Urban trees are being robbed of sleep by street lights, according to an influential German forester. Peter Wohlleben, the author of “The Hidden Life of Trees”, said that, like humans, “they also have to sleep at night”.
Mr Wohlleben compared trees in urban areas to orphans who have to grow without their network of support, claiming that light pollution makes city life even harder. Mr Wohlleben has studied trees and believes they raise their children, sweat, feel pain and communicate with each other. “Trees that live near street lights will die earlier because it's like burning a light in your bedroom,” he said, “If you have any influence on street lights, it's also better at energy saving that they switch off at 1 o'clock or so.”
He developed the term “wood-wide web” to explain how trees communicate and support one another.  Mr Wohlleben said roots had a hard time under pavements that were warmer at night when forests cooled down.
Researchers found artificial light changed the annual rhythm of blossom and may have significant effects on their health, survival and reproduction. Plants have grown well under 24-hour cycles of light and darkness and the spread of artificial lighting disrupts these cycles, researchers found.  Light gives plants information about what time of the day it is or the season, so they know what processes to carry out as a result, for example, whether they should be photosynthesising. If it's light all the time, they do not know when to carry out such activities.
In some cases the light is so bright that it affects their growth. Mr Wohlleben also said that trees shed their leaves in the autumn because snow falling on leaves will cause the branches to break, causing them physical pain. The well-known author looks after a forest on behalf of the community in Hümmel, Germany, where machinery is banned and the trees are left alone.

      本时文内容由奇速英语国际教育研究院原创编写，未经书面授权，禁止复制和任何商业用途，版权所有，侵权必究！（投稿及合作联系：028-84400718  QQ：757722345）

1. Why did Mr Wohlleben compare trees in urban areas to orphans?

A    Because they do not have enough food.

B    Because they aren’t able to raise children.

C    Because they can’t sweat or even feel pain.

D    Because they aren’t supported by other trees.

2. What should people do to protect the urban trees?

A    Lights should be turned off at midnight.

B    People should know how trees communicate.

C    They should burn lights in their bedrooms.

D    The roots under pavements should be cut off.

3. How did the light harm the trees?

A    It broke the cycle of the trees.

B    It helped the photosynthesising.

C    It told trees the process.

D    It gave the plants information.

4. What did Mr Wohlleben do with Hümmel?

A    He kept the leaves from falling.

B    He stopped people using machines there.

C    He made the lights very bright.

D    He made the branches break easily.