英语课程计划-Plant Appreciation Day（在线收听）

April 14 is Plant Appreciation Day (PAD). This is when you appreciate just how important plants are to us. Few of us ever stop to think just how vital plants are to our survival. Without them, we wouldn’t be here. Plants change the CO2 in the air into oxygen. No plants, no oxygen. Plants also improve our daily lives. Most of us have a plant or many plants we like to look after. Some of us even talk to our plants. On PAD, say some nice things to the plants in your life, or treat them to some plant food. The PAD website has a few other suggestions, such as growing your own vegetables and giving them to the poor. Another idea is to plant a tree for every year you’ve been on the planet. Plants are so important for our future.

What are plants exactly? They don’t all grow in pots. Plants are living organisms belonging to the Plantae kingdom. They include trees, bushes, vines, ferns, grasses, herbs, mosses, and green algae. People who study plants are called botanists. They say there are 350,000 species of plants in the world. Plants are important for all of our food. We eat fruit, vegetables and grains, and the animals we eat also eat plants. We also need plants to breathe. Plants have a system called photosynthesis which provides us with oxygen. Plants also provide us with materials for building things, like wood; and medicines. Even the energy we use is from plants. Oil is a fossil fuel from plants that died millions of years ago. We really need to appreciate plants more.