Seed Hunting
A W ith quarter of the world’s plants t to vanish within the next 50 years, Dough
Alexander reports on the scientists working against the clock the prerve 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 ed hunting is an increasingly rious business. Some ek eds 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 conrve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction facing so many plant species.
B A mong the pioneers of this botanical treasure hunt was John Tradescant, an
English royal gardener who brought back plants and eds from his journeys abroad in the early 1600s. Later, the English botanist Sir Joph 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 centu
ry-was so driven to expand his collections that he nt botanists around the world at his own expen.
C T ho heady days of exploration and discovery may be over, but they have
been replaced by a pressing need to prerve our natural history for the future.
This modern 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 ed hunters work at the Millennium Seed Bank, an 80 million [pounds sterling] international conrvation project that aims to protect the world’s most endangered wild plant species.
D T he group’s headquarters are in a modern glass-and-concrete structure on
a 200-hectare Estate at Wakehurst Place in the West Susx countryside.
Within its underground vaults are 260 million dried eds from 122 countries,
all stored at-20 Celsius to survive for centuries. Among the 5,100 species reprented are virtually all of Britain’s 1,400 native ed-bearing plants, the most complete such collection of any country’s flora.
E O veren 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 percent 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 tho 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 T he implications of this loss are enormous. Besides providing staple food防诈骗观后感
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.林夕字传
G T he world Conrvation Union has listed 5,714 threatened species which
is sure to be much higher. In the UK alone, 300 wild plant species are classified as endangered. The
Millennium Seed Bank aims
半边脸麻to ensure that even if a plant
becomes extinct in the wild, it描写天气的谚语
won’t be lost forever. Stored
eds can be ud the help
restore damaged or destroyed
environment or in scientific
rearch to find new benefits
for society-in medicine,
agriculture or local industry-
that would otherwi be lost.
H S eed banks are an insurance policy to
protect the world’s plant heritage for the
future, explained by Dr Paul Smith, another
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Kew ed hunter. “Seed conrvation techniques were originally developed by farmers,” he says. “Storage is the basis what we do, conrving eds until you can u 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 the eds 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 T here are about 1,470 ed banks scattered around the globe, with a combined
total of 5.4 million samples, of which perhaps two million are distinct non-
duplicates. Most prerve genetic material for agriculture u in order to ensure crop diversity; others aim to conrve wild species, although only 15 percent of all banked plants are wild.
J M any ed banks are themlves under threat due to a lack of funds. Last year, Imperial College, London, examined crop collections from 151 countries and found that while the number of plant samples had incread in two thirds of the countries, budget had been cut in a quarter and remained static in another
35 percent. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Rearch has since t up the Global Conrvation Trust, which aims to rai $260 million to protect ed banks in perpetuity.
Question 14-19 ...............................................................................急不可耐的意思
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet, write
14The purpo of collecting eds now is different from the past.
15The millennium ed bank is the earliest ed bank.
16 A major reason for plant species extinction is farmland expansion.哈哈猴
17T he approach that scientists apply to rerve eds is similar to that ud by farmers.
18Development of technology is the only hope to save plant species.
19The works of ed conrvation are often limited by financial problems.
Question 20-24 ............................................................................... Summary
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than three words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 20-24 on your answer sheet.
Some people collect eds for the purpo of protecting certain species from 20; others collect eds for their ability to produce 21. They are called ed hunters. The 22of them included both gard
eners and botanists, such as 23who financially supported collectors out of his own pockets. The eds collected are usually stored in ed banks, one of which is the famous millennium ed bank, where eds are all stored in the 24at a low temperature.
Question 25-26 ...............................................................................
Choo the correct letter, A-E.
依赖英语
Write your answers in boxes 25-26 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the followings are provided by plants to the human?
A food
B fuels
C clothes
D energy
E commercial products
