For many years， scientists thought trees live on their own. Each tree in the forestwas trying to get light， water， and nutrients1. But scientists find that trees may worktogether—with the help of fungi2.

多年以來(lái)，科學(xué)家認(rèn)為樹(shù)木是獨(dú)立生存的。森林中的每棵樹(shù)都試圖獲得陽(yáng)光、水和養(yǎng)分。但是科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)樹(shù)木可以在真菌的幫助下共同合作。

Fungi are small living things. They are not plants or animals， but break downdecaying3 matter and use it for food. In forests， fungi connect4 trees throughunderground networks5. Trees’roots6 grow out in all ways. The same soil is home tofungi， which can grow on and around tree roots. The fungi make webs between treesknown as mycorrhizal7 networks.

真菌是微小的生物。它們不是植物也不是動(dòng)物，但可以分解腐爛的物質(zhì)并將其用作食物。在森林中，真菌通過(guò)地下網(wǎng)絡(luò)連接起樹(shù)木。樹(shù)木的根朝各個(gè)方向生長(zhǎng)。同樣的土壤也是真菌的家園，真菌可以在樹(shù)根上面和周圍生長(zhǎng)。真菌在樹(shù)木之間結(jié)網(wǎng)，稱為菌根網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

In these networks， scientists think the trees and the fungi help one another. Thetrees give sugars made during photosynthesis8 to the fungi. The fungi get mineral9nutrients from the soil. They share them with the tree.

在這些網(wǎng)絡(luò)中，科學(xué)家認(rèn)為樹(shù)木和真菌互惠互利。樹(shù)木將光合作用產(chǎn)生的糖分提供給真菌。真菌從土壤中獲取礦質(zhì)營(yíng)養(yǎng)。它們和樹(shù)木分享這些營(yíng)養(yǎng)。

The fungi in a mycorrhizal network connect the trees together. Trees can sharesugars， nutrients， and water with one another. For example， if a small tree is growingin a shaded10 area， it may not get enough sunlight for photosynthesis. However， largertrees growing around it can send sugar to the young trees through the fungi. If a treeis dying， it might give its nutrients to the healthy trees growing around it.

菌根網(wǎng)絡(luò)中的真菌將樹(shù)木彼此連接在一起。樹(shù)木之間可以互相分享糖分、養(yǎng)分和水分。例如，如果一棵小樹(shù)生長(zhǎng)在陰暗的地方，它可能無(wú)法獲得足夠的陽(yáng)光進(jìn)行光合作用。然而，生長(zhǎng)在它周圍的大樹(shù)可以通過(guò)真菌將糖分傳遞給小樹(shù)。如果一棵樹(shù)快死了，它可能會(huì)把養(yǎng)分提供給周圍健康生長(zhǎng)的樹(shù)木。

Some plants will use the networks to take nutrients from their neighbors. Treesalso send messages by mycorrhizal networks. Networks can even connect differentkinds of plants. For example， fungi might connect a tree to a flower. Scientists thinkmycorrhizal networks are important for healthy forests. While the fungi are meetingtheir own needs， they are also helping trees to stay healthy.

有些植物會(huì)利用該網(wǎng)絡(luò)從鄰居那里拿走養(yǎng)分。樹(shù)木也通過(guò)菌根網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳遞信息。這些網(wǎng)絡(luò)甚至可以連接不同種類的植物。例如，真菌可能會(huì)把樹(shù)和花聯(lián)系在一起?？茖W(xué)家認(rèn)為菌根網(wǎng)絡(luò)對(duì)一片健康的森林很重要。真菌在滿足自身需求的同時(shí)，也在幫助樹(shù)木保持健康。

（英語(yǔ)原文選自：wonderopolis.org）