In the first test of its kind in Europe, and only the second in the world, Belgian researchers tested 39 brands of straws (吸管) for the group of synthetic (合成的) chemicals known as poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The straws are made from five materials — paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. PFAS were found in the majority of the straws tested and were most common in those made from paper and bamboo. They were not found only in steel straws tested.
PFAS are used to make everyday products, from outdoor clothing to non-stick pans, resistant (抵抗to water, heat and stains. They are, however, potentially harmful to people, wildlife and the environment. They have been related to a number of health problems, including lower response to vaccines (疫苗), lower birth weight, thyroid disease, liver damage, kidney cancer and testicular cancer. They break down very slowly over time and can last thousands of years in the environment, a property that has led to them being known as “forever chemicals”.
A growing number of countries, including the UK and Belgium, have sopped the sale of single-use plastic products, including drinking straws, and plant-based versions have become popular. The PFAS concentrations (浓缩物) were low in them and, bear in mind that most people tend to only use straws occasionally, bringing a limited risk to human health. However, PFAS can remain in the body for many years and concentrations can build up over time.
It isn’t known whether the PFAS were added to the straws by the producer for waterproofing or the PFAS were the result of contamination. Potential sources of contamination include the soil the plant-based materials were grown in and the water used in the production process. However, the presence of the chemicals in almost every brand of paper straws means it is likely that it was, in some cases, being used as a water-resistant coating, say the researchers.
1. Why are PFAS called “forever chemicals”?| A．They are commonly seen in daily life. |
| B．They bring humans health problems. |
| C．They remain in the environment for long. |
| D．They can resist water, heat and stains. |
| A．By bringing people air pollution. |
| B．By polluting humans’ food. |
| C．By building up little by little in humans’ body. |
| D．By making people addicted to drinking easily. |
| A．Pollution. | B．Discovery. | C．Experiment. | D．Development. |
| A．More and more countries give up single-use plastic products. |
| B．PFAS are widely used in the production of daily necessities. |
| C．Certain kinds of new synthetic chemicals were discovered. |
| D．Environment-friendly drinking straws are actually harmful. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Most cities were built on rivers. People originally settled in Paris because of the Seine, and in London for the Thames. A third of New York City’s surface area is water. For centuries, city folk used rivers for shipping, fishing and play. In a rare city without a big river, Johannesburg say, you notice its absence.
Yet in recent decades, we have ignored urban rivers. The Industrial Revolution ruined rivers for more than a century. Huge new urban populations filled them with waste water, factory emissions(排放物) and harmful gases of ships. In Newcastle in the early 1800s, salmon(鲢鱼) had been so plentiful in the River Tyne that apprentices(学徒) were said to have terms in their contracts stating that their masters shouldn’t make them at it every day. By the 1950s, the salmon were gone.
However, in recent decades, cities began cleaning up rivers. The Thames is now the cleanest it has been in 150 years and has seals and the occasional whale, sometimes alive. In cities like Chicago, riverside storehouses have been turned into fashionable restaurants and waterfront apartments. All in all, the latest trend is to change urban waterways into the natural play space so lacking in most cities.
But rivers also need to regain their original purpose as transport center. Passenger traffic may decrease as an urban issue if working from home becomes the norm during and even alter the pandemic. But there’s one form of urban traffic that just keeps growing: deliveries. Imagine using the enormous capacity of shipping to take delivery trucks off the roads. One of the newer Thames barges(驳船) with a capacity of 1, 750 tons can replace 44 large trucks, which uses much less energy and causes less noise pollution. In other words, we need to turn truck drivers into barge captains.
Rivers are the reason our cities are where they are. We just forgot about them.
1. What is paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The reason for the rise and fall of cities. |
| B．The importance of rivers to cities. |
| C．The changes in cities along the rivers. |
| D．The locations of the famous rivers. |
| A．To indicate masters were generous to them. |
| B．To blame them for the mass extinction of salmon. |
| C．To imply the River Tyne was in good condition then. |
| D．To praise their contributions to the Industrial Revolution. |
| A．Waterfront apartments have been torn down. |
| B．Amusement parks have sprung up along urban rivers. |
| C．Riverside storehouses have served as places of leisure. |
| D．Waterways have been filled with emissions and abandoned ships. |
| A．Use barges to make deliveries. |
| B．Lay off truck drivers gradually. |
| C．Decrease working time from home. |
| D．Speed up smart urban traffic management. |
【推荐2】Light pollution is blocking a starry view of the night sky for more than half of people across England, a research has found.
