文章大意:这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了微塑料无处不在,介绍了微塑料的大小,以及新发现表明家里的合成材料如此之多,以至于我们每天可能会吸入多达7000个微塑料颗粒。
Microplastics are “one of the greatest man-made disasters of our time”, according to the Natural History Museum. That’s bad news, given they are also everywhere: in tap water, the food you buy, the clothes you wear and the air you breathe.
The largest microplastics can be seen by the naked eye and are anything under half a cen- timetre in size. But many of them are small enough to act like spots of dust which we can unconsciously breathe in or eat in food. The smallest particles are called nanoplastics and they are small enough to get their way deep into the human body.
New findings from the University of Portsmouth show that there is so much synthetic material in our homes that we might be breathing in up to 7, 000 microplastic particles a day. Using special equipment, researchers measured a typical family home and found the highest concentration of it was in the bedroom of the eight-year-old daughter, whose room was decorated with plastic-based bedding, carpet and soft toys.
Although research is in its early stage, the risks of these plastics could be serious—some studies have linked high exposure to cancer risk and disrupting our hormones. In animal studies, the particles have been shown to affect metabolism, gut bacteria and the immune system, among other things.
It is not yet known what a healthy level of microplastics might look like, but Dr Sabine Donnai, CEO of the Viavi clinic, thinks that many people in the West are over the limit. In tests at her clinic, patients often come back with dangerously high levels of plastic in their bodies, she says.
12. What does paragraph 2 talk about?
A.The seriousness of microplastics. | B.The size of microplastics. |
C.The solution to microplastics. | D.The effect of microplastics. |
13. How did researchers determine the amount of microplastics of a home?
A.With technical instrument. | B.By referring to previous data. |
C.Through experiments. | D.By observing environment. |
14. What does the underlined word “disrupting” in paragraph 4 probably mean?
A.Deciding. | B.Disturbing. | C.Discovering. | D.Defending. |
15. What would be a suitable title for the text?
A.New study found microplastics | B.Microplastics are found in clothes |
C.Microplastics are threatening our life | D.We breathe in microplastics every day |