4.3 Find the answers to the following questions in the text 1:

1. Name the main functions of a root.

2. Where is the majority of the root system located?

3. What are root hairs necessary for?

4. What does a root hair look like?

5. Where is a root cap found? What is it main function?

4.4 Match the words with their definitions:

Taproot	the underground part of a plant that pulls in water and nutrients from the soil
Fibrous roots	a substance that is formed naturally in the earth
A primary root	a chemical or food that provides what is needed for plants or animals to live and grow
Root	the large main root of a tree from which smaller roots grow
Nutrient	the first root to appear
Mineral	roots in monocots

4.5 Complete the sentences with the words, according to the text 1.

All trees have roots, which have three important jobs to do. They ... the tree to the ground so that it can stand upright. Also they ... water, minerals and nutrients (tree food) from the soil and then ... them upward to the rest of the plant. And a third job of the root is ... of food. Roots are spread in a vast ... . Each root is covered with thousands of ....

4.6 Match the verbs of column A and the nouns of column B

A	B
manufacture divide absorb branch anchor protect store	plant minerals roots water root cap cells food

4.7 Find sentences from the text1 with the verbs-predicates in the form of the passive voice and translate them.

4.8 Read the text 1 again and say if the statements are false or true. Correct the false ones.

1. The mature root in a dicot is called a taproot.

2. In a dicot the primary root is usually short-lived.

3. Roots are usually spread in a vast and intricate network.

4. Single root is prominent in a fibrous root system.

5. A tree’s roots anchor the tree upright in the ground.

6. The main function of a root is storage of food.

4.9 Skim the text 2. Single out the key sentences, translate into Russian and write down them.

Text 2 Mangrove trees

M

Figure 4.3

angroves are woody, specialized types of trees of the tropics that can live on the edge, where rainforests meet oceans. Found on sheltered coastlines and river deltas, they grow in brackish wetlands between land and sea where other plants can’t grow. They protect the coastline and prevent erosion by collecting sediment from the rivers and streams and slowing down the flow of water. There are about 39.3 million acres of mangrove forests in the warm coastlines of tropical oceans all over the world.

Mangrove trees look as if they grow on stilts. The stilts are their specialized aerial roots which hold the trunk and leaves above the water line (figure 4.3). Mangrove forests are affected by the rising and falling of the ocean’s tides. The aerial roots and tap roots can filter out the salt in the brackish water they grow in. Support roots grow directly into the mud to anchor the tree. Other roots snake up and down with the upward loops rising above the salt water level. Salt crystals taken up by the roots are stored in the leaves. The mangrove rids itself of the salt by shedding its leaves after a while.