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Bamboo

Bamboo is a common woody plant that grows very quickly and is used widely around the world. It is not actually a tree but a type of grass. There are over 1,500 varieties of bamboo that grow mainly in Asia but also in other parts of the world. Bamboo has over 1,000 uses including for housing, tools, cooking, clothing, and more. It is considered a sustainable crop of the future due to its fast growth and ability to be harvested repeatedly to replace trees that take decades to mature.

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26 views4 pages

Bamboo

Bamboo is a common woody plant that grows very quickly and is used widely around the world. It is not actually a tree but a type of grass. There are over 1,500 varieties of bamboo that grow mainly in Asia but also in other parts of the world. Bamboo has over 1,000 uses including for housing, tools, cooking, clothing, and more. It is considered a sustainable crop of the future due to its fast growth and ability to be harvested repeatedly to replace trees that take decades to mature.

Uploaded by

Ngô Thu Ngân
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Reading Practice

Bamboo
Bamboo is a common woody plant. It grows tall and thin. It looks almost like a tree! It grows
about twenty five metres tall. It is about fifteen centimetres wide. Bamboo looks like it is
made of many small pieces. Thick lines divide it into small segments. And the inside of
bamboo is empty. But it is hard and very strong.

Many people think bamboo is a tree. But it is not - it is a kind of grass. It grows mainly in
East and South East Asia. It also grows in Latin America, India and parts of Africa and
Australia. Bamboo grows extremely fast and spreads very quickly. There are 1500 different
kinds of bamboo. People all over the world use it. And people are planting more of it. Some
people call bamboo ‘the crop of the future.’ They have many good reasons to plant
bamboo.

There are over 1,000 uses for bamboo! People in the past used bamboo for many things.
They made musical instruments and weapons with bamboo. Artists used it for paintbrushes
and paper. Fishermen used it to make equipment for catching fish. Some people even
made boats from bamboo!

In China and India, doctors use bamboo in traditional medicine. Bamboo is also very useful
for cooking. People put food inside the empty bamboo plant. This is a good container for
cooking soup, rice or tea. But people also eat bamboo as a healthy food. People eat the
soft part, or shoot, of the bamboo in many ways. Most Asian countries have special foods
made from bamboo shoots.

Bamboo has been used in traditional buildings. But builders also use it today! The village of
Noh Bo is just one example.

There are many modern uses for bamboo. In 1879 Thomas Edison created the first light
bulb. He made it with treated bamboo!

People also use bamboo to make cloth. Beauty products sometimes contain bamboo. It is
even in some water filters, to clean water! People have even designed vehicles and
airplanes out of bamboo. In Ghana, people even make two wheeled bicycles from bamboo.
In the Philippines, people make electricity from bamboo! Buildings, bicycles, light bulbs and
even electricity: bamboo is an amazing plant.

These are just a few of the many ways people use bamboo. But bamboo is useful for a
much more important reason. It is useful while it grows! Growing bamboo helps the
environment in many ways. Bamboo provides oxygen, which improves air quality. It also
reduces harmful carbon dioxide in the air. It does this more quickly than trees. Bamboo
also provides shade and shelter from the sun.

In many places, hardwood trees are cut down for fuel or for building. This causes problems
for the earth, animals, plants and air. To keep a good environment, people must replace
the trees. But it takes a very long time for most trees to reach their full size. Many
hardwood trees take 50 years to grow!

Bamboo is ready to use in only three years. Bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in
the world. It can grow about 60 centimeters in only one day. The bamboo plant grows to its
full size in just three or four months. Some kinds of bamboo then become dry and hard. In

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three years, it is strong enough to harvest and use. And bamboo grows again when it is cut
down. People can harvest it year after year.

Some people are sure that bamboo is ‘the crop of the future’. For example, Nicaragua has
many hardwood forests. But people are cutting down three percent of the forests every
year. One organization, Eco-planet Bamboo, is trying to replace these trees with bamboo.

Eco-Planet Bamboo planted a large bamboo farm. Through this farm, Eco-Planet Bamboo
hopes to improve the environment. They also hope to improve life for local people. Bamboo
is helping to reduce poverty in Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua, bamboo is providing jobs. Around the world, it is improving the environment
and the economy. It is easy to see why people call bamboo the ‘crop of the future.’

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Questions 1-7
Read the reading passage and fill in the blank below using ONLY ONE WORD OR A
NUMBER.

1. Bamboo is a common 1..................... plant.

2. There are 2..................... different kinds of bamboo.

3. Some people call bamboo ‘the 3..................... of the future.’ .

4. In China and India, doctors use bamboo in traditional 4......................

5. In Ghana, people even make 5..................... from bamboo.

6. In the Philippines, people make 6..................... from bamboo!.

7. In Nicaragua, bamboo is providing 7..................... plant.

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Solution:
1. woody 5. bicycles
2. 1500 6. electricity
3. crop 7. jobs
4. medicine

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