45-year-old Yoshiharu Watanabe can rightfully consider himself the world’s luckiest man after setting a new Guinness Record by growing a clover with 63 individual leaves.

    What is luckier than a four-leaf clover? Well, a five-leaf clover, of course. By that logic, the more leaves a clover has, the more luck it brings, so Yoshiharu Watanabe may just be the luckiest man alive because he is the first to ever grow a clover with 63 leaves. His amazing story began in 2009 when he started picking up clovers with more than three leaves and planting them in his home garden. All he had to do was cross-pollinate to obtain exceptional specimens with up to 20 leaves. It was at this moment that he started dreaming about setting a new world record, but he never dreamed of doing so with a 63-leaf clover.

    By 2020, Watanabe’s cross-pollination technique had already yielded impressive results. That year, he grew a 49-leaf clover, and the year after that, he came really close to tying the record with a 55-leaf plant.     ▲     — the number of leaves stopped growing.

    “Sometimes the number of leaves can go down, or sometimes you end up with the normal three-leaf clover,” the gardener explained. “We know that genetics are involved in a higher number of leaves, yet we don’t exactly know how it works.”

   But just as he was about to give up hope of ever setting up a new record, in 2023, Watanabe managed to grow a clover plant with no less than 63 individual leaves. “Because the leaves are smaller than the standard clover that you know and love, it’s hard to count the number of leaves. When I counted this record-breaking clover, it took me over an hour,” Watanabe explained. The result, of course, has made him exceedingly happy!

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1.How did Watanabe achieve his goal of setting a new world record?

A By planting standard three-leaf clovers.

B By cross-pollinating clovers with many leaves.

C By purchasing rare clovers from other countries.

D By researching clover genetics extensively.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据第二段的“he started picking up clovers with more than three leaves and planting them in his home garden. All he had to do was cross-pollinate to obtain exceptional specimens with up to 20 leaves”可知，他开始采摘三片以上叶子的三叶草，把它们种在家里的花园里。他所要做的就是异花授粉，以获得有多达20片叶子的三叶草。故选B。

2.What can be put back into the “ ▲ ” in Para. 3?

A The clover is so strong that it didn’t need much care.

B The number of leaves varies from plant to plant.

C How did Watanabe get the most leaves on a clover?

D But then something unexpected happened.

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据前面描述的Watanabe的异花授粉技术已经取得了令人印象深刻的成果以及后面的“the number of leaves stopped growing”可知，此处句子意思表示转折，即随后发生了意想不到的事情。故选D。

3.What made it difficult to count the leaves on the record-breaking clover?

A The leaves were too big and densely packed.

B The leaves were smaller than standard clovers.

C He needed specialized equipment to count the leaves.

D The clover had an unusual shape, making it hard to count.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据最后一段的“Because the leaves are smaller than the standard clover that you know and love, it’s hard to count the number of leaves.”可知，因为多叶草的叶子比大家熟悉和喜爱的标准三叶草要小，所以很难数出叶子的数量。故选B。

4.What can we know about growing clovers with many leaves?

A It’s a matter of pure luck.

B It’s easy and straightforward.

C It requires patience and attention to detail.

D It’s impossible without genetic modification.

解析：选C。C推理判断题。根据全文内容，尤其是Watanabe从2009年开始培育多叶三叶草，并通过选择叶片多的三叶草带回家培育，观察叶片数量，可以看出种植多叶三叶草需要耐心和对细节的关注。此外，他在计数创纪录的63叶三叶草时所花费的时间也说明了这一点。故选C。