Food production does great harm to our environment. There are many procedures involved in the manufacture of food that result in greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Some procedures require the consumption of large amounts of fossil fuels, such as the transportation and storage of food products. Other factors that cause great damage to our environment include the overuse of fresh water.
The production of beef is more damaging to the environment than that of any other food we consume. Raising large numbers of cattle requires the production of large amounts of food for the animals. it's estimated that producing one pound of beef requires seven pounds of feed.
Land use is also a problem. If the cattle are free-range cattle, large areas of land are required for them to live on. This has led to disastrous forest cutting and the loss of rare plants and animal species, particularly in tropical rain forests in Central and South America.
Another problem specific to beef production is methane emissions (甲烷排放). Although many people are aware of the damaging effects of carbon dioxide, they don't realize methane's global warming potential is 25 times worse, making it a more dire problem.
Unfortunately, beef consumption is growing rapidly. This is the result of simple supply and demand factors. Specifically, there are two main causes of demand that are encouraging the production of more supply. First, the increase in the world population means there are more people to consume meat. The second factor is socioeconomic advancement. As citizens in developing nations become financially stable, they can afford to buy more meat.
Therefore, one way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions is for people around the world to significantly cut down on the amount of beef they eat.
1. Which of the following is TRUE?| A．Raising free-range cattle is eco-friendly. |
| B．People cut down trees for animal habitats. |
| C．Producing beef can damage the environment. |
| D．Carbon dioxide causes far more harm than methane. |
| A．common |
| B．urgent |
| C．beneficial |
| D．avoidable |
| A．more people are in demand of beef |
| B．developing countries raise more cattle |
| C．more land is available to raise cattle |
| D．the cost of raising cattle is relatively low |
| A．describe the booming of the beef production |
| B．emphasize the advantages of beef production |
| C．criticize the cutting of the rain forest |
| D．argue for a decrease in beef consumption |
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【推荐1】Drive through any suburb in the U.S. today, and it’s hard to miss the bins that have become companions to America’s trash cans. Recycling has become commonplace, as people recognize the need to care for the environment. Yet most people’s recycling consciousness extends only as far as paper, bottles, and cans. People seldom find themselves facing the growing problem of e-waste.
E-waste rapidly increases as the techno-fashionable frequently upgrade to the most advanced device and the majority of them end up in landfills (垃圾填埋地). Some people who track such waste say that users throw away nearly 2 million tons of TVs, VCRs, computers, cell phones, and other electronics every day. Unless we can find a safe replacement, this e-waste may get into the ground and poison the water with dangerous toxins (毒素), such as lead, mercury, and arsenic. Burning the waste also dangerously contaminates the air.
However, e-waste often contains reusable silver, gold, and other electrical materials. Recycling these materials reduces environmental problems by reducing both landfill waste and the need to look for such metals, which can destroy ecosystems.
A growing number of states have adopted laws to ban dumping (倾倒) e-waste. Still, less than a quarter of this waste will reach lawful recycling programs. Some companies advertising safe disposal (处置) in fact merely ship the waste to some developing countries, where it still ends up in landfills. These organizations prevent progress by unsafely disposing of waste in an out-of-sight, out-of-mind location.
However, the small but growing number of cities and corporations that do handle e-waste responsibly represents progress toward making the world a cleaner, better place for us all.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．Many Americans now have access to recycling bins. |
| B．E-waste cannot be put into trash cans in the U.S. |
| C．Most Americans have realized the dangers of e-waste. |
| D．Most of America’s trash cans are made of recycled material. |
| A．pollute. | B．heat. |
| C．absorb. | D．reduce. |
| A．It’s important. | B．It’s unsafe. |
| C．It’s acceptable. | D．It’s uncommon. |
| A．A large number of cities have begun to handle e-waste responsibly. |
| B．A growing number of states ship the e-waste to developing countries. |
| C．Progress is being made in handling e-waste. |
| D．The world will become cleaner by disposing of waste in an out-of-sight location. |
| A．To tell us how to recycle e-waste. |
| B．To talk about the future of e-waste. |
| C．To discuss if it’s necessary to recycle e-waste. |
| D．To encourage us to deal with e-waste properly. |
【推荐2】The coronavirus pandemic(新冠疫情)has brought with it the rise of a new kind of single-use plastic in the form of personal protective equipment (PPE), like face masks and gloves. Experts warned that these sharply increasing single-use items could cause a new wave of plastic pollution and kill wildlife.
