catch the slightestbreeze. And they can travelextraordinary distances. Theycan rise a mile high in the skyand reach places hundreds ofmiles away from the parent plant.

The seeds only need tofind the tiniest chink and theycan take hold. We barely noticemany of these plant invaders.But here in the heart of HongKong， strangler fig seedsthat landed on a stone wallgenerations ago， have spreadtheir flexible， branching rootsfar and wide. They can beanchored so firmly that theybecome a part of the citysarchitecture. This is， perhaps，the ultimate weed.

1） hostile adj. 敵對(duì)的

2） harsh adj. 嚴(yán)酷的；嚴(yán)厲的

3） sheer adj. 陡峭的

4） pollinator n. 傳粉者

5） crevice n. 裂縫

6） parachute n. 降落傘

植物與人類(lèi)之間形成了非同尋常的關(guān)系。自從地球萬(wàn)物誕生以來(lái)，人類(lèi)與植物就開(kāi)始了互相適應(yīng)。人類(lèi)生活的方方面面，大多離不開(kāi)植物——我們呼吸的空氣、我們喝的水、我們吃的食物以及我們穿的衣服，甚至在地球的某些地方，植物能為人類(lèi)提供棲息地。然而，這種關(guān)系正在發(fā)生變化。這種變化的方向，將決定著這顆綠色星球的未來(lái)。

有一些植物能與人類(lèi)比鄰而居，哪怕我們留給它們的生存環(huán)境極為苛刻。這里是倫敦市中心的皮卡迪利廣場(chǎng)。我們很難想象出還有比這里更不適合植物生長(zhǎng)的環(huán)境。然而，即便在這里，植物也能找到求生之道。無(wú)論我們走到哪里，類(lèi)似這樣的植物似乎比比皆是。我們對(duì)它們的稱呼似乎不太友善，把它們叫作“雜草”。事實(shí)上，它們是植物界的先鋒。它們最為擅長(zhǎng)適應(yīng)新的棲息地，無(wú)論那里多么惡劣。

這面墻至少有100 年的歷史了。它就像是一處陡峭的懸崖，毫無(wú)泥土的痕跡。然而，這株蔓柳穿魚(yú)卻在這里茁壯成長(zhǎng)。它是怎么做到的？這種植物會(huì)向光生長(zhǎng)，花朵朝外，以吸引傳粉動(dòng)物。但是等到花朵成功授粉，種莢開(kāi)始發(fā)育之后，它的行為就會(huì)發(fā)生變化?，F(xiàn)在，種莢調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)方向，背離光線生長(zhǎng)，尋找周?chē)詈诎档牡胤?，也許是一個(gè)縫隙，就像是這里。這里正是蔓柳穿魚(yú)需要的環(huán)境。它會(huì)在這里發(fā)芽并生成新株。

其他的植物先鋒則擁有不同的生存策略。有些會(huì)反其道而行之，將大批種子散播到遙遠(yuǎn)的地方。苦苣菜是運(yùn)用這一策略的高手。每顆種子上的冠毛如同小小的降落傘，每一絲微風(fēng)都是機(jī)遇。它們可以隨風(fēng)飄到很遠(yuǎn)的地方，也可以升上一千米的高空，飄到距離母株數(shù)百千米之外。

只需要找到一條最微小的縫隙，種子就能生根發(fā)芽。幾乎沒(méi)人注意到這些“入侵”的植物。但是在香港的城市中心，很久之前掉落在石墻上的榕樹(shù)種子，現(xiàn)已長(zhǎng)成大樹(shù)。歷代以來(lái)它靈活的枝條與根系延伸的范圍頗廣。它們生長(zhǎng)得非常牢固，與城市建筑融為一體。這大概就是最不同尋常的“雜草”了。

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as long as 的常見(jiàn)用法

原文：Weve been adapting to each other for as long as weve been on the planet.

as long as 表示“ 只要；既然”

1. 表示“只要”，用于條件狀語(yǔ)從句，相當(dāng)于so long as。

【例】Theyll respect you as long as you play fair.