Fifty-seven percent of stargazers(观星者) struggled to see more than 10 stars, while just 2% of participants said they experienced a truly dark sky making them be able to count more than 30 according to the research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England(CPRE). People in the countryside were encouraged to count how many stars they could see with eyes within the constellation(星座) of Orion, which is visible only in the winter months.
Campaigners said the results of the star count, supported by the British Astronomical Association ,showed the problem of light pollution and how it affected one of the countryside's most magical sights-a dark, starry night sky. They said the results of the research to map England's night skies suggested more could be done by the government, local councils and the general public to reduce the negative effects of artificial light from streets and buildings.
Emma Marrington, dark skies campaigner at the CPRE, said “We're hugely grateful to the people who took the time to get out and take part in our star count. But it's deeply disappointing that the vast majority were unable to experience the natural wonder of a truly dark sky blanketed with stars. Without any action, our night sky will continue to be lost under a covering of artificial light, ruining the health of the natural world.”
She added: “The star count results show just how far-reaching the light from street lights and buildings can be seen. Light doesn't respect boundaries, and careless use can see it spread for miles from cities.”
She suggested better-designed lighting, street light dimming systems and part-night lighting where some street lights are turned off during the small hours should provide an opportunity to limit the damage caused by light pollution, reduce carbon emissions and save money.
1. What is the effect of the light pollution in England?| A．Leading the stars to disappear. | B．Making the countryside dark. |
| C．Making the environment terrible. | D．Preventing the people seeing stars. |
| A．More and more buildings. | B．The overuse of artificial light. |
| C．Less and less outdoor activities. | D．The spread of light in the countryside. |
| A．falling suddenly | B．strengthening slowly |
| C．becoming less bright | D．getting weak and disappearing finally |
| A．Appreciative. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Disappointed. | D．Regretful. |
【推荐3】In the old days, when you had to drive to a movie theater or to a video store to get some entertainment, it was easy to see how your actions could have an impact on the environment. You were hopping into your car, driving across town, and using gas all the way.
But now that we’re used to staying at home and streaming movies, we might feel better about ourselves. After all, we’re just picking up our phones or maybe turning on the TV. You’re welcome, Mother Nature.
“Not so fast,” says a recent report from the French-based Shift Project. Watching a half-hour show would lead to 3.5 pounds of CO₂ emissions. That’s like driving 3.9 miles. According to “Climate Crisis: The Unsustainable Use of Online Video,” digital technologies are responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and that energy use is increasing by 9% a year. Stored in data centers, videos are transferred to our terminals such as computers, smart phones, etc. via networks: all these processes require electricity whose production consumes resources and usually involves CO₂ emissions.
In the European Union, the Eureca project lead scientist, Rabih Bashroush, calculated that 5 billion downloads and streams of the song “Despacito” consumed as much electricity as the countries of Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic used in a single year.
Streaming is only expected to increase as we become more attached to our devices. Online video use is expected to account for 80% of all internet traffic in five years according to CISCO. By then, about 60% of the world’s population will be online.
You’re probubly not going to give up your streaming services, but there are things you can do to help lessen the impact of your online use.
Here are some tips:
Disable autoplay for video on social media.
Stream over Wi-Fi, not mobile networks.
Watch on the smallest screen you can.
Don’t use high-definition (高清) video on devices.
1. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that people think ______.| A．they should welcome Mother Nature |
| B．streaming at home avoids possible emissions |
| C．it is inconvenient to drive to a movie theater |
| D．watching movies at home is more fun |
| A．60% of the world’s population watch videos online |
| B．digital technologies account for 4% of electricity use |
| C．online video use makes up 80% of all internet traffic |
| D．30 minutes of streaming video may produce 3.5 pounds of CO₂ |
| A．To praise their energy-efficient practice. |
| B．To prove the poverty of the five countries |
| C．To stress the popularity of the song “Despacito” |
| D．To show the high energy use of downloads and streams |
| A．Use high-definition videos. | B．Turn off video autoplay |
| C．Stream over mobile networks. | D．Watch movies on bigger screens. |
【推荐1】In the subway station, I notice a black teenage boy waiting for the train, sitting on a railing(栏杆) just in front of a moving escalator(扶梯). It’s a hot evening; there is no air in the station. This black kid is just sitting there, settled on the railing, and I’m just standing there about 10 feet away looking for the faraway lights of the oncoming train. Then suddenly a white police officer is asking the kid for identification. The kid turns a little annoyed and asks what he’s been bothering about. The officer doesn’t explain. The kid pulls out some I.D. and hands it to the officer who looks at it and then barks out a demand for something with an address on it, a driver’s license.
Unwillingly, the kid pulls out a second piece of identification. The officer looks at it and tells the kid to come with him. Nothing I have seen or heard explains the officer’s strict approach or why the kid is being led away.
I get up to the officer and politely ask what this guy did and where he is taking him. He looks at me like I’m armed and crazy and tells me that it’s none of my business and to stay out of this.
“Could I please take down your badge(警徽) number, sir, as I’d like to report all this,” I say.
“Take down my badge number and then you show me a piece of identification. What are you, some lawyer?”
I copy down his badge number and then show him my driver’s license, asking, “Could you please tell me what this is all for?”
Looking at me over and again asking if I’m a lawyer, he tells me he’s taking the kid in for blocking the escalator and me in for “obstructing a police action.” Another black man hearing all this asks what’s going on and the officer gets very nervous. So I decide to go with him to his office. Then the officer gives his version of what happened and I politely interrupt to explain that the kid was in no way blocking the escalator traffic and that I was in no way “obstructing a police action”, not adding that I thought the way the officer handling the situation was racist and unnecessarily strict.
After this experience in the police station, I’m still wondering whether a well-dressed white man will be faced with a sharp command for identification for sitting on an escalator railing waiting for a train? If a bystander does want to get involved and inquire about an apparently unfair arrest, is a policeman’s only response a second arrest? Will our police officers always be seen by black kids as evils? Is my charge with racism too strong?
1. What is the black teenager doing at the train station?| A．He is blocking the escalator. |
| B．He is escaping the police. |
| C．He is waiting for the train. |
| D．He is damaging the escalator. |
| A．He is a racist. |
| B．He is not afraid to get involved. |
| C．He is black. |
| D．He has a sense of justice. |
| A．The black boy doesn’t obey the police officer. |
| B．Subway stations are good places to hang about. |
| C．The white policeman thinks ill of the black teenager. |
| D．Situations like this in the passage will never change. |
| A．blame. | B．forbid. | C．prevent. | D．defend. |
【推荐2】Are you fed up with staring at a computer screen for hours straight just to review your classes? It’s a problem that many of us encounter(遭遇).So why not pick your headset and learn via a podcast?
Podcast, or boke, refers to a range of audio programs on different audio platforms. According to China Daily, podcasts have become popular among young Chinese people who would like to enjoy the peace and power of learning through sound.
Established in 2012, China’s largest online audio platform, Ximalaya saw its subscribers pass 600 million by December 2019.Among these users over 46 percent were born between 1990s and 2000s.On average, active users listen to podcasts for nearly three hours per day.
The emergence of domestic(国内的)online radio platforms and the convenience brought about by smart devices are certainly two reasons for the popularity of the format.Its flexible nature also makes it a winner among the young audience.
“Audio is a good medium for content that can break the limit of time and space,” Jiang Feng, vice-president of Ximalaya, told China Daily. He added that podcasts have become an important channel for people to acquire information and knowledge .It also can accompany listeners in many different circumstances including working ,studying, exercising, traveling and just before going to bed.
Apart from providing company, the new media form also gives people a platform to speak out about important issues.
A senior high school student who wanted to be admitted to the Central Academy of Drama failed his national college entrance examination twice. He talked about the pressure he faced on an audio program called Please Listen, launched by Mango TV on Feb 19,2020.The program was designed to relieve audiences’ worries by sharing their own stories.
Podcasts tend to be a discussion, and just like real life conversations, they follow a flexible structure and usually last for at least an hour. More often than not, you can’t summarize two or three important points from those conversations, like you could from articles. They often do not have conclusions, either. It’s a very freeform medium that is very friendly to listeners,” Pan Aijuan,a podcast listener and book editor at a publishing house, told China Daily.
At the same time, the use of podcasts trains people to first listen to others before offering one’s own opinions. It helps build up our patience and listening skills. Cheng Yanliang, a co-founder of the podcast Left and Right, stated that“ audio programs can filter（减缓）those bad-tempered people who would lose patience after reading several paragraphs and start writing awful comments to insult others”.
With such advantages,“ podcasts are entering the mainstream(主流)in China”, noted China Daily.
