[00:06.09]Simon like exciting films,but Debbie prefers nature films.
[00:14.52]One day, she said,'Do you want to watch this video,Simon?
[00:21.16]It's about strange living things.they can be very or huge!
[00:29.31]Some have lots of bodyguards to protect them.
[00:34.87]Some live for thousands of years.And some are killers and kidnappers!
[00:44.33]Simon said,'It sounds really exciting!'
[00:49.89]But he had a surprise when he watched it.
[00:54.57]Here are some excerpts from it.Tgw Weird World of Plants
[01:02.51]This is the Venus Fly Trap.
[01:06.48]It has two special leaves,and each leaf has several hairs in the middle.
[01:13.14]If an insect touches one of these the leaves start to shut together.
[01:19.80]The insect often tries to run away.
[01:24.45]But the plant moves more quickly than the insect.
[01:29.73]The victim is trapped in a little prison.
[01:33.68]Soon it dies, and the plant gradually absorbs it.
[01:39.11]Plants live the longest of all things on Earth.
[01:43.55]A Bristlecone Pine in California is 4,700 years old
[01:50.39]and is still alive older than any written history.
[01:55.96]Plants can be as small as one cell,like the millions of tiny plants in the seas.
[02:02.72]One of the smallest is the Lichen plant which grows on stones.
[02:09.49]It is probably the plant which grows the most slowly.
[02:14.77]It can take a hundred years to grow a few centimetres.
[02:20.51]But plants can also be as big as the Giant Redwood,
[02:25.55]the world's most massive living thing.
[02:29.50]One tree in California is 84 m high
[02:35.38]and probably over two thousand tonnes in weight.
[02:40.24]No other type of tree grows higher than the Giant Redwood.
[02:45.56]The Dead Horse Arum attracts flies by looking and smelling like dead meat.
[02:52.33]Once they get inside the plant,it shuts a door,
[02:58.29]and keeps them prisoner for a night.
[03:02.41]During the night, it drops pollen on them.
[03:07.06]It releases them the next morning covered in pollen,
[03:12.52]so that they can go and carry the pollen to another Arum.
[03:17.80]One type of Acacia tree in South America encourages ants to live in it.
[03:24.96]The tree provides the ants with a home(in special branches)
[03:31.30]and with food (little pieces of protein at the end of some leaves).
[03:38.07]In return,the ants defend their tree as fiercely as they can.
[03:44.00]They attack any other insect or animal which comes near,
[03:49.07]and even remove other plants growing near it
[03:53.72]LISTENING
[03:58.29]Understanding the sequence of events
[06:52.55]SPEAKING
[06:57.12]A Talk time
[07:00.78]Helping our listeners to understand us
[07:05.33]When we talk to people, we must use our voices
[07:10.68]so thatour listeners can underst and us easily.
[07:15.54]We should:speak loudly enough to be heard;pronounce words correctly;
[07:24.92]stress words or syllables that we think are important;
[07:30.17]let our voices rise or fall at the end of sentences,clauses or phrases
[07:37.74]which are often shown by punctuation marks;
[07:42.50]pause at the end of sentences,clauses or phrases.
[07:48.66]Exercise A1
[07:52.22]I have an announcement to make.
[07:56.97]It's about this year's Science Exhibition.
[08:02.61]Last week,I asked for volunteers to help with the arrangements.
[08:11.96]Up to now,only one person has given me her name.
[08:19.51]I need six more,so please let me have some more names,by Friday at the latest.
[08:30.98]Exercise A2
[08:34.95]Ladies and gentlemen(p)
[08:38.79]For the past year(p)
[08:42.34]I've been experimenting with the blood of mice,
[08:49.01](p)and I've made a very interesting discovery.
[08:55.35]Every day,of white cells in the blood rises and falls.
[09:04.52]Even more interesting there is a rhythm to this rise and fall.
[09:13.67]I believe this rhythm is present in ail living things,including ourselves.
[09:25.63]more language input(Ⅲ)
[09:29.57]Reading
[09:33.94]Learn to care for plants
[09:37.59]The Native Plant Gardens in Victoria British Columbia
[09:43.24]Canada contain a large collection of living examples of [09:48.70]plants that grow in the local area.
[09:52.74]Most of the plants are collected from the wild.Some are from nurseries.
[09:59.09]The gardeners look after the plants and the beds very carefully.
[10:04.73]They cultivate the soil,and water the plants regularly.
[10:10.51]They also check for diseases or pests once a week.
[10:16.39]The name of each plant,the place it came fromits location in the gardens
[10:23.93]and its reference number are all recorded on cards and in computer files.
[10:30.70]Records of the yearly growth cycles of many plants are also available.
[10:36.87]The Native Plant Gardens offer an ideal setting for school pro grammes[10:43.71]in plant identification,plant use and ecology.
[10:49.35]Students often come here for outdoor studies
[10:54.81]and hands on gardening and research
[10:59.17]Listening
[11:04.61]Too shy!you are going hear a passage about a plant called mimosa.
[11:10.85]fill in the blanks with the wrds you hear on fape.
[11:15.40]Have you ever seen a mimosa plant?
[11:19.86]Perhaps you have one right there in your home.
[11:24.72]Mimosa is a small(1)__which grows to about(2)___cm in height.
[11:31.67]It is a (3)___plant.
[11:35.64]If you(4)___it,its leaves will(5)___up within a few seconds.
[11:41.28]Scientists say that these leaves contain a special kind of cell.
[11:47.45]the(7)___in the cells quickly moves into the spaces between the cell walls
[11:54.11]The cells then(8)___causing the leaves to(9)___.
[11:59.54]If the plant is left alone,
[12:02.99]the cells will soon fill with(10)__ and the leaveswill(11)___again.But remember: Don't be like the touchy mimosa yourself!
[12:09.16]Many people like this(12)___plant.
[12:13.31]It's(13)___watchingthe leaves(14)___and(15)___.
[12:17.99]But remember: Don't be like the touchy mimosa yourself!