只要你為人正直，他人就會(huì)尊敬你。

2. 表示“既然，由于”，用于引導(dǎo)原因狀語(yǔ)從句。

【例】As long as the weather is changeable these days， wed better get in wheat in time.

由于這幾天天氣變化無(wú)常，我們最好及時(shí)把小麥?zhǔn)崭钔辍?/p>

其他的as...as 詞組

1. as soon as 表示“一……就……”，常見(jiàn)的用法是在將來(lái)時(shí)態(tài)的情境中，遵守“主將從現(xiàn)”的原則。

【例】As soon as I finish my homework， I will go and play with you.

我一寫(xiě)完作業(yè)，就和你玩。

2. as well as 表示“也；既……又……”（注意：就遠(yuǎn)原則）。

【例】Your husband as well as you is friendly to me.

不僅你而且你的丈夫也對(duì)我很友好。

The girl is lively as well as healthy.

這個(gè)女孩既活潑又健康。

3. as far as 表示“就……而言”（等于so far as）。

【例】As far as I am concerned， Im not against your plan.

就我而言，我并不反對(duì)你的計(jì)劃。

As far as I could remember， I did return him the money.

就我所能記得的，我確實(shí)把錢(qián)還給他了。

Scene B

有些植物生長(zhǎng)在極端環(huán)境中，為“垂死”的環(huán)境帶來(lái)一絲希望。沙漠中的還魂草將自己偽裝成一坨枯草。只要一有風(fēng)，沒(méi)有根的它便開(kāi)始了漫長(zhǎng)的跋涉之旅。尋到水源后，它便張開(kāi)“枯萎”的外殼，露出綠色的內(nèi)芯開(kāi)始生長(zhǎng)。

Some deserts can be sodry that plants must findtechniques of survivingf o r l o n g p e r i o d swithout any waterwhatsoever. TheChihuahuan desertin North Mexico.Here， one particularplant plays the waitinggame so well， that it spendsmuch of its life looking dead andcertainly not worth eating. And it can survive like this for adecade.

This is the 7）resurrection plant. Its a kind of 8）moss. Itbarely has roots and it certainly cant store much water. Butit can travel. After a particularly long drought， it breaks awayfrom its roots and becomes a 9）tumbleweed. Moving across the desert， it can travel a mile in a week. With luck， it mayfind water. Just a shower of rain can bring it back to life. As itsfronds soak up the water， they unfurl.

In its protected centre， it still has green cells which absorbboth the water and sunlight， and rapidly produce the food itneeds to resume its growth. It will grow for just as long as thereis 10）moisture. But when that disappears， it closes up oncemore and resumes its travels.

7） resurrection n. 復(fù)活；恢復(fù)

8） moss n. 苔蘚

9） tumbleweed n. [ 植] 風(fēng)滾草

10） moisture n. 潮濕；水分

一些荒漠極其干旱，植物在完全沒(méi)有水的情況下必須找到合適的方法，存活更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間。這是墨西哥北部的奇瓦瓦沙漠。在這里，有一種特殊的植物。它們把這種等待策略發(fā)揮到了極致，以至于生命中的大部分時(shí)間看起來(lái)都像是“枯死”的植物。當(dāng)然也就不會(huì)被動(dòng)物吃掉。它能以“假死”的狀態(tài)存活將近十年的時(shí)間。

這就是鱗葉卷柏（還魂草）。它屬于蘚類(lèi)植物。它幾乎沒(méi)有根。當(dāng)然，也很少儲(chǔ)存水分。但是它可以移動(dòng)。如果遭遇很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的干旱，它們就會(huì)從根部斷裂，然后隨風(fēng)滾動(dòng)起來(lái)。它不停地穿越荒漠，可以在一周內(nèi)移動(dòng)一千米。如果幸運(yùn)的話，它還能找到水源。些許雨水就能讓它煥發(fā)生機(jī)。它的葉片在吸收水分之后就會(huì)展開(kāi)。

