A With quarter of the world’s plants set to vanish within
the next 50 years, Dough Alexander reports on the scientists working against
the clock the preserve the Earth’s botanical heritage. They travel the four
comers of the globe, scouring jungles, forests and savannas. But they’re not
looking for ancient artefacts, lost treasure or undiscovered tombs. Just pods.
It may lack the romantic allure of archaeology, or the whiff of danger that
accompanies going after big game, but seed hunting is an increasingly serious
business. Some seek seeds for profit—hunters in the employ of biotechnology
firms, pharmaceutical companies and private corporations on the lookout for
species that will yield the drugs or crops of the future. Others collect to
conserve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction facing so many plant
species.
B Among the pioneers of this botanical treasure
hunt was John Tradescant, an English royal gardener who brought back plants and
seeds from his journeys abroad in the early 1600s. Later, the English botanist
Sir Joseph Banks-who was the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
and travelled with Captain James Cook on his voyages near the end of the 18th
century—was so driven to expand his collections that he sent botanists around
the world at his own expense.
C Those heady days of exploration and discovery may be over,
but they have been replaced by a pressing need to preserve our natural history
for the future. This modem mission drives hunters such as Dr Michiel van
Slageren, a good-natured Dutchman who often sports a wide-brimmed hat in the
field—he could easily be mistaken for the cinematic hero Indiana Jones. He and
three other seed hunters work at the Millennium Seed Bank, an 80 million
[pounds sterling] international conservation project that aims to protect the
world’s most endangered wild plant species
D The group’s headquarters are in a modem
glass-and-concrete structure on a 200-hectare Estate at Wakehurst Place in the
West Sussex countryside. Within its underground vaults are 260 million dried
seeds from 122 countries, all stored at -20 Celsius to survive for centuries.
Among the 5，100
species represented are virtually all of Britain’s 1,400 native seed-bearing
plants, the most complete such collection of any country’s flora.
E Overseen by the Royal botanic gardens, the
Millennium Seed Bank is the world’s largest wild-plant depository. It aims to
collect 24,000 species by 2010. The reason is simple: thanks to humanity’s
efforts, an estimated 25 per cent of the world’s plants are on the verge of
extinction and may vanish within 50 years. We’re currently responsible for
habitat destruction on an unprecedented scale, and during the past 400 years,
plant species extinction rates have been about 70 times greater than those
indicated by the geological record as being ’normal’. Experts predict that during
the next 50 years a further one billion hectares of wilderness will be
converted to farmland in developing countries alone.
F The implications of this loss are enormous.
Besides providing staple food crops, plants are a source of many machines and
the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world.
They also protect soil and help regulate the climate. Yet, across the globe,
plant species are being driven to extinction before their potential benefits
are discovered.
G The world Conservation Union has listed 5,714
threatened species is sure to be much higher. In the UK alone, 300 wild plant
species are classified as endangered. The Millennium Seed Bank aims to ensure
that even if a plant becomes extinct in the wild，it won’t be lost forever.
Stored
seeds can be used the help restore damaged or destroyed environment or in
scientific research to find new benefits for society- in medicine, agriculture
or local industry- that would otherwise be lost.
H Seed banks are an insurance policy to protect
the world’s plant heritage for the future, explains Dr Paul Smith, another Kew
seed hunter. “Seed conservation techniques were originally developed by
farmers/’ he says. “Storage is the basis what we do, conserving seeds until you
can use them-just as in farming.” Smith says there’s no reason why any plant
species should become extinct, given today’s technology. But he admits that the
biggest challenge is finding, naming and _ categorising all the world’s plants.
And someone has to gather these seeds before it’s too late. “There aren’t a lot
of people out there doing this,” he says” The key is to know the flora
from a particular area, and that knowledge takes years to acquire.”
I There are about 1,470 seed banks scattered
around the globe, with a combined total of 5.4 million samples, of which
perhaps two million are distinct non-duplicates. Most preserve genetic material
for agriculture use in order to ensure crop diversity; others aim to conserve
wild species, although only 15 per cent of all banked plants are wild.
J Imperial College, London, examined crop
collections from 151 countries and found that while the number of plant samples
had increased in two thirds of the countries, budget had been cut in a quarter
and remained static in another 35 per cent. Th UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
has since set up the Global Conservation Trust, which aims to raise US $260
million to protect seed banks in perpetuity.
Questions 1-6
Write True/ False/ Not Given for following statements.
Write True/ False/ Not Given for following statements.
TRUE
|
if the statement is true
|
FALSE
|
if the statement is false
|
NOT GIVEN
|
if the information is not given in the passage
|
1. The purpose of collecting seeds now is different from the past.
2. The millennium seed bank is the earliest seed bank.
3. One of major threats for plant species extinction is farmland expansion into wildness.
4. The approach that scientists apply to store seeds is similar to that used by farmers.
5. Technological development is the only hope to save plant species.
6. The works of seed conservation are often limited by financial problems.
Questions 7-11
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage.
Some people collect seeds for the purpose of protecting certain species from 7_________ ; others collect seeds for their ability to produce 8_____________ . They are called seed hunters. The 9_____________ of them included both gardeners and botanists,such as 10_____________ ，who financially supported collectors out of his own pocket. The seeds collected are usually stored in seed banks, one of which is the famous millennium seed bank, where seeds are all stored in the 11___________ at a low temperature.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage.
Some people collect seeds for the purpose of protecting certain species from 7_________ ; others collect seeds for their ability to produce 8_____________ . They are called seed hunters. The 9_____________ of them included both gardeners and botanists,such as 10_____________ ，who financially supported collectors out of his own pocket. The seeds collected are usually stored in seed banks, one of which is the famous millennium seed bank, where seeds are all stored in the 11___________ at a low temperature.
Questions 12-13
Choose the correct letter, A-E.
Which TWO of the followings are provided by plants to the human ?
A food B fuels C clothes D energy E commercial products
Choose the correct letter, A-E.
Which TWO of the followings are provided by plants to the human ?
A food B fuels C clothes D energy E commercial products