Read the following passage carefully and answer, in your own words as far as possible, the question that follows.
For some, grass is just the green stuff outside the house that they have to mow. For farmers and football players, it is indispensable. For children, it is the ideal playground. And those who live in most urban areas assume they have very little to do with grass of any sort. However, almost all of us have daily contact with some type of grass and the products made from it.
Grass makes up a major part of the vegetation that covers the earth. And no wonder, since it is one of the most adaptable plants groups on earth, growing in Polar Regions and deserts, in tropical rain forest, and on wind-swept mountain slopes. Entire vegetation areas are dominated by grass. Unlike many other plants, grass grows, not at the tip, but in growth areas above the nodes. New shoots might start from stems growing horizontally on or under the ground. So when the lawn mower or the cow cuts away the tip, or fore rages through a field, grass keeps growing, wheras many other plants stop. Furthermore, with most grasses, if the stem is bent over by wind or trodden underfoot, it can raise itself erect by growing faster on the side facing the ground. For these reasons, grass usually recovers quickly after being damaged, which gives it an edge over other plants in the fight for sunlight.
Grass is not only the most abundant but also the most important flowering-plant family on earth. A botanist once described grass as the foundation of our food. It is “like a dam protecting mankind from famine.” Try to remember what you ate today. Did you start with a bowl of cereal made with millet, rice, oats, or sorghum? Well, then you ate grass seeds. Or perhaps you had a roll or other kind of bread. The flour used was made from grass kernels – wheat, rye, barley, and other grains that are all grasses. Cornflakes and other corn products are no exception, as corn or maize is a grass too. You had sugar in your tea or coffee? More than half of all sugar is made from sugarcane, a grass.
Grass is not only good for food, however. If your house has walls made of clay and straw, it is grass that gives them the necessary strength. In different parts of the world, roofs are thatched with grass. One of the advantages of such roofs is that they keep the interior of the buildings cool regardless of the external temperature. Grass covers and adorns much of the earth. Apart from the beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing sight of green meadow or a well-kept lawn, grass is a major oxygen supplier, because of the sheer mass of green vegetation that it produces.
Finally, its roots perform the all-important function of protecting the soil from erosion. Keeping its versatility in mind, we are not surprised to learn that the usage and cultivation of grass has a long history. The next time you see a waving cornfield, a lush green meadow, or just humble blades of grass growing between stones in a sidewalk, you might stop and think of this marvelous and most versatile plant family!
Questions
(a) In two sentences, one for each, summarize the two reasons why grass forms a major part of the earth’s vegetation.
(b) In four sentences, one for each, summarize the four ways in which grass is useful to humans.
