Question

living cells must have food in the form of sugar, they must grow, at least a little. but without leaves—and therefore without photosynthesis—that’s impossible. no being on our planet can maintain a centuries - long fast, not even the remains of a tree, and certainly not a stump happening with this stump. it must be getting assistance from neighboring trees, specifically from their roots. scientists investigating similar situations have discovered that assistance may either be delivered remotely by fungal networks around the root tips—which facilitate nutrient exchange between trees—or the roots themselves may be interconnected. in the case of the stump i had stumbled upon, i couldn’t find out what was going on, because i didn’t want to injure the old stump by digging around it, but one thing was clear: the surrounding beeches were pumping sugar to the stump to keep it alive.
if you look at roadside embankments, you might be able to see how trees connect with each other through their root systems. on these slopes, rain often washes away the soil, leaving the underground networks exposed. scientists in the harz mountains in germany have discovered that this really is a case of interdependence, and most individual trees of the same species growing in the same stand are connected to each other through their root systems. it appears that nutrient exchange and helping neighbors in times of need is the rule, and this leads to the conclusion that forests are superorganisms with interconnections much like ant colonies.
(paragraph 3)
what does the phrase \facilitate nutrient exchange\ mean as it is used in the sentence?

1. enable nutrients to be exchanged
2. prepare nutrients to be exchanged
3. control how nutrients are exchanged
4. determine how nutrients are exchanged

part b
which excerpt from the sentence best supports the correct answer from part a?

1. \have discovered\
2. \delivered remotely\
3. \between trees\
4. \interconnected\

Explanation:

For the first question, "facilitate" means to make an action possible or easier, so "enable nutrients to be exchanged" matches this meaning. For the second question, the correct answer to the first question is that "facilitate nutrient exchange" means enabling nutrient exchange; the excerpt "the surrounding beeches were pumping sugar to the stump to keep it alive" (implied by the context of interconnected roots allowing transfer) is supported by "delivered remotely", as this phrase describes the remote transfer of nutrients (sugar) that enables the exchange.

Answer:

1. 1. enable nutrients to be exchanged
2. 2. "delivered remotely"