5.断枝的植物们
Trees cannot heal a physical wound like a human does. In order to remain healthy and alive, a tree needs to be energy-efficient, and recovery is just an unaffordable drain on resources. Instead of applying a Band-Aid and mustering up some healing, the plant blocks off all life to the injured part, effectively abandoning it. The benefits of this are twofold. Not only does this shut the door solidly in the face of nasties that could further infect the entire tree, but it can now spend its valuable energy on new growth somewhere else.
树木在受伤以后并没有类似于我们人类的免疫自愈能力。所以为了图谋生存，他们除了增强自身免疫别无选择。取而代之，与贴个绷带愈合伤口不一样，植物一旦出现伤口，会自动放弃拯救。这给它们带来的好处是双倍的，一方面，它可以防止外界尘埃的进入，进而制止其破坏整个植物结构；另一方面，这样有利于将有价值的能量转移到新生长的地方。
However, amputation is not a fail-safe survival switch. Sometimes, a wound is just too large or infected, and sickness and rot eventually kill off the tree. But when it does work, the damaged cells start the process through leaking their contents which then oxidize and form the lifesaving barrier. As time passes, the wound will eventually close up as every year's new growth forms around it.
然而，植物截肢并不是一种从死亡向幸存的过渡。有时候，伤口过大容易引起感染，病毒不断侵入，直至植物丧命。而当真正奏效之时，被破坏的细胞组织耗散那些即将氧化的成分，形成保护生命的物质。随着时间的流逝，伤口会最终愈合，植物又会迎来新一年的生长。
4.They Have Audible Angst
4.可听见的"焦虑"
French scientists have recorded a sound trees make when they undergo drought stress. They don't ask for a cup of tea in a parched voice—oh, no—trees get weird. They bubble. But by the time they're bloop-blooping somewhere in the ultrasonic range, a dangerous process is already occurring that can prove fatal to the unlucky bubbler.
法国科学家在树木遭受干旱的时候记录下了它们发出的声音。我指的可不是它们因为天气炎热而想要通过发出嘶哑的声音得到杯茶，这样的树会吓死人的。它们只是在风的作用下随意发出一些不规则的声音。但是，正是在它们发出那些在超声波范围内的噪音时，一些危险且致命的事情也在同时发生在这些不幸的小家伙身上。
To get water to all of their extremities, trees suck the lifesaving liquid—under the pressure of several atmospheres—through special tubes called xylem. During a drought, the plant must increase this pressure but, in doing so, air bubbles form that can interfere with the water flow, and these are the stress sounds now audible to the right microphone. Scientists call the phenomena "cavitations" and, since too many cavitations can kill trees—sometimes endangering valuable plantations—it's crucial to know when they start. The French scientists are aiming to eventually create a device that can capture this ultrasonic noise in order to alert forest managers when a tree needs an emergency watering or even automatically activate a watering device.
在许多极端环境下，为了尽它们最大的努力得到水，树木通过叫做木质部（xylem）的特殊导管汲取维持生命的水分。尤其在旱季期间，植物汲取水分的压力更加大，但是，与此同时，空气也产生阻碍水流通的气泡。正是这些相互影响的气流压力使得我们能通过麦克风听到树的"焦虑"。科学家把这种现象称为"气穴现象"（Cavitation）。因为经历太多"气穴现象"对许多珍贵植物有害，所以知道这种现象发生前的时间非常重要。法国科学家正致力于发明一种能够捕捉到这个超声波噪音的装置，并将其用于敦促森林管理员在树木缺水的时候给予紧急补水。他们更想要的是这种装置能够在树木需要时自动启动补水功能。
3.分子记忆
During a study of genetically identical poplar trees, researchers found that the specimens responded to their present environment based on what individuals had gone through in the past, pointing to some sort of memory at a molecular level. Researchers took stem cuttings from poplars and, apart from the fact that the cuttings came from two different nurseries, everything else about the experiment that followed was identical. The genes of the cuttings, species, and environment in which they were raised were all the same to allow researchers to notice any difference in reaction. And they got it.