The charity Ocean Conservancy reported that volunteers had collected more than 100,000 PPE items from coasts and waterways during the last six months of 2020. They sent out a survey to more than 200 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) coordinators and volunteers asking about their experience with PPE. The results show that it is a real problem. Volunteers collected 107,219 pieces of PPE in 70 of 115 participating countries. Of those surveyed, 94% reported seeing PPE at a cleanup, and 40% found five items or more. Further, 37% found the items had already sunk into the water.
“During one of our clean-ups in the canals of Leiden, our volunteers found a latex(乳胶)glove with a dead fish trapped in the thumb,” said Auke-Florian Hiemstra, a study coauthor from Leiden University. “Also, in the Dutch canals, we observed that a water bird was using face masks and gloves in its nests.” Other animals that have gotten tangled up in face masks include a fox in the UK, a pufferfish in Florida, and two crabs in France. Numerous dogs and cats have been observed eating PPE as well.
The danger posed by PPE goes deeper than what the eye can see. Luckily, there are ways that all of us can be part of the solution to the problem of PPE pollution. Hiemstra suggested using reusable PPE instead of single-use products. In that case, we should deal with them properly by cutting the ear loops to prevent animal entanglements(缠绕物)and throwing them away in a bin that is not overstuffed. “We definitely think it is important for citizens to understand how much PPE is ending up in the environment and impacting animals,” Hiemstra said.
1. What problem did experts mention in paragraph 1?| A．The decline of wildlife due to overhunting. |
| B．The shortage of personal protective equipment. |
| C．The plastic pollution caused by anti-pandemic products. |
| D．The increasing number of coronavirus patients. |
| A．The leading cause of ocean pollution. |
| B．Volunteers’ great efforts to protect the ocean. |
| C．The large amount of PPE in the environment. |
| D．Difficulties of cleaning up plastic waste in the ocean. |
| A．PPE pollution has threatened many animals’ lives. |
| B．Litter makes it hard for boats to pass through the canals. |
| C．Water birds may not be affected by plastic pollution. |
| D．PPE is attractive to dogs and cats due to its smell. |
| A．Limiting the production of non-recyclable plastic. |
| B．Cleaning the rubbish bin regularly. |
| C．Raising the price of PPE items. |
| D．Replacing single-use products with reusable ones. |
【推荐3】Plastic waste has polluted the Arctic. Two new studies have spied bags, fishing rope and tinier bits of rubbish in the Barents Sea. This sea sits north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It mixes with the Arctic Ocean, which is even farther north.
Plastic waste in the Arctic could harm wildlife and may hint that large volumes of human rubbish are collecting there, says Melanie Bergmann. She is one of the scientists who spotted the waste. She studies Earth’s oceans at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. She first started counting bits of plastics in the Barents Sea because she kept spotting signs of the stuff there in images taken with deep-sea cameras.
Bergmann and her colleagues counted pieces of plastic from an icebreaker, a boat designed to break through large blocks of ice in very cold waters. They also tracked plastic pieces they saw during helicopter rides over Arctic waters. The team found 31 pieces of plastic. “That doesn’t seem like much, but it shows us that we’ve really got a problem, one that extends even to this remote area, far from civilization,” Bergmann says. She and her colleagues described their findings October 21 in Polar Biology.
Another team has also been counting plastics in the area. Those scientists took water from the Barents Sea and counted the number of smaller bits of plastics, called microplastics.
Plastic in the ocean is dangerous to animals. Some may get caught in rope or bags. And wildlife may swallow bags and other plastic bits. That makes them feel full. But some may eventually starve because they are not getting the nutrients they need to live. Sometimes plastics also may break down in an animal’s body and release poisonous chemicals. If another animal later eats the one that swallowed plastic, it too can end up with poisonous chemicals in its body. This, in turn, can travel up the food web, endangering predators (肉食动物) — even people.
1. What can be learned from Para 1?| A．Europe is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean. |
| B．The Barents Sea is to the north of the Arctic. |
| C．The Arctic Ocean is polluted by plastic rubbish. |
| D．European countries are to blame for the pollution. |
| A．Human rubbish dumped in the sea. |
| B．Pictures taken by deep-sea cameras. |
| C．Sea water taken to the laboratory. |
| D．Wildlife spotted by helicopter. |
| A．Plastic is found in the remote sea. |
| B．The sea is covered with plastic. |
| C．Advanced tools are in great need. |
| D．People suffered from bad weather. |
| A．Animals may get choked by bags or plastic bits. |
| B．Animals may die of hunger if they swallow bags. |
| C．Plastic can release harmful gases to kill animals. |
| D．It is hard for plastic bags and bits to break down. |
