Question

    In an apartment, people are having a party. They’re smiling and chatting with each other; they’re drinking cocktails and enjoying snacks. But the mood lighting is a bit strange. No candles or twinkling Christmas lights here. Instead, the light comes from enormous green-glowing plants in the center of the table.

This is a model inside a museum in New York. The “people” are small silver statues. But the plants are real. They’re watercress planted with nanoparticles (纳米粒) that turn their stored energy into light. It’s a technology developed several years ago by MIT chemical engineer Michael Strano. Now, Strano has partnered with an architect, Sheila Kennedy, to explore how these plants might be a central part of our homes and sustainable energy future.

The plants in the exhibit are newer versions. Their glow is based on an enzyme (酶) called luciferase, which is what gives fireflies their light. Strano and his colleagues first put luciferase and two molecules (分子) that allow it to work inside a nanoparticle carrier. They then immersed plants in a liquid containing the particles, and added high pressure. The pressure pushed the particles into the leaves through tiny pores (气孔).

“For the last two decades, plants have been a part of architecture, but they’ve always been used as green walls or roofs,” Kennedy says. However, the plants in Kennedy’s models fill entire rooms, their leaves and stems going wherever they choose. For her, this project was an interesting design challenge. She and her team had to figure out how to bring in sufficient water and where to contain enormous amounts of soil.

The team is currently working on making the plants brighter and fixing light particles in larger plants such as trees. They’re also eager to extend the duration of a plant’s light from hours to days or weeks.

1.What is special about the apartment according to the first two paragraphs?

A.Plants provide mood lighting for it. B.It is powered by nanoparticles.

C.Real people are enjoying themselves in it. D.It is modeled after a real one.

2.What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A.What the model is like. B.What gives fireflies light.

C.How the nanoparticles work. D.How to make the plants glow.

3.What actually makes the plants produce light?

A.Luciferase. B.Fireflies. C.Molecules. D.Pressure.

4.What can we know about the plants in Kennedy’s models?

A.The plants grow in restricted space.

B.The plants have grown as large as trees.

C.The plants still need water and soil.

D.The light of the plants can last weeks.

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了纽约博物馆里的一个模型——能够提供氛围照明的植物。

1.细节理解题。根据前两段内容，特别是根据第一段中的“But the mood lighting is a bit strange. No candles or twinkling Christmas lights here. Instead, the light comes from enormous green-glowing plants in the center of the table.”可知，但是氛围灯光有点奇怪，这里没有蜡烛也没有闪烁的圣诞灯，相反，光线来自桌子中央巨大的绿色发光植物，由此可知，公寓的特别之处是植物为它提供氛围照明，故A项正确。

2.主旨大意题。根据第三段内容，特别是根据“Their glow is based on an enzyme (酶) called luciferase, which is what gives fireflies their light.”可知，植物的发光是基于一种叫做荧光素的酶，这种酶能让萤火虫发光，由此可知，本段主要讲的是如何让植物发光，故D项正确。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段中的“Their glow is based on an enzyme (酶) called luciferase, which is what gives fireflies their light.”可知，植物的发光是基于一种叫做荧光素的酶，这种酶能让萤火虫发光，由此可知，让植物发光的实际上是荧光素，故A项正确。

4.细节理解题。根据第四段中的“She and her team had to figure out how to bring in sufficient water and where to contain enormous amounts of soil.”可知，肯尼迪和她的团队必须弄清楚如何引入足够的水，以及在哪里可以容纳大量的土壤，也就是说肯尼迪模型中的植物仍然需要水和土壤，故C项正确。