1 . A team of leading environmental experts have warned that the current war on plastic is detracting from the bigger threats to the environment. In an article, they say that while plastic waste is an issue, its prominence in the general public’s concern for the environment is overshadowing greater threats, for example, climate change and biodiversity loss.
The team argue that much of the bad talk about plastic waste is based on data that is not always representative of the environments that have been sampled. The dislike of plastic associated with this could encourage the use of alternative materials with potentially harmful effects.
The authors warn that plastic pollution dominates the public’s concern for the environment and has been exploited politically, after capturing the attention of the world, for example, through the images of wildlife caught in plastic was alarmist headlines. They say small political gestures such as law banning cosmetic microplastics, taxing plastic bags, and financial rewards for using reusable containers, as well as the promotion of products as “green” for containing less plastic than alternatives, make people neglect other environmental problems that are not as noticeable as plastic pollution.
The article also highlights that plastic is not the only type of polluting materials, originating from human activity that pollutes the environment. Other examples include natural textile fibres such as cotton and wool, and brake-wear particles from vehicles — all of which are present in different places. The authors note that these materials are often much more abundant than microplastics and some are associated with “plastic alternatives” that are marketed as solutions to plastic pollution. The impacts of these materials are less well-known than plastic and microplastic pollution, yet they could have huge impacts.
The article states that solutions are likely to come from a greater focus on designing materials and products that can be recycled, that have their end-of-life, and that markets and facilities exist to recycle.
1. What’s the experts’ attitude towards the current war on plastic?A.Indifferent. | B.Favorable. | C.Critical. | D.Objective. |
A.The negative view of plastic. |
B.The use of alternative materials. |
C.The potential harmful effects. |
D.The defense for plastic. |
A.Explain a rule. | B.Make a comparison. |
C.Clarify a point. | D.Offer a suggestion. |
A.A response to plastic pollution. |
B.A schedule to fight against pollution. |
C.An argument against climate change. |
D.A guide to plastic management. |
When it comes to traveling in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Li River is one of the destinations tourists won’t miss. However, with the number of tourists increasing, the river’s water
The waste water treatment facilities have been constructed, which has helped improve the water quality and water
What is the most amazing is that the “Water Ten Plan” is now tackling water pollution across the country. With such campaigns
3 . Most environmental pollution on Earth comes from humans and their inventions, such as cars or plastic. Today, car emissions(排放物) area major source of air pollution leading to climate change, and plastics fill our ocean, creating a significant health issue to marine(海洋的) animals.
And what about the electric light, thought to be one of the greatest human inventions of all time? Electric light can be a beautiful thing, guiding us home when the sun goes down,keeping us safe and making our homes bright. However, like carbon dioxide emissions and plastic, too much of a good thing has started to impact the environment. Light pollution, the inappropriate use of outdoor light, is affecting human health, wildlife behavior and our ability to observe stars.
Light pollution is a global issue. This became obvious when the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, a computer-generated map based on thousands of satellite photos, was published in 2016. Available online for viewing, the map shows how and where our globe is lit up at night. Vast areas of North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia are glowing(发光) with light, while only the most remote regions on Earth(Greenland, Central African Republic and Niue) are in total darkness. Some of the most light-polluted countries in the world are Singapore, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Sky glow is the brightening of the night sky, mostly over cities, due to the electric lights of cars, street lamps, offices, factories, outdoor advertising, and buildings, turning night into day for people who work and play long after sunset.
People living in cities with high levels of sky glow have a hard time seeing more than a handful of stars at night. Astronomers are particularly concerