The topic of this programme is environmental
2 . UK supermarkets are producing more plastic waste despite promises to cut down, new re-search suggests, as sales of bags for life increase to 1.5 billion.
Retailers (零售商)were responsible for more than 900,000 tons of plastic waste in 2018, according to a report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released Thursday. Seven of the 10 largest supermarket chains reported a higher plastic packaging tonnage in 2019 compared to last year, although exact figures for this year have not been released.
Compared to 2018, this year the number of sold eco-friendly bags for life rose by about 25%, the report stated. Campaigners said the rise showed that the bags are now being used by many as a replacement for single-use carrier bags.
Campaigners recommend that supermarkets increase the price of bags for life to 70 pence ($0.9). They point to the 90% reduction in bags for life sales in Ireland, where prices are set at 70 cents ($0.77). However, in an ideal world bags for life would be removed completely, enforced by a government ban, said campaigners.
“It's shocking to see that despite unprecedented (空前的)awareness of the pollution crisis, the amount of single-use plastic used by the UK's biggest supermarkets has actually increased in the past year,” said Juliet Phillips, EIA ocean campaigner. He added, “Our survey shows that grocery retailers need to tighten up targets to drive real reductions in single use packaging and items. We need to address our throwaway culture at it's root through systems change, not materials change. Substituting one single-use material for another is not the solution.”
The report reveals that plastic use among suppliers is also to blame, and supermarkets have failed to make them reduce plastic packaging. Tesco has led the way in this area, threatening to delist (退市)products for suppliers who fail to cut excessive plastic. Campaigners are urging other supermarkets to do the same.
Plastic waste is a global issue and various countries have taken action to reduce its impact.
1. What does the new research in the UK find?| A．What results in more plastic waste. | B．Why customers use more bags for life. |
| C．How many plastic bags have been used now. | D．How UK supermarkets cut down plastic waste. |
| A．It decreased slightly. | B．It became more serious. |
| C．It got controlled well. | D．It was out of control. |
| A．Banning the use of bags for life. |
| B．Charging more for producing plastic bags. |
| C．Taking practical steps to reduce plastic waste. |
| D．Changing the materials to make plastic bags. |
| A．It required suppliers to cut down plastic packaging. |
| B．It found out a replacement for single-use carrier bags. |
| C．It called on consumers to use fewer plastic bags. |
| D．It forced supermarkets to fight against plastic pollution. |
3 . Every day, China imports (进口）different goods from countries across the globe. These imports also include solid waste, such as plastics, paper and metals. They mainly come from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
These goods will no longer be imported next year. China will ban (禁止) all imports of solid waste starting from Jan 1, 2021, said the Ministry of Ecology and Environment
Why does China import this waste? In 1980, China’s economy (经济) was gradually taking off because of the reform and opening — up policy. The country’s factories didn’t have enough raw materials at that time. Therefore. China began importing solid waste. After being processed, it can be turned into materials that are used to make other products.
For years. China has been the world’s largest importer of solid waste, with about 45 million tons arriving each year. Countries that send this waste to China pay about$ 25（163 yuan）to $50 per ton for recycling, China News Agency reported.
Although the waste has helped develop China’s economy, it has brought more risks than benefits. Waste that can’t be used is either burned or buried. The water used to wash the waste is allowed to flow into nearby rivers. This has polluted the air, soil and water, posing a risk to public health, China Daily reported.
China has made some efforts to ban waste since 2017. From 2017 to 2019, imports of solid waste fell by 68 percent, dropping from 42 million to 13 million tons, Xinhua reported.
1. After Jan 1, 2021, what will no longer be allowed in China?| A．Producing solid waste. |
| B．Buying solid waste from abroad. |
| C．Selling metals to other countries. |
| D．Importing plastic products from abroad. |
| A．It costs very little money to recycle solid waste. |
| B．China has made a lot of money by importing waste. |
| C．Many factories used to use solid waste to make products. |
| D．About 45 million tons of waste are processed worldwide each year. |
| A．How solid waste should be dealt with. |
| B．What risks solid waste brought to China. |
| C．What we can do to protect ourselves from waste. |
| D．How solid waste has helped China’s development. |
| A．Wasteful. | B．Effective (有效的). |
| C．Challenging. | D．Expensive. |
4 . Have you always wanted to make your lifestyle more sustainable? Here are a few tips that community activists, zero-waste experts and eco-friendly shop owners recommend specifically for the pandemic (疫情) .
Start with your own mask
Still using disposable (一次性的) masks or N95s? Hoiyin Ip, an environmental activist in Orange County, suggests you transition to a cloth mask that you can wash along with the rest of your laundry. They are reusable, sustainable and generally more comfortable too.
Eat smart
You may be tired of your own cooking and eating at home. When ordering takeout, Ip suggests asking the restaurant to keep its plastic cutlery (餐具).“Before you walk away with your to-go bag, check, look into your bag to see if you have this stuff, and give it back to the restaurant,”Ip said.
Electronic waste
Once your electronic device has worn out, recycle it. Battery collections in California are down a third compared to last year, he said, because many collection spots have closed or reduced hours. He advises collecting old batteries in a bag and recycling them at a drop-off location near you.
Buy in bulk
Environmental advocate Monica Campagna is creatively adapting by purchasing large quantities of her essentials — like rice, pasta and cereal — and refilling a reusable container at home. While she doesn’t get rid of disposables altogether, buying in bulk avoids lots of small plastic bags, and the bigger bags can be reused.
