According to a recent study, plants are able to make intelligent decisions. They are a lot{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(smart) than we thought. Scientists have discovered that the pea plant can make decisions on how{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (survive) best, even though it does not have a brain. Researchers grew several pea plants that had their roots {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (separate) between two pots. Each pot contained different amount of nutrients. One pot always had the same amount{#blank#}4{#/blank#}the other pot varied between a lot and a little. The plants turned out to be{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (amaze) consistent（一致的）at turning their roots to the pot with the most nutrients.

    Researcher Alex Kacelnik says the experiment raises a question, not about plants{#blank#}6{#/blank#} about animals and humans. He wonders whether the pea plant is more efficient in using its limited resources about {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(make) decisions than humans. He says, “We have a very wonderful brain, but maybe most of the time we're not using {#blank#}8{#/blank#}” Professor Kacelnik does not think that pea plants are intelligent in the human sense, but that they exhibit complex{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (behave) to efficiently take advantage of natural opportunities. It will be interesting to see how our lives would be different if we{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (adopt) similar strategies.

    I was wandering into the small store, when the store owner received a call from a customer. The customer and his wife had shopped there several months before. When noticing that his wife really liked one thing in the store, he wanted to buy it as a surprise. Because time was limited, out{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (go) the couple without buying it. It was not until several months later that the customer wanted to buy it.

    But the customer was in Tennessee, living far away from the store which was in Maine. What was more, he had been to the store several months before, and it was difficult to believe that the store owner would remember him, or  {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it was that he was referring to. There were{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (diversity) goods in the store. The customer's question was whether she could do it. She said yes. The store owner advised him to describe the thing for her and so he did.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (inform) what the thing was like, the store owner took a few close-up photos with her camera« and e-mailed them to the customer. Having received the photos' then the customer decided which one was the very thing.

Then the customer said, “Now it is time we discussed a price over the phone.” Apart{#blank#}5{#/blank#}discussing the price, they also decided the time to send it. Then she took care of the credit card transaction (交易)online, and the customer proposed the gift{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(send) that afternoon. Then the agreement was reached. The customer said. “I live far away from your place now.{#blank#}7{#/blank#} I would get it myself.”

    The store owner was really smart. She wasn't necessarily{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (talent) for new technology but she was willing to push herself to find new ways to make the transaction (交易) actually happen. It was not a dramatic thing. It was the first time she had ever done it. Never before had she done such a thing.

    {#blank#}9{#/blank#} difficult it was, the store owner discovered a creative solution {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (contribute) to a new way of doing business. In my view, we should realize that challenge and opportunity go hand in hand.