Forests&Planting trees

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答案：

(a)  darkness; (tropical) coasts/ the coast; (large) umbrella; (modern) medicine; population growth

(b)   (spray) paint; (broken) bricks; (small) fences; native species; butterflies

文本：

（a）

           M: male, 30s, mild US

** About 30% of the Earth’s land surface is covered in forests, containing approximately 3 trilliontrees. There are several types of forest. Northern forests can be found in the far north of Europe,Asia and North America, where the summers are short and cool, and there’s plenty of rain. Whatstruck me during my first visit to this type of forest though was the darkness you find there. Beingin a forest in warmer regions is quite a different experience because of the feeling of space – thetrees grow further apart there.

Then there are rainforests, which are often sub-divided into different types including the lowlandrainforests in areas around the equator, and rainforests which are located on mountain slopes.There are also mangrove forests, which have distinctive long tree roots. These are typicallysituated on tropical coasts, and they bear a strong resemblance to muddy swamps.

If we examine a tropical rainforest, we find distinct layers. There may be a few trees that grow toheights of 60 metres, but the majority will be around 30 to 40 metres and collectively these treetops form what resembles a large umbrella over the rest of the forest. Experts such as botanistsrefer to it as a canopy. Most wildlife lives in this upper layer of the forest, and the layer beneaththis consists of smaller, younger trees.

It’s well known that, due to their biodiversity, many rare animals and a range of exotic birds canbe found in rainforests. Plants of all shapes and sizes can also be seen, the uses of which manyof you will probably be familiar with. These include the manufacture of perfume. When I wasdoing my research, the remarkable number of leaves, flowers and roots that are of importanceto modern medicine was something I hadn’t anticipated. You might not realise that chewing gumcontains extracts from rainforest plants – this was something I’d heard about before. Clearly, theimportance of protecting these unique habitats cannot be denied.

Unfortunately, deforestation, which is the destruction of forest areas, is a major global problem,even if recently the trend has been partly reversed. Illegal logging has obviously done considerabledamage, often leading to flooding. Air pollution is another threat, though what many of us fail torecognise is that population growth can mean that trees need to be cut down. However, it’s fair topoint out that not all the damage to rainforests is caused by humans. **

（b）

            M: male, late teensF: female, late teens

M * So are you ready for the college’s tree planting day tomorrow?

F Yes, my group have already been out to check that the field behind the college is suitable. Ithought I’d be putting a stick in the ground to indicate where the tree will go, but I was told to usespray paint. It makes it obvious where to start digging, I suppose. We can hardly put up a sign –that would be quite a lot of work.

M Your group were lucky – we had real problems finding a suitable place for our tree. We’re plantingour tree on the other side of town, and the place we ended up choosing has lots of stones in thesoil, so it’s going to be hard work digging a hole. But the first place we looked at would have beenimpossible due to the quantity of broken bricks we came across in the earth there. At least old treeroots weren’t a problem.

F We’ve been told that protecting the young trees is very important too. We looked into a variety ofways to do this – the most obvious is to use plastic guards which are wrapped around the trunk ofthe tree to protect it. You remove them when the tree’s about 3 metres tall. In some places, smallfences are more appropriate because they keep animals and people away. So that’s what we’regoing for.

M When we looked online to choose our tree, I was surprised by how many different types there are!

F Yes, me too. We thought that some of the American trees were interesting, and there was aMediterranean one which was very attractive. But my group were keen to select a native speciesbecause we’ve been studying the landscapes and the typical trees you can find here.

M I was amazed to read that more than 90% of the UK’s ancient forests were lost a long time ago.
F Yes, and the wildlife in the remaining English forests is under threat. Still there are organisations working to improve the situation.

M I’m quite interested in forest wildlife such as deer, though some creatures in a woodland habitat,like snakes, don’t appeal to me quite as much. I feel something similar about bats which you rarelysee anyway, though I’ve heard that organisations exist to help preserve them. I reckon it’s time todo something for butterflies though. I’m going to join an organisation working to help them as soonas I can.

F That sounds like a very good idea. **