1. Why does the author mention Ximalaya in the third paragraph?| A．To inform the readers of its fast development. |
| B．To show the impact it has on users. |
| C．To discuss the characteristics of podcasts. |
| D．To demonstrate the popularity of podcasts in China. |
| A．To help audiences ease their worries. |
| B．To amuse audiences in different ways. |
| C．To allow audiences to comment on current affairs. |
| D．To give audiences a platform to acquire knowledge. |
| A．They can accompany listeners in different circumstances. |
| B．They provide listeners with a sea of information. |
| C．Their content usually follows a flexible structure. |
| D．It is quite easy to draw a conclusion from a podcast. |
| A．They can make people more cheerful. |
| B．They can make people more patient. |
| C．They can make people lose their temper more easily. |
| D．They can help break the habit of insulting people online. |
【推荐3】The food delivery industry (外卖行业) now is a hotly competitive business, attracting the world’s biggest moneybags such as Alibaba and SoftBank. Balancing the needs of diners, cooks and couriers (专递公司) is complicated. Most new companies lose money. Yet they have received more than $30bn (十亿) from venture capitalists (资本家) in the past five years. And they are likely to get more.
The food-delivery business can be divided into two camps: mostly profitable veterans (老手) and loss-making newcomers. The veterans, founded at the start of the century, are led by Grubhub in America, and Just Eat and Takeaway in Europe. They account for the largest share (份额) of the market, offering customers online access to restaurants. Their relatively simple business model, in which they take a cut of the bill from the restaurants, has enabled Grubhub and Just Eat to turn a profit for years. Takeaway makes money in its home market (本土市场) of the Netherlands.
The newbies, born more recently, have turned a once-tidy business into a food fight (食物大战). They include listed firms such as Meituan of China and Delivery Hero of Germany, Uber Eats (part of Uber), Ele.me (owned by China’s Alibaba), and privately held DoorDash, based in San Francisco, and Deliveroo, from London.For most of them, delivery is their core business, so they share their cut of the bill with riders as well as restaurants. This substantially broadens the market to restaurants. But profit suffers.
The only attractive aspect of the delivery business is its potential size. According to Bernstein, almost a third of the global restaurant industry is made up of home delivery, takeaways and drive-throughs, which could be worth $1trn (万亿) by 2023. In 2018 delivery amounted to $161bn, leaving plenty of room for online firms to expand.
Yet it is by no means clear if anyone can make money by delivering meals. In fact, the economics may be even worse. Delivery businesses have ways to cut their losses. One is to diversify further, by delivering groceries, flowers, booze, and even people, as well as meals. Another is to provide cheaper meals by centrally supplying ingredients to restaurants. In the dog-eat-dog world of food delivery, it will still be hard.
1. How can the veterans make a profit?| A．They get lots of support from capitalists. |
| B．They offer customers great convenience. |
| C．They draw a part of profit from restaurants. |
| D．They balance the complicated needs successfully. |
| A．Massive profits. | B．Satisfying service. |
| C．Efficient management. | D．Development prospects (前景). |
| A．Positive. | B．Definite (确定的). |
| C．Uncertain. | D．Confident. |
| A．Delivery businesses balance some complicated needs |
| B．Meal delivery attracts the world’s biggest moneybags |
| C．The two camps of delivery businesses compete fiercely |
| D．The food-delivery business is far from tasty business |
【推荐1】Trust me, you don’t want to get caught under a tsunami! Tsunamis are one of the world’s most powerful natural forces. They can cause huge amounts of damage.
But do you know exactly what a tsunami is? They are huge, powerful waves in the ocean that grow as they reach the shore. Most tsunamis are actually caused by earthquakes. An earthquake happens when a big piece of the Earth’s crust( 地 壳 ) suddenly moves. When the piece of ocean floor moves, it creates big holes. The water floods in to fill these holes. When the water moves that quickly, it creates a huge wave. This is how tsunamis are born!
Other natural disasters like landslides, volcanic eruptions, and glaciers breaking off can also cause tsunamis. Once the water starts moving because of the force of the disaster, large waves begin to spread. These waves can move very fast. They have been recorded at speeds from 400 up to 500 miles per hour! They can also move across very long distances.
At first, the waves of the tsunami may not seem that tall. That’s because when the waves travel through the deep parts of the ocean, the top of each wave is very short. But as that wave comes near to the coast, it grows in height. Remember, the tsunami travels quickly. If you are sitting on a beach, you may not see the wave coming at first. But when the wave arrives, it will be like a towering wall of water. Some waves are as tall as 100 feet high. The biggest tsunami ever recorded happened in 1958 in Lituya Bay, Alaska. The wave was over 1,720 feet tall, and it wiped out trees, vegetation, and everything else in its way.
As frightening as tsunamis can be, you don’t need to worry too much about them. They don’t happen that often. Only about two tsunamis happen every year. And it is said that serious, really damaging tsunamis only happen about every fifteen years. So don’t worry.
