Passage 2
        Do Plants Talk to Each Other?
1 When a leafy plant is under attack, it doesn’t sit quietly. 2 Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. 3 These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm. 4 What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short.
5 Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. 6 It’s a plant’s way of crying out. 7 But is anyone listening？Apparently. 8 Because we can watch the neighbors react.
9 Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. 10 But others do double duty. 11 They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. 12 Once they arrive, the tables are turned. 13 The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
14 In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors. 15 The damage is usually more serious on the first plant, but the neighbors, relatively speaking, stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
16 Does this mean that plants talk to each other？ Scientists don’t know. 17 Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a messagefaster怎么读? to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. 18 Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. 19 So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth.
20 Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate than the world we can see and hear. 21 Our senses are weak. 22 There’s a whole lot going on.
一．单词和短语Words and expressions

* leafy /ˈliːfɪ/ adj.叶茂盛的；多叶的；
for short简称；缩写
* perfume /ˈpɜːfjuːm/ n. 香水；香味 vt. 洒香水于…；使…带香味
in effect 实际上
* overhear /əʊvəˈhɪə/ vt. & vi.无意中听到
intentional /ɪnˈtenʃnəl/ adj.存心的；故意的
* intimate /ˈɪntɪmət/ adj.亲密的；关系紧密的vt.暗示；透露
intentionally /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəlɪ/ adv. 有意地；故意地
* a whole lot 许多

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