When a leafy plant is under attack ，it doesn’t sit quietly. Back in 1983,two scientists,Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm.What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds,VOCs for short.
当多叶植物受到攻击时，它不会默默忍受。早在1983年，两位科学家杰克·舒尔茨和伊恩·鲍德温就报告说，幼小的枫树被昆虫叮咬后会散发出一种邻近植物所能闻到的特殊气味。这些化学物质来自植物受伤部位，似乎是一种警报。植物通过空气传送的是一种被称为挥发性有机化合物的化学混合物。

Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. It’s a plant’s way of crying out.But is anyone listening? Apparently. Because we can watch the neighbours react.
科学家们发现，各种各样的植物在受到攻击时都会释放出挥发性有机化合物。这是植物呼叫的方式。但是有人在听吗？当然，因为我们可以观察到邻居的反应。

Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty.They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers.Once they arrive, the tables are turned .The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
有些植物会喷出有气味的化学物质来驱赶昆虫，但有些植物则有双重作用。它们会喷出香水，吸引不同的天敌昆虫来攻击它们。一旦它们到达，情况就会反转，原本吃午餐的袭击者现在变成了午餐。

In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors .The damage is usually more serious on the first plant,but the neighbors ,relatively speaking ,stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
在一项又一项的研究中，这些化学对话似乎对邻居有所帮助。第一个植物的损害通常更严重，但相对而言，邻居更安全，因为它们收到警报，知道该怎么办。

Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don’t know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth.
这是不是意味着植物会互相交谈？科学家不知道。也许第一株植物只是发出痛苦的叫声，或是在向自己的枝条传递信息，所以，实际上，它在自言自语。也许邻居们只是碰巧“无意中听到”了这一喊声。所以信息被交换了，但这不是真实的，有意识的互动。

Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There’s a whole lot going on.
150多年前，查尔斯•达尔文曾设想过一个世界，比我们所能看到和听到的世界更忙碌、更喧闹、更亲密。我们的感觉很弱，有很多事情要做。