層層包裹下的內(nèi)芯，仍然有綠色的組織，可以吸收水分和陽(yáng)光，并且快速產(chǎn)出植物所需的能量。只要能夠獲得水分，它就能繼續(xù)生長(zhǎng)。但是如果環(huán)境濕度降低，它又會(huì)卷成一團(tuán)，然后再次踏上旅程。

考點(diǎn)解析

so that 與so...that... 的用法

原文：Some deserts can be so dry that plants must find techniques...

1. so...that... 意為“如此……以至于……”，引導(dǎo)結(jié)果狀語(yǔ)從句。

【例】The book is so interesting that most kids become interested in it.

這本書(shū)如此有趣以至于大多數(shù)孩子都對(duì)它感興趣。

2. so that 意為“以便；為了”，引導(dǎo)目的狀語(yǔ)從句。

【例】My sister made a model plane so that she could help with her friend studying?the science last night.

昨天晚上我妹妹制作了一個(gè)飛機(jī)模型，以便能幫助她的朋友學(xué)習(xí)科學(xué)。

3. 注意“so + 形容詞+ a / an + 單數(shù)名詞+that 從句”以及“such +a/an+ 形容詞+ 單數(shù)名詞+that 從句”的區(qū)別。

【例】The book is so interesting that many people want to buy one.

=It is such an interesting book that many people want to buy one.

這本書(shū)如此有趣，以至于很多人想買(mǎi)。

Scene C

在城市化的影響下，單一作物種植雖然為人類(lèi)生活帶來(lái)了便利，卻擠壓了其他植物的生存空間。

It began over 10，000 years ago with plants that wefound especially good to eat. At first， this relationship createdchallenges of its own. Many of the ancestral grasses， like thesewild 11）oats from Israel， have a trick to ensure that their seeds areplanted in the perfect place. Each seed head at the top carriestwo long 12）bristles called awns， and when a seed drops to theground， these awns do something truly extraordinary. They walk！

The awns 13）twist as they dry out during the day and then，when they get wet， they untwist. Tiny hairs grip onto the ground keeping the individual moving forward. In this way the seedswork their way along the ground until eventually they find a rockto hide under or a crack to 14）drill into. This adaptation is usefulfor the plant， but not for us. Its hard to collect seeds when theydrop off and walk away！

So our ancestors selected plants whose seeds dont dropoff， dont have legs and dont bury themselves out of reach.They also selected those individuals which put their energy intodeveloping much larger seeds. Close relationships like this havedeveloped all over the world， producing the plants that are nowour crops. This may seem a poor deal from the point of view ofplants， but not so. We eat their seeds， but in return we cherishand 15）cultivate them. And now they are widespread and farmore abundant that their wild ancestors.

You might call this a bargain between ourselves and plants.And over the years its proved extraordinarily powerful. Overtime， these plants produced more food， increasingly efficiently.We started doing more and more for a small number of chosenspecies. These few persuaded us to eliminate their competitors，cure their diseases， poison their enemies， and keep them wellwatered， even when other species faced drought. Fewer andfewer plant species like soy， wheat and rice， now 16）occupy moreand more land. So now whole landscapes are dominated by asingle species of plant. A monoculture.

