Steve found a job on a farm. He's the strongest and youngest. He ate most, sleeps most, but worked 1. He hated to use his 2 and knew little. He had to do some unskilled(无技巧的) work. He always said he's tired and hoped to have a 3 rest. So he 4 less money than his workmates.
Winter came. The workers were told to get ready 5 the next year. Only Steve did 6. The farmer told him to cut down some trees in the forest. The young man went there with a chair. He felt lonely in the forest and was afraid of the 7. During his work, he looked around and sang 8, and nobody knew what he was singing.
Three days passed. Steve didn't cut down any trees. The farmer felt strange. He decided 9 to find out how the young man was doing there. To his surprise, Steve was cutting a tree, sitting on a chair.
"Why are you 10 here to cut the tree?" asked the farmer angrily.
"Because I can't work if lying down sir!"
Can trees talk? Yes—but not in words. Scientists have reasons to believe that trees do communicate with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree (柳树) attacked in the woods by caterpillars (毛毛虫) changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them tasteless so that the caterpillars got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. And the tree sent out a special vapor—a signal causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make themselves taste also terrible too.
Talking, of course, doesn't need to be always in words. We can talk to each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar (花蜜) for honey. So why shouldn't trees have ways of sending messages?
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