1 . Even as we humans keep polluting the world. Nature somehow keeps finding a way to help correct our mistakes. First, there is a molecule(分子)that helps reduce global warming. Now, a team of Yale students may have discovered something equally amazing — plastic eating fungi(真菌).
Pestalotiopsis microspora(微孢子)is the only known fungus to be able to survive only on plastic. The plastic is so hard that it takes thousands of years to break down on its own.
The best part is that these fungi can do the job even in an oxygenless environment, which means that it could work perfectly even at the bottom of a landfill.
The discovery was the result of an effort between three Yale students who were part of the Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory Program, allowing a selected group of students to visit Ecuador’s rainforest and seek out fungi and bacteria that live inside plants without harming them, which could hold medical or scientific promise. The samples are then brought back to the University’s lab where they do wide testing to see if they are of any practical or scientific use.
In 2008, a student named Pria Anand gathered specimens for one purpose — to find a microbe that could eat plastic. That’s when she came across the Pestalotiopsis microspora. Though she did show the unbelievable characteristics of the fungi, she was unable to get the desired results by the time she graduated, in 2010.
Luckily for her Jonathan Russell, a 2011 graduating student, picked up right where she had left off. By combining her work with research performed by another of Pria’s classmates, Jeffery Huang, he was able to separate the enzyme(酶)in the fungus that is the most effective in breaking down plastic.
Hopefully, experts will take it up from here and make the project a reality and help reduce plastic!
1. What is the main character of Pestaltiopsis microspora?| A．It helps reduce global warming. |
| B．It needs less oxygen to produce. |
| C．It can break down plastic. |
| D．It can be buried in a landfill. |
| A．Jonathan continued to study what Pria failed |
| B．Jonathan drove to pick up Pria when she got off |
| C．Jonathan came across Pria at an unexpected place |
| D．Jonathan invited Pria to go on with her research |
| A．There are some kind of fungi that can eat plastic. |
| B．These fungi can only work in an oxygen environment. |
| C．The discovery was made by chance. |
| D．A group of students made the discovery that fungi can break down plastic. |
| A．Fungi Love Plastic |
| B．Plastic Is Eaten by Fungi |
| C．Fungi Are Eaten by Plastic |
| D．Fungi Are Hidden in Plastic |
2 . Sometimes we may find that every week there are a lot of new stories about how climate change is affecting the planet, or new plans to battle its effects. But the concept itself isn't new at all --- in fact, scientists have been exploring questions about climate change for almost 200 years.
The idea of “greenhouse gases” goes back to 1824, when Joseph Fourier wondered what was regulating the earth's temperature. Fourier concluded that the atmosphere must be responsible for containing the heat absorbed from the sun and described it as a box with a glass lid: As light shines through the glass, the inside gets warmer as the lid traps the heat. As Fourier's ideas spread, it came to be called “the greenhouse effect”.
Scientists continued to study the greenhouse effect. Not until a Swedish chemist named Svante Arrhenius came along, did scientists understand how global warming actually works. After years of work, Arrhenius determined that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere did in fact have a direct effect on global temperatures.
Arrhenius found that CO2, and other gases trap radiation, which warms the atmosphere. Arrhenius was the first to suspect that burning coal could contribute to the greenhouse effect. But Arrhenius welcomed the warming effect on the planet. At a lecture later that year, Arrhenius noted that creatures of a warmer earth “might live under a milder sky and in less barren surroundings”.
While Arrhenius' findings won him the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry, scientists kept debating whether the greenhouse effect was increasing until 1950, when researchers finally began to find strong data supporting it. By the end of the 1950s, American scientists had been sounding the alarm on the long-term consequences of climate change. Climate change research has come a long way since Fourier first described the greenhouse effect – still, maybe Arrhenius should have been more careful of what he wished for.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The atmosphere. |
| B．The greenhouse effect. |
| C．The climate change. |
| D．The heat from the sun. |
| A．In 1903. |
| B．In 1950. |
| C．200 years ago. |
| D．By the end of 1950s. |
| A．Positive. |
| B．Indifferent. |
| C．Supportive. |
| D．Opposed. |
| A．Causes of climate change. |
| B．Effects of greenhouse gases. |
| C．Explorations on climate change. |
| D．Findings about global warming. |
3 . Green is not always referring to the color. In some cases, it is the term used for environmental
First, green furniture isn’t harmful
The materials
Therefore, when you want to hunt for the perfect green furniture, you should choose the green materials.
