【阅读】高一英语时文悦读第四期(答案附后).pdfVIP

高一英语时文悦读第四期 A When we see babies or pets, we can ’help gentlyt touching them to show our love. And they give us happy feelings back. But a recent study shows that it ’ s different for plants. A study, published in The Plant Journal, shows that plants don ’t “like to”　be touched. That ’becauses touching changes their genes (基因 ) and, even worse, can slow their growth. Professor Jim Whelan of the La Trobe Institute in Australia gave an explanation. “The lightest touch from a human, animal, insect, or eve n plants touching each other in the wind, leads to a huge gene （基因） change in the plant, ” Science Daily reported. In order to test the theory, the scientists did an experiment on plants. They grew a number of plants to the age of four weeks. Then they touched them with a paintbrush every 12 hours over a 36-hour period. They found that as a response to the touch, the mitochondria ( 线粒体 ) in the plants had been partly destroyed. The mitochondria, as Science Alert noted, are the “powerhouse of the cell (细胞 ) ” . The mitochondria produce energy for the rest of the cell in both animals and plants. If this “powerhouse ” is weakened, the plants will lose a large amount of energy that should have supported their growth. Whelan further explained to Science Daily, “Ifthe touching is repeated, then plant growth is reduced by up to 30 percent. ” Although the process does have a strong effect on plants, usually the plants survive. Touching changes the plants, but it ’ s not necessarily a bad change. According to Science Alert