1 . New bio-plastics are being made in laboratories from straw, wood chips and food waste, with researchers aiming to replace oil as the source of the world’s plastic.
The new approaches include genetically modifying bacteria to eat wood and produce useful chemicals. But the bio-plastics are currently significantly more expensive to make than fossil fuel-based plastics.
Land and seas around the world, from high mountains to deep oceans, have become polluted with plastic, prompting major public concern. The world has produced 8bn tons of plastic since the 1950s and demand is still rising.
While some waste plastic is recycled, much of it is burnt to produce electricity, resulting in carbon emissions that drive climate change. In contrast to plastic made from oil, plastics made from plant-based materials only release the carbon the plants absorbed from the air as they grew. Bio-plastics will also give more options for products that biodegrade (生物降解) in the environment, although they can be made very long-lasting if required.
“Plastics are an incredible enhancement to our daily lives,” said Paul Mines, CEO of Biome Technologies in the UK, which has spent t5m in the last five years on bio-plastics research. “But we can’t go on using fossil fuel-based materials. About 6-7% of every barrel (桶) of oil is used to make plastics.”
“Using plant materials is feasible,” said professor Simon, at the University of York. “Replacing half of the nation’s plastic bottles could be done using just 3% of the sugar beet crop, 5% of wheat straw or 2.5% of food waste,” he said.
Currently, just a few thousand tons of bio-plastic are used in the UK each year, compared to millions of tons of conventional plastic. Mines said this could rise to about 20,000 tons in the next five years.
1. Why are high mountains and deep oceans mentioned in Paragraph 3?| A．To display the range of plastic pollution. | B．To show the widespread use of plastic. |
| C．To present a reason of wide use of plastic. | D．To stress the increasing demand for plastic. |
| A．Producing electricity. | B．Being eco-friendly. |
| C．Driving climate change. | D．Biodegrading other plastic. |
| A．Possible. | B．Troublesome. | C．Original. | D．Costly. |
| A．Plastics arc necessary in daily life. | B．Oil is the source of the world’s plastic. |
| C．Bioplastic making is a promising industry. | D．Scientists are researching bioplastic making. |
2 . Using too much water or throwing rubbish into our rivers are clear ways that humans can put our water supply in danger, but we also affect our water supply in less obvious ways. You may wonder how paving(铺砌) a road can lead to less usable fresh water. A major part of the water we use every day is groundwater. Groundwater does not come from lakes or rivers. It comes from underground. The more roads and parking lots we pave, the less water can flow into the ground to become groundwater.
Human activity is not responsible for all water shortages(缺乏). Drier climates are of course more likely to have droughts(干旱) than areas with more rainfall, but in any case, good management can help to make sure there is enough water to meet our basic needs .
Thinking about the way we use water every day can make a big difference, too. In the United States, a family of four can use 1.5 tons of water a day! This shows how much we depend on water to live, but there’s a lot we can do to lower the number.
You can take steps to save water in your home. To start with, use the same glass for your drinking water all day. Wash it only once a day. Run your dishwasher only when it is full. Help your parents fix any leaks(滴水) in your home. You can even help to keep our water supply clean by recycling batteries instead of throwing them away.
1. Which of the following is most likely to lead to less groundwater?| A．Using river water. | B．Throwing batteries away. |
| C．Throwing rubbish into lakes. | D．Paving parking lots. |
| A．All water shortages are due to human behavior. |
| B．It takes a lot of effort to meet our water needs. |
| C．There is much we can do to reduce family size. |
| D．The average family in America makes proper use of water. |
| A．show us how to fix leaks at home |
| B．tell us how to run a dishwasher |
| C．prove what drinking glass is best for us |
| D．suggest what we do to save water at home |
| A．how human activity affects our water supply |
| B．how much we depend on water to live |
| C．why droughts occur more in dry climates |
| D．why paving roads reduces our water |
China’s research icebreaker Xuelong,
Snow Eagle 601, China’s first fixedwing aircraft for polar flight, on Thursday night also departed from the Antarctic after
Xuelong,
Sixteen members of the Kunlun team
The Zhongshan team completed tasks including installation of and tests for LiDAR, drilling of ice bedrock, atmospheric sounding
As the summer expedition team at Zhongshan left, 19 members would stay for winter expeditions.
Also
4 . Along with the standard pigments（颜料）and paintbrushes，artist Sean Yoro(known as Hula), requires an unconventional piece of equipment for his particular brand of mural（壁画） making: a paddleboard.
The Hawaian muralist, balanced on the top of the floating platform, describes women from various sites across the world, whose homelands are often threatened by the effects of global warming.
For his most recent project, titled "What If You Fly", Hula traveled to Baffin Island, off the coast of Nunavut, Canada, to paint a portrait of local Inuit woman Jesse Mike, who lives there with her daughter.
In a short film telling of the artist's process, Mike explains her frustrating previous experiences working with filmmakers who reported on the terrible circumstances troubling her endangered landscape. "For most people, it's about the polar bears, it's not about the people. "she said. "Well, let's make it about the people. "
Hula and his team spent 14 hours searching for the perfect iceberg canvas（油画布）,knowing all the while that the ice itself, and any image created on the top of it,would soon melt away into nothing.
"It's a little ambitious to do this larger than life ice mural in the Arctic, and somehow, at the same time, make a connection to the human culture, "climber and filmmaker Renan Ozturk said of the project.
When Hula found his proper ice, he painted a portrait of Jesse he took earlier on his camera. Working against the power of time and Mother Nature, the artist aimed to finish as much of Jesse's portrait as he could before the iceberg disappeared.
The massive image, Hula's most remote and technically challenging piece yet, communicates a memorable reality—the consequences of climate change, first and foremost, affect people.
1. What is "What If You Fly"?| A．A film about the muralist. | B．A project conducted by Hula |
| C．A painting based on a local Inuit. | D．A woman called Jesse Mike. |
| A．They only reported on terrible circumstances. |
| B．They didn't focus on human beings. |
| C．They just reported on frustrating experiences. |
| D．They showed no sympathy to the endangered landscape. |
| A．He made an attempt to paint on varieties of materials. |
| B．He was ambitious enough to explore Mother Nature. |
| C．He warned people of the consequences of global warming. |
| D．He wanted to show his unconventional painting. |
| A．A Muralist and an Inuit |
| B．Arctic Ice Painting, Memorable Reality |
| C．Mother Nature, Massive Images |
| D．Standard Tools, Unconventional Paintings |
5 . Taking in dirty air does great harm to our health. Air pollution lowers the average life spans by a year worldwide and in more polluted parts of Asia and Africa, dirty air shortens lives up to twice that much. Scientists shared their new findings in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The study used data gathered in 2016 as part of a project known as the Global Burden of Disease and was the first major country-by-country look at the connection between the length of life and what’s known as fine PM.
Air pollution has been linked to many health problems. Most earlier studies had looked at how tiny air pollutants affected rates of illness or death. Joshua Apte is an environmental scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. By looking at life expectancy (预期寿命), his team had hoped to make the threat easier to understand. PM2.5 is what scientists call tiny particles (颗粒) of pollution in the air. Higher levels of PM2.5 can cause health problems and cut months, if not years, from the average length of life. This analysis shows how pollution affects life expectancy in different parts of the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limiting PM2.5 to 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Apte’s group calculated how holding pollution to this low level would help people. In countries with very dirty air, meeting this standard would lengthen people’s lives. However, in countries whose air already meets this standard, the study shows no gain in life expectancy. In other words, meeting the WHO standard won’t reduce health costs resulting from dirty air because even below 10 micrograms per cubic meter, pollution still causes serious risks. Meanwhile, the scientists compared how other threats including smoking and cancer shorten the length of life across the globe.
1. What is special about the study?| A．It won recognition from a professional journal. |
| B．It discussed health problems caused by air pollution. |
| C．It gathered lots of data for the Global Burden of Disease. |
| D．It analyzed the link between life spans and PM by country. |
| A．Help people better understand air pollution. |
| B．Study life expectancy in different countries. |
| C．Know how small air pollutants affect health. |
| D．Deal with different kinds of health problems. |
| A．People’s life spans will surely increase. |
| B．It will guarantee people clean air. |
| C．People’s health may not be much improved. |
| D．It will be awarded by the WHO. |
| A．How other threats shorten life expectancy. |
| B．How cleaning up the air can lengthen lives. |
| C．How air pollution shortens lives by country. |
| D．How all the countries deal with severe pollution. |
6 . The Amazing Penguin Rescue
In the summer of 2016, the ship MV Treasure sunk, creating an oil spill. Thirteen hundred tons of fuel oil were flowing right in the middle of the African Penguins’ habitat. Soon the oil covered about 20,000 penguins. Without swift help, the seabirds would have no chance of survival. Volunteers were showing up by the thousands and I also took part in what was the largest animal rescue operation ever.
A warehouse was turned into a rescue center near the habitat and hundreds of pools were built to hold about 100 oiled birds each. When walking into the center, I couldn’t believe my ears. I had expected to walk into a chorus of honking and squawking(尖声叫). Instead, the center sounded like a library. The penguins were dead silent. My heart ached for the painful birds. Cleaning them all seemed like an impossible task. But we had to carry on like doctors in an emergency room. There was no time for doubt. Cleaning oil off a penguin wasn’t easy. Even with more than 12,500 volunteers, it took a month to bathe all 20,000 birds at the center.
While volunteers were busy bathing the oiled penguins, another crisis(危机) was developing. Oil from the spill had started moving north. Tens of thousands of penguins were in the oil’s path. But we already had our hands full with 20,000 recovering birds. If any more birds were oiled, we wouldn’t have enough resources to save them.
One researcher came up with an idea: What if the penguins were temporarily moved out of harm’s way? Experts decided to have a try. Volunteers rounded up the penguins and released them 500 miles away. The hope was that by the time the seabirds swam home, the oil would be gone. The plan worked! Another 20,000 penguins were saved.
The entire penguin rescue took about three months. More than 90% of the oiled penguins were successfully returned to the wild. Looking back on the rescue, I am still amazed by the work of the volunteers. What I could hardly believe was that we accomplished an impossible task.
1. The African penguins were in danger because of ________.| A．a knock by a ship | B．a change of habitats |
| C．a spill of oil | D．a lack of help |
| A．ambitious | B．shocked | C．hopeless | D．inspired |
| A．moving the penguins from home | B．cleaning the polluted habitat |
| C．asking more volunteers to help | D．stopping the flow of the oil |
| A．we should unite to make the earth pollution-free |
| B．where there is a will there is a way |
| C．the future of wildlife is in our hands |
| D．many hands make great work |
7 . Think about the different ways that people use the wind. You can use it to fly a kite or to sai1a boat. Wind is one of our of our cleanest and riches power source(来源) ,as well as one of the oldest . Evidence shows that windmills(风车) began to be used in ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC .They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s,when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power .
For many centuries ,people used windmills to grind(磨碎)wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground when electricity was discovered in the 1ate 1800s,people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity. This al1owed them to people in almost all1 areas of the United States, windmills were rarely used. During the course 1970s, people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity. People also realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever. Then, wind was rediscovered, though it means higher coasts. Today, there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind .
1. From the text we know that windmills_________.| A．were invented by European armies. |
| B．have a history of more than 2800 years. |
| C．used to supply power to radio in remote areas. |
| D．have rarely been used since electricity was discovered. |
| A．Sailing a boat. |
| B．Producing electricity. |
| C．Grinding wheat into flour. |
| D．Pumping water from underground. |
| A．wind power is cleaner. |
| B．it is one of the oldest power sources. |
| C．it was cheaper to creat energy from wind . |
| D．the supply of coal and gas failed to meet needs. |
| A．The advantage of wind power. |
| B．The design of wind power plants. |
| C．The worldwide movement to save energy. |
| D．The global trend towards producing power from wind. |
Located in southwest Hangzhou, Longmen is a small town which is full of ancestral shrines(祠堂), halls, pagodas, trees, and bridges from the Ming and Qing
The name Longmen means “a gate for dragons“ in Chinese and comes from a
9 . Scientists have discovered an underwater coral tower near the Great Barrier Reef(大堡礁) that’s taller than New York’s Empire State Building. It’s the tallest underwater structure discovered in over 120 years.
The researchers who discovered the reef were on a year-long trip aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research ship Falkor, where they were working to map the sea floor around Australia.
The scientists used a special underwater robot called SuBastian to help them explore and develop 3D maps. In late October, as part of their exploration, the team came across the tower. It’s known as a “detached reef”, since its structure isn’t attached to the Great Barrier Reef, but rises on its own from the sea floor.
At the bottom, the tower is nearly a mile wide. But from there, it becomes much more narrow, rising 1,640 feet and stopping just 130 feet below the surface of the ocean. The lower is one o£ eight similar towers near Northern Australia’s Cape York Peninsula. The other seven towers were discovered in the 1880’s.
“It’s a big reef not to have known about,” said Tom Bridge, “What it highlights is how little we know about the ocean, even the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is bigger than many European countries and that only a small part of it is made of the shallow water reefs it’s famous for.”
Overall, the Great Barrier Reef is struggling. Recent studies have shown that about half of its corals have died in the last 25 years, in part because of rising ocean temperatures due to the climate crisis. Over the last year, the Falkor’s scientific team has discovered 30 new kinds of sea creatures. In March, they discovered what they believe is the longest sea creature ever recorded. The animal is called a “siphonophore” and it’s 150 feet long.
1. What did researchers do by Falkor around Australia?| A．Seek for coral lowers. | B．Make a map of sea floor. |
| C．Research unknown species. | D．Film the Great Barrier Reef. |
| A．It’s the most advanced underwater robot. |
| B．It contributes to the discovery of the tower. |
| C．It is suitable to detect building structures. |
| D．It reports important discoveries under water. |
| A．The shape of the tower. | B．The history of the tower. |
| C．The position of the tower. | D．The information of the tower. |
| A．Europe used to ignore the Great Barrier Reef. |
| B．Climate crisis is ruining the Great Barrier Reef. |
| C．Tom Bridge has been researching the Great Barrier Reef. |
| D．More research should be done on the Great Barrier Reef. |
10 . Ocean Today serves as a gate to the most useful and interesting websites and organizations on ocean science and culture, to thousands of ocean-based curricula and educational resources, to our Ocean Directory of over 18, 000 ocean organizations worldwide.
Our knowledge of the ocean today goes beyond the limits of a distant horizon and mysterious deep. Through exploration and scientific research, we have begun to learn more about its physical elements, its cultural contributions, and its interaction with other natural systems-climate and fresh water, for example-that apply directly to our personal, financial, and social welfare.
World Ocean Observatory advocates for the ocean through independent, responsible, non-political science, and is dedicated to advancing public understanding of ocean issues through institutional cooperation and partnerships, pro-active programs, and connection with individual subscribers around the world.
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World Ocean Forum, dedicated to voices for change in ocean policy and action worldwide, is linking unexpected people with unexpected ideas and offering a knowledgeable outlet for research, opinion and storytelling. To inquire about becoming a contributing writer, or to contribute to our Solutions Within Reach series, please contact us at director thew2o.net.
A contribution, in any amount, helps to further advance global ocean communications. We are informing millions of individuals around the globe, building political will, and changing the future by changing global perspectives of human impacts on the ocean while sharing the knowledge that the sea connects all things.
1. What is the function of Ocean Today?| A．An entry to ocean-based information. |
| B．A platform to exchange resources. |
| C．A window to learn more about ecology. |
| D．An inspiration to explore more about seas. |
| A．Finding out the driving force behind the nature. |
| B．Promoting global cooperation to a better world. |
| C．Offering information about latest weather change. |
| D．Processing data of greenhouse gas emissions. |
| A．Ocean Directory | B．World Ocean Observatory |
| C．Extreme Weather | D．World Ocean Forum |
