【英语时差8,16】绿色植物能预知未来？（下）

The scientists guessed that the new seedlings¹ were sensing the presence of neighboring plants by detecting the characteristic color of light reflected sideways from leaves of the neighboring plants. That characteristic color contains a very small amount of red light and a larger amount of what is known to botanists² as far-red light. To test their guess, the scientists in effect blinded some new seedlings to that far-red light by placing clear blue cylinders³ around their stems. The accelerated growth was reduced or abolished. This striking result suggests that light scattered⁴ sideways from adjacent leaves provides an early signal of competition to young green plants. The young plants react to the signal by accelerating their stem growth to get a head start in the race for light.

1 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 botanists   

n.植物学家，研究植物的人( botanist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Botanists had some difficulty categorizing the newly found plant. 植物学家们不大容易确定这种新发现的植物的种类。 来自辞典例句
• Botanists refer this flower to the rose family. 植物学家将这花归入蔷薇科。 来自辞典例句

3 cylinders   

n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物

参考例句：

• They are working on all cylinders to get the job finished. 他们正在竭尽全力争取把这工作干完。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That jeep has four cylinders. 那辆吉普车有4个汽缸。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。