1. Based on the information in the article, which natural disaster is not responsible for causing a tsunami?| A．tornado | B．volcanic eruption | C．earthquake | D．landslides |
| A．2 hours | B．3 hours | C．4 hours | D．5 hours |
| A．The waves of the tsunami always move slowly over a long distance. |
| B．People on a ship in the deep ocean will notice a tsunami at once as soon as it forms. |
| C．When people on the beach first notice a tsunami, the waves are not tall. |
| D．People will not notice a tsunami until it gets close to the coast. |
| A．in a newspaper | B．in a science magazine | C．in a textbook | D．in a story book |
Come along to one of our four public lectures held in the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education throughout this term. These talks are given by leading experts from the University of Cambridge and beyond. | |
| Roman Britain as a“foreign country”Event date：April 28，16：20-18：30 Professor Martin Milett speaks on the interactions（相互影响）between native people and the Roman Empire. His research interests focus on the social and economic archaeology（考古学）of the Roman World and the interactions between native people and Roman Empire. | The world of new ideas Event date：March 3，18：20-20：30 Professor Mike Gregory will explore recent developments in innovation（创新）and production，and coming opportunities for Cambridge and beyond. New ideas-who has them，who develops them, who uses them? |
| Other worlds：the rise of the multiverse（多元宇宙）in fundamental physics Event date：June 2，17：15-19：30 The idea that our universe is just one of a vast number has been growing increasingly obvious in physics over the past decade. In this lecture，Physicist Harry Cliff will explore the reasons why some physicists have become convinced that we live in a multiverse, and whether experiments will ever be able to tell us something. | Antarctica: another world for peace and science Event date: May 28, 18:30-20:40 Understanding the changes that are taking place in Antarctica is vital for us all-when climate changes, it is the sensitive polar zones that signal the first signs of change to come. The lecturer. Professor Jane Francis, is director of the British Antarctica Survey(BAS), the first woman to hold that position. |
1. What does Mike Gregory mainly talk about in his lecture?
| A．The secret of the vast universe. |
| B．The exploration of future development. |
| C．The side effect of climate change. |
| D．The development of Roman Empire. |
| A．Antarctica is the most peaceful place in the world. |
| B．Protecting the polar environment is urgently needed. |
| C．Climate changes usually happen to polar zones first. |
| D．Changes in Antarctica are a predictor of global climate. |
| A．Marin Millett’s. | B．Mike Gregory’s. |
| C．Harry Cliff’s. | D．Jane Francis’ |
【推荐3】A new UN report is set to reveal that up to 1 million species face extinction because of human actions. We are causing a mass extinction event, and critically we cannot separate one environmental crisis from another. Biodiversity loss cannot be separated from climate change, or from human population growth or pollution or plastics in our oceans. These challenges are all interconnected. If we continue to consider these problems separately, solutions will continue to emerge far too slowly.
The connections between these crises make solutions seem all too difficult. But in fact, a solution to one problem will inevitably make a positive impact on many others too. More than 28, 000 people are dying because of polluted air each year in Britain and air pollution is linked to psychotic (精神病的) experiences and a reduction in educational achievement. It’s not rocket science: improving air quality in our cities by cutting polluting vehicles will bring a vast range of benefits to human health, and help deal with climate change too.
George Monbiot advocates taking land out of meat production and rewilding it. This will not only boost biodiversity enormously but will also deal with global warming because those rewilded, rewetted lands will capture significantly more carbon. If these lands are also opened up for us to enjoy, our physical and mental health will flourish. Thus we repair the ecology of destruction.
It can be difficult to know what we can do as individuals—but at least we all possess an increasingly understanding of how farming, consumption and energy-use impacts upon the planet. If everyone makes a small change, that will make a difference to our planet.
We're not struggling to find ideas to solve problems either globally or locally. It's action we're lacking, in government and beyond, as individuals and together as a species. If we act now we may be surprised at how these seemingly vast problems decrease quicker than we imagine.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?| A．The age of mass extinction has arrived. | B．Environmental crises are interrelated. |
| C．Humans are to blame for mass extinction. | D．Environmental crises should be solved separately. |
| A．They attract tourists. | B．They provide habitat for birds. |
| C．They take in carbon. | D．They boost biodiversity. |
| A．Take action now. | B．Find a better idea. |
| C．Cooperate with others. | D．Turn to the government. |
| A．A news report. | B．A scientific journal. |
| C．A climate handbook. | D．A biology textbook. |