11） oat n. 燕麥

12） bristle n. 鬃毛

13） twist v. 轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)；使彎曲

14） drill v. 鉆；訓(xùn)練

15） cultivate v. 耕作；種植

16） occupy v. 占

一萬(wàn)多年以前，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些特別適合食用的植物。起初，這種關(guān)系本身引發(fā)了一系列的難題。許多原始的禾草類(lèi)植物，比如這些來(lái)自以色列的野生燕麥，它們有一種訣竅，能確保種子在理想的地方生長(zhǎng)。每一顆種子的頂部帶有兩根長(zhǎng)毛，被稱為“芒”。當(dāng)種子掉落到地上的時(shí)候，這幾根芒就會(huì)發(fā)揮神奇的作用。它們會(huì)“走”！

芒在白天干燥的時(shí)候會(huì)彎曲，等到濕度增大的時(shí)候，又會(huì)恢復(fù)原狀。細(xì)小的茸毛緊緊地抓住地面，使種子向前移動(dòng)。種子通過(guò)這種方式沿著地面前進(jìn)，最終找到一塊可供藏身的巖石，或者鉆入可以鉆入的裂縫。這種進(jìn)化特征對(duì)植物而言很有意義，但是對(duì)人類(lèi)來(lái)說(shuō)是個(gè)難題。種子落地“走”遠(yuǎn)之后，我們就很難收集它們了。

所以，我們的祖先選擇了種子不會(huì)掉落，也沒(méi)有“雙腿”，更不會(huì)讓它們把自己深埋起來(lái)難以拾取的植物。他們還挑選出那些能發(fā)育出大顆種子的個(gè)體。這種密切的關(guān)系推廣至世界各地，出現(xiàn)了我們現(xiàn)在種植的農(nóng)作物。從植物的角度來(lái)看，這樣有些不劃算。但事實(shí)并非如此。雖然我們吃掉了它們的種子，但作為回報(bào)，我們呵護(hù)并培育它們?，F(xiàn)在它們廣泛分布，比它們?cè)谝巴馍娴淖嫦雀佣嘧硕嗖省?/p>

可以這么說(shuō)，這是一筆人類(lèi)和植物之間的交易。隨著時(shí)代的變遷，它的非凡力量可見(jiàn)一斑。隨著時(shí)間的推移，這些植物的產(chǎn)量越來(lái)越大，生產(chǎn)效率越來(lái)越高。我們對(duì)選中的少數(shù)物種投入得越來(lái)越多。我們?yōu)檫x中的少數(shù)物種消滅它們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，治療它們的疾病，毒殺它們的天敵，并且提供充足的水源，哪怕其他植物面臨著干旱?，F(xiàn)在越來(lái)越少的農(nóng)作物比如大豆、小麥和水稻，占據(jù)了越來(lái)越多的土地。于是放眼望去，到處都是單一的種植物種。這就是，單一作物栽培。

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“芒種”的“芒”是什么？

“芒種”的英文是Grain in Ear——grain 為谷物/ 粒，ear 在此處不是指“耳朵”，而是指谷物的“穗/ 芒”，“穗/ 芒”的植物術(shù)語(yǔ)是awn。

“芒種”是二十四節(jié)氣之一，每年6 月5 日或6 日，視太陽(yáng)位置到達(dá)黃經(jīng)75°時(shí)開(kāi)始?！懊⒎N”之“芒”，本義是谷物種子殼上或草木上的細(xì)刺，而“芒種”之“種”，則有兩種解釋——作為名詞的“種”（zhǒng），指植物的種子；作為動(dòng)詞的“種”（zhòng），則指播種。也就是說(shuō)，“芒種”的一種解釋是指有芒的種子，即麥、稻等谷物結(jié)出果實(shí)、長(zhǎng)出種芒；而另一種解釋則是指應(yīng)當(dāng)從這一時(shí)間節(jié)點(diǎn)開(kāi)始谷物的種植。

“時(shí)雨及芒種，四野皆插秧。家家麥飯美，處處菱歌長(zhǎng)?！标懹嗡枥L的芒種時(shí)節(jié)是那樣多姿多彩、生機(jī)盎然——既有雨后的舒爽，又有夏日的熱情；既有田里的稻秧，又有桌上的麥飯；既有農(nóng)事的忙碌，又有歌聲的悠然。芒種，不但是對(duì)谷物旺盛生命力的直觀描述，更蘊(yùn)含著中華兒女對(duì)美好生活的期待。