1. Why does Hoiyin Ip suggest using cloth masks?| A．Generally, there is no need to wash. |
| B．You can spend little money on them. |
| C．They are sustainable and more comfortable. |
| D．They’re strong enough to reuse for a long time. |
| A．Walk away with your to-go bag. |
| B．Don’t take away the restaurant’s cutlery. |
| C．Do your best to cook and eat at home. |
| D．Order takeout to avoid waste. |
| A．still use disposable masks or N95s |
| B．usually go to the restaurant to eat |
| C．throw old batteries into dustbins |
| D．purchase large quantities of your essentials |
5 . On March 31, 2007, the World Wildlife Fund（WWF）urged the citizens and businesses in Sydney to switch off all lights for one hour.
As news of the impact spread, more people became inspired to join the Earth Hour movement. In 2008, over 50 million people in over 5,000 cities worldwide observed the event.
Besides making an immediate difference, the WWF says the worldwide participation demonstrates people’s desire to do their share to reverse climate change. In the past decade, the Earth Hour movement has inspired several global initiatives to protect the environment.
Not sure what to do without your gadgets and television for a whole hour?
| A．The numbers have grown since then. |
| B．A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. |
| C．Earth Hour is the brainchild of the World Wildlife Fund. |
| D．More than 2 million households responded to the request. |
| E．This includes the establishment of a 2.7 million square meters Earth Hour forest in Uganda. |
| F．The WWF suggests organizing a candlelight dinner for your family or a picnic under the stars. |
| G．While the big changes certainly help, minor lifestyle changes can make a big difference as well. |
6 . A society that lives by the plastic fork may very well die from it. That's how things are looking. Anyway,for a world so used to disposable（一次性的） habits, any hope for a solution(解决方案) also increasingly seems to be buried.
Sure, there have been some hopeful ideas. Boyan Slat, the Dutch inventor developed a plan for Covering the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Not long after it started, Slat's system experienced "material fatigue(疲劳)"-likely the result of being strained(使受到压力) by all that trash-and the task was delayed.
AlI the while, the plastic increases. Its growth is very fast, according to Linda Wang, a professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University. She says, "We'II have more plastic than fish by 2050. " Yet Wang, along with other researchers at Purdue, may have a solution not only to this plastic problem, but also to the growing need for clean energy. Her team has developed a system that turns waste, a durable, lightweight material that accounts for about a quarter of all plastic waste, into a highly pure form of gasoline.
Publishing their findings in the journal Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, the scientists state that instead of making plastic go away, they can break it down and reuse it, using chemistry to destroy what chemistry brought to the world when plastic was developed back in 1907.
The process uses "supercritical" water-heated to around 450 degrees celsius(842 degrees Fahrenheit),beyond the key point at which distinct liquid and vapor phases(气液态) exist-to boil plastic waste into an oil,the researchers explain. It takes a couple of hours for the supercritical water to complete the transformation, but the result is a kind of oil that can be used as gasoline or fuel. It can also be turned into other products.
The researchers have only made the transformation in a laboratory setting so far, but they suggest turning the process to a commercial scale（规模） may not be far off. And considering the 300 million tons of plastic into the environment every year, that day can't come soon enough. But it will come in time.
1. Why is the plastic fork mentioned in paragraph l?| A．To indicate the hopeless future of human life. |
| B．To figure out the solution to reducing plastics. |
| C．To show the seriousness of the plastic problem. |
| D．To tell people to give up an unhealthy lifestyle. |
| A．It proves harmful to the Pacific. |
| B．It has been abandoned completely. |
| C．It has received many people's opposition. |
| D．It met with difficulty while being carried out. |
| A．It can save fish in the ocean. |
| B．It can recycle and reuse plastic. |
| C．It can surely lower the prices of gas and fuel. |
| D．It can make plastic products more affordable. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Cautious. | D．Uncertain. |
1. 具体做法；
2. 提出倡议。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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9 . This may look like an ordinary plastic straw (吸管), but it is not made of plastic. Cameron Ross started the Celise Bio-products company, to produce single-use plastic alternatives from plant materials like these. They are made of poly lactic acid (聚乳酸) known as PLA from com starches (淀粉).
Cameron Ross said, "We work with food service providers, mainly larger brands, to help them get quality sustainable and cost-effective solutions, made from plants to start getting rid of single-use plastics." Single-use plastics such as bottles or straws are major cause of pollution. When we throw these away, they end up in a landfill or in the water like rivers. According to researchers, it could take up to more than 500 years for them to properly break down.
Ross says he wasn't always so environmentally conscious himself. But ever since the hiking trip in West Virginia, when he spent more time picking up trash than enjoying nature, his priorities changed. That meant making biodegradable products that can break down in only a few years.
While many cafes and restaurants are choosing paper products to be more eco-conscious, it isn’t cheap. Paper straws can cost about eight times more than plastic straws. But bio-plastic straws cost less a penny a straw, not even double the price of plastic ones.
Another problem with paper straws is that they get soft and wet. You don't want to be sipping (啜饮) something that alters your drink, or starts to melt while you're drinking and then you have to get which creates more wastes than needed. Ross hopes his Washington DC-based company will provide an eco-friendly solution for food service providers.
1. Which aspect is NOT the focus of the Celise Bio-products?| A．Material. | B．Appearance. |
| C．Quality. | D．Cost. |
| A．High profits. | B．Requests from food service providers. |
| C．Lower cost. | D．His changed environmental awareness. |
| A．They are widely used in cafes and restaurants. |
| B．They cost less than paper ones. |
| C．They may soften or even melt while carrying water. |
| D．They produce more waste. |
| A．To persuade more food service providers to work with Ross. |
| B．To explain the development of straws. |
| C．To introduce a new eco-friendly straw. |
| D．To compare different straws. |
Most people associate the company Michelin with car tyres, guide books and stars for quality restaurants. However, the French tyre maker is now helping ships to be more environmentally friendly. The company has tested giant sails that it hopes will make shipping greener. Shipping
Michelin is using the ancient technology of sails to tackle the most urgent problem
