植物-Plants

　　Plants

　　Plants seem to know which way is up and which way is down; besides, they seem to know right from left. If a cutting from a tree is kept alive, new shoots will grow from the end

　　that grew in the highest part of the tree.

　　There is no noticeable difference between the top and the bottom of the living stick, even under a microscope. Even so, the stick will not send out shoots from the end it regards as

　　bottom even if this end happens to be on top!

　　Scientists studying this subject further split their cuttings in the direction of length.  To their surprise, they made another new discovery. A good many more buds grew on the righthand side of the split surface than on the left. They split the sticks again and found that the buds again grew on the right side.

　　The results of the entire study showed a 60% choice for the right side, proving that growing plants are mostly "righthanded.”

　　[点评]

　　此文描述的是植物的鲜为人知的特性：能区分上下左右。文章列举了例证和数据，令人信服，同时也使读者获得了知识。

　　[参考译文]

　　植物

　　植物似乎知道哪边是上，哪边是下；而且还好像知道左右。如果要使从树上砍下的枝子活下去，那么新芽会从树上最高处的那头发出。

　　这个活枝子的头尾没有明显的差异。甚至在显微镜下也看不出来。即使如此，这个枝子也不会从当作下头处长出芽来。既使这个头正好是上头，也不会。

　　研究这个课题的科学家们进一步将这树枝顺着劈开。他们很惊讶，又有了新的发现。被劈开的表面上从右边长出的幼芽比左边多得多。他们再次劈开树枝，幼芽又从右边发出。

　　这项研究的结果表明，60％的植物是右边先出芽，证明植物大部分是“右撇子”。

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