The hidden life of trees

江西 邓玉梅

彼得·渥雷本的《树木的隐秘生活》揭示了树木的社会性和拯救力量，呼吁我们应停止滥伐树木。唯有了解树木的重要性，才能真正应对气候挑战。

主题语境：自然 篇幅：377词 建议用时：7分钟

1 Elon Musk has offered a prize of $100 million for the best carbon capture proposal.I can save his committee a lot of time.The money should go to Peter Wohlleben,whose book The Hidden Life of Trees was the most encouraging blockbuster (非常成功的书).Wohlleben's idea is this: do nothing about trees.Stop fiddling (不断摆弄) with them, thinking that we can deal with climate change better than nature.If we fiddle, our Romes will burn.

2 The Hidden Life of Trees argues that trees are social.It shows that they can be our saviours.But it's terribly hard to let ourselves be saved.We think we can be the authors of our salvation (拯救).Of course, there are things we could and should do, but in terms of forestry practice, often what's billed as part of the solution is part of the problem.

3 Anyone who has planted a tree in his garden knows that it has a far-reaching effect which makes his garden cooler in summer and warmer in winter.Forests cool by transpiring (蒸发).If there's no water, there will be no cooling.Drought can kill trees fast,but trees have many ways of dealing with it, and Wohlleben sets them out.As a species, we have survived many climatic changes by changing our behaviour—and that's how trees survive, too.Trees learn from their past harm and produce younger ones programmed with those lessons.They regulate their growth by changing the rate at which they drip (滴下) —feed them with sugar solution through root networks.

4 Deciduous (落叶的) forests in particular remove greenhouse gases effectively as long as they live.Cut them down and burn them and you're releasing carbon dioxide not just from the wood, but also from the forest floor.Deciduous trees are not “harvest-ready”at 200 years: they are teenagers.We must interrogate comforting expressions such as“renewable energy”, and learn the real cost of our toilet paper.

5 If we don't learn to do nothing about trees, they will eventually be alone anyway—but without us.Wohlleben brilliantly and readably shows us how urgent and hard it is to do nothing.

Reading Check

Detail1.What does Wohlleben suggest for carbon capture?

A.Fighting climate change.

B.Leaving trees as they are.

C.Saving the earth.

D.Changing forestry species.

Detail2.How do trees survive drought?

A.They control their growth.

B.They lose all their leaves.

C.They stop absorbing water.

D.They get help from humans.

Vocabulary3.What does the underlined word“ interrogate” in paragraph 4 mean?

A.Understand.B.Question.

C.Translate.D.Accept.

Genre4.What is the text?

A.A book review.B.A science report.

C.An introduction to a writer.D.A proposal for a reward.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

Anyone who has planted a tree in his garden knows that it has a far-reaching effect which makes his garden cooler in summer and warmer in winter.任何在自己花园里种植过一棵树的人都知道，它具有深远的影响，这使他的花园在夏天更加凉爽，在冬天更加温暖。

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句。主句是Anyone knows that it has a far-reaching effect，谓语动词是knows，主语是Anyone；who has planted a tree in his garden 为who 引导的定语从句，修饰先行词anyone；which makes his garden cooler in summer and warmer in winter是一个由which引导的定语从句，先行词为effect。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

save sb a lot of time 为某人节省很多时间

deal with 应对；处理

far-reaching effect 深远的影响

in particular 特别；尤其

cut down 砍倒

renewable energy 可再生能源

do nothing about 对……不做任何事情

urgent and hard 迫切且困难的