VOCABULARY AND READING COMPREHENSION

Questions 1-13

£ £ £ £ Atmospheric pressure can support a column of water up to 10 meters high. But
plants can move water much higher, the sequoia tree can pump water to its very top,
more than 100 meters above the ground. Until the end of the nineteenth century , the
movement of water s in trees and other talls plants was a mystery. Some botanists
hypothesized that the living cells of plants acted as pumps, but many experiments
demonstrated that the stems of plants in which all the cells are killed can still move
water to appreciable heights. Other explanations for the movement of water in plants
have been based on root pressure, a push on the water from the roots at the bottom of
the plant. But root pressure is not nearly great enough to push water to the tops of tall
trees, Furthermore, the conifers, which are among the tallest trees have unusually low
root pressures.

£ £ £ If water is not pumped to the top of a tall tree, .and if it is not pushed, to the top of a
tall tree, then we may ask. How does it get there? According to the currently accepted
cohesion-tension theory, water is pulled there. The pull on a rising column of water in a
plant results from the evaporation of water at the top of the plant. As water is lost from
the surface of the leaves,a negative pressure or tension is created. The evaporated
water is replaced by water moving from inside the plant in unbroken columns that
extend from the top of a plant to its roots. The same forces that create surface tension
in any sample of water .are responsible for the maintenance of these unbroken columns
of water. When water is confined in tubes of very small bore, the forces of cohestion
(the attraction between water molecules) arc so great that the strength of a column of
water compares with the strength of a. steel wire of the same diameter. This cohesive
strength permits columns of water to be pulled to great heights without being broken.

1. How many theories does the author mention?
(A) One
(B) Two
(C) Three
(D) Four

2. The passage answers which of the following questions ?
(A) What is the effect of atmospheric pressure on foliage?
(B) When do dead cells harm plant growth?
(C) How does water get to the tops of trees?
(D) Why is root pressure weak?

3. The word "demonstrated" in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A)ignored
(B) showed
(C) disguised
(D) distinguished

4. What do the experiments mentioned in lines 6-8 prove?
(A) Plant stems die when deprived of water.
(B) Cells in plant sterns do not pump water.
(C) Plants cannot move water to high altitudes.
(D) Plant cells regulate pressure within stems.

5. How do botanists know that root pressure is not the only force that moves water in plants?
(A) Some very tall trees have weak root pressure.
(B) Root pressures decrease in winter.
(C) Plants can live after their roots die.
(D) Water in a plant s roots is not connected to water in its stem.

6. Which of the following statements does the passage support?