题干
Nature has its own way of balancing itself out，but when we humans get involved，we tend to throw things out of control. Forests and oceans are natural carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but since we’ve been pumping too much into the air, those sinks can’t keep up. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Advancement of Science in Germany, led by biologist Tobias Erb，have figured out a way to supercharge plants to make them better at absorbing carbon dioxide, which could be a key defense against climate change.
Erb and his team figured out a way to make plants more efficient（效率高的）at absorbing carbon, so that they consumed more carbon in a shorter amount of time. “If you think about plants, they are efficient carbon dioxide -fixing filters, but they are not fast,” Erb said. “I think there is a chance to improve existing biology with synthetic（人造的）biology.”
Erb’s team identified 17 enzymes（酶）from nine different organisms, re-engineering three of them, which had enlarged carbon consumption. When those enzymes worked together as a team, they worked better at not only plants’ natural enzymes, but also themselves individually.
Existing enzymes in plants consume about 5 to 10 molecules（分子）of carbon dioxide per second. The team of enzymes that Erb used consumed 80 molecules per second.
So far, these enzymes have only been tested in test tubes in the lab, but the next step is real world testing where the enzymes would be introduced into plants to see if the same result occurs. If those tests show that plants really can be supercharged, we will have a new tool in the fight against climate change where not only do we protect the amazing carbon-absorbing forests we have, but we also apply these super plants or an artificial leaf technology using the enzymes into other fields.
【小题1】Why can't forests and oceans balance nature nowadays?| A．Oceans and forests are getting smaller. |
| B．We human beings give off too much carbon dioxide. |
| C．A large number of forests are cut down. |
| D．There are too many creatures in the world. |
| A．To increase the plants' ability and efficiency to absorb carbon dioxide. |
| B．To make oceans and forests absorb more carbon dioxide quickly. |
| C．To reduce humans' activities giving off too much carbon dioxide. |
| D．To increase the number of plants in the world. |
| A．The enzymes have proved useful in the real world. |
| B．Erb’s team are confident about the technology. |
| C．The enzymes only work in the lab. |
| D．The technology may have a bright future. |
| A．introduce a possible way to better plants’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide |
| B．call on people to pay more attention to the balance of nature |
| C．analyze the cause and result of climate change related to plants |
| D．explore the possibility of using plants to fight against climate change |
答案(点此获取答案解析）