在一项对基因相同的杨树的研究当中，研究者发现这些样本对当下环境的反应跟它们过去遭受过的环境有很大关系，这在一定程度上证明了杨树具有分子记忆。研究者从这些杨树中抽取枝干作为样本，除了来自两个不同的培养区，来到实验室后它们所有的实验因素都是相同的。样本的基因、种类以及培养环境都是一样的，以便于研究者及时发现区别。他们得到了结果。
Simulating drought for some while watering the rest, the scientists expected the poplars to all react the same since they were in effect genetic clones. But the trees from Alberta activated a different group of genes in response to the "drought" than the poplars obtained from Saskatchewan. This pointed to the plants "remembering" where they came from.
通过在实验室内模拟干燥和湿润两种环境情况，研究者期望这些杨树产生的反应都是一样的，因为它们属于同一个基因群。但是，取自于亚伯达（Alberta）的柳树枝因对过去干燥环境的"记忆"产生了一组与取自于萨斯喀彻温省（Saskatchewan）的不同的基因。这就很好地证明了植物能够"记得"它们是从哪来的。
2.树叶的语言
Perhaps "leaves" is the wrong word here. Trees do not use sign language with their foliage to greet each other in the morning—that would just freak everybody out. Communication between trees happens subtly and below ground. Suzanne Simard, a forest ecologist, has made the unprecedented discovery that forest trees communicate and share resources with each other via their roots. With the help of symbiotic fungi, trees can actually feed seedlings with the nutrients the youngsters need to survive.
或许"树叶"在这里是错误的词语。在早晨，树不会用手语对它们的叶子打招呼，那只会使叶子极度兴奋。树木之间的交流在地下隐隐约约地发生。一位名叫苏珊娜·西玛德（Suzanne Simard）的森林生态学家做出了新奇的发现，那就是森林里的树木通过它们的根互相交流和分享资源。事实上，在共生真菌的帮助下，树木可以向幼苗提供"年轻人"赖以存活的营养。
This fungal network also allows bigger trees the opportunity to swap necessities like water and carbon with other trees, depending on their needs. Simard also identified the phenomenon of "mother trees"—the really old and massive trees in a forest. Not only are mother trees connected to all the other trees, but they seem to be the heartbeat of the woodland. They control and dispense resources through the massive fungal web and, when such a matriarch is chopped down, younger trees face a reduced survival rate.
取决于树木的需要，这种由真菌引起的网络关联也允许更大的树和其它树交换水和碳这样的必需品的机会。西玛德也发现了一种在森林里又年老又壮大的"母亲树"的现象。母亲树不仅与其它树相联系，它们似乎还是森林的脉搏。它们通过庞大的真菌联系网控制和分配资源，当这样的女统治者被砍掉，幼树的存活率降低。
1.Arson As A Competitive Edge
1.作为竞争优势的纵火
Wryly nicknamed "gasoline trees," the popular eucalyptus tree is almost designed to prepare the groundwork for a devastating bush fire. Their broad ribbons of dry, peeling bark create tinder all over the place, made even more dangerous by the extremely flammable oil it produces.
受欢迎的桉树被嘲讽地称为"汽油树"，它几乎是为了准备毁灭性的丛林大火而设计的。它们那宽阔干燥的带状物脱落树皮为各地创造火种，这使得极度易燃的精油生产甚至变得更加危险。
This combination is what makes this tree the firefighter's archenemy because it can turn a manageable ground fire into an uncontrollable firestorm in minutes. In 1991, over 3,000 homes and 25 lives were lost after eucalyptus trees caught fire throughout the Oakland Hills of California. After such sweeping wildfires, eucalyptus babies thrive without a problem. During their first couple of years, the young trees will grow intensively, sometimes at the cost of other species that can't keep up. Despite their arsonist nature, eucalyptus trees remain coveted for their strange beauty, fast growth, and prized essential oil.
这种组合的树成为消防员的大敌，因为它可以把一个可控制的地面火力在数分钟内转变为无法控制的风暴火。1991年，在桉树起火席卷加利福尼亚奥克兰山之后，超过3000个家庭和25条人命没有了。在发生这样彻底的野火后，对桉树"婴儿们"的茁壮成长没有影响。在它们最初的几年中，年轻的树集中生长，有时以其它物种跟不上生长的步伐为代价。尽管它们有纵火犯的本质，桉树因其独特的美，生长快速和珍贵的精油仍然被人觊觎。
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