1 . If you wear contact lenses (隐形眼镜), you might not know the best way to deal with old ones. Washing them down the sink or flushing them down the toilet is not the way to go. Yet one in five people who wear contact lenses do just that. However, the plastic in their lenses can linger (存留), polluting both water and land.
Rolf Halden, an engineer at Arizona State University in Tempe, and his team created an online survey. More than 400 contact lens wearers took part. The questions asked how many got rid of their lenses inappropriately. About 20 percent — one in five — sent their used contact lenses down sink drain or toilet. Assuming all contact lens wearers in the U. S. do that at the same rate, the researchers then calculated how much plastic would be flushed away each year. Their estimate: 6 to 10 metric tons! That's about the weight of two to three adult African forest elephants. Contact lenses are a tiny part of the world's plastic pollution. But the unique plastic used in contact lenses could make them a big concern.
To figure it out, researchers exposed contact lenses to the microbes (微生物) used to clean wastewater in water-treatment plants. These microbes made the plastics begin to fall apart, but they weren't fully broken down. Instead, they created a lot of tiny pieces called microplastics.
Halden worries that these small plastic bits will cause trouble in the food chain. In water, the plastics from contact lenses sink. Animals could view these tiny bits as food. But because the plastic won't provide them with nutrition, this could threaten the health of animals who dined on it.
And that's already happening. Many studies have shown that corals, larval fish and shellfish are mistaking microplastics for food. Over time, they risk accumulating even higher levels of plastic in their bodies. Also the pollution has already shown up in bottled water, sea salt and fish sold for human consumption.
1. Rolf Halden's survey shows that ________.A.contact lenses have won popularity with Americans |
B.contact lenses have caused a huge part of plastic pollution |
C.some contact lens wearers throw away their old lenses improperly |
D.many contact lens wearers don't wear their lenses in the proper way |
A.They could be broken down completely. |
B.They could be processed properly there. |
C.They couldn't be affected by microbes. |
D.Some of them became microplastics. |
A.Tiny pieces are entering oceans. |
B.Sea creatures are eating microplastics. |
C.Animals are causing plastic pollution. |
D.Contact lenses are damaging the environment |
A.People's eyesight is getting worse and worse. |
B.Contact lenses must be banned immediately. |
C.Animals in the sea are lacking in nutrition. |
D.The impacts microplastic pollution has on human health. |
2 . A sea turtle named Herman, an octopus called Octavia, and a seal named Lidia all spent this summer at the Smithsonian’ s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. But unlike the zoo’s other residents, they are not real animals. These creatures are actually huge sculptures and they’re made entirely out of plastic trash from the ocean.
These giant artworks, along with 14 others, are part of a traveling exhibit called “Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea”. The Washed Ashore project, led by artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, works to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans.
More than 315 billion pounds of plastic litter the world’s oceans today. Most of the plastic is garbage from towns and cities, as well as trash that people leave on beaches. Rainwater, winds, and high tides bring the trash into the ocean or into rivers that lead to the ocean. Once it is under the waves, the plastic begins to break up into smaller and smaller pieces. It often collects in spots called garbage patches, which spread over large areas of the ocean.
Thousands of marine animals — including whales, sea turtles, and fish — die each year from eating or getting stuck in plastic bags and other items. Plastic pieces can also injure coral and kill sea grass.
Washed Ashore and other organizations are working to stop that from happening. Since 2010, Washed Ashore volunteers have collected 38,000 pounds of plastic trash from more than 3000 miles of beaches. They helped Pozzi create more than 60 sculptures of marine creatures that were harmed by plastic pollution.
The artworks on display at the National Zoo include a 20-foot-long coral reef, a 12-foot-long shark, and a 16-foot-long parrot fish. Each one is made from hundreds of pieces of trash like water bottles and sunglasses.
“These sculptures are a powerful reminder of our personal role and global responsibility in preserving biodiversity on land and in the sea,” says Dennis Kelly, director of the National Zoo.
1. Why is Angela exhibiting her sculptured animal?A.To prove her talent in sculpture. |
B.To attract most visitors to the zoo. |
C.To care about the plastic pollution in seas. |
D.To teach the people the use of plastic. |
A.Why plastic is difficult to break up. |
B.What problems plastic litter causes. |
C.Where plastic pieces go at last. |
D.How garbage patches are formed. |
A.Collecting pollution trash from the beaches. |
B.Turning trash from the ocean into art. |
C.Raising 38,000 pounds for plastic pollution. |
D.Surveying the data of plastic litter in oceans. |
A.Doubtful | B.Supportive |
C.Negative. | D.Indifferent |
Earth Day is a yearly event celebrated on April 22. Various activities
In the 1960s, Americans were becoming aware of the effects of pollution
In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people in over 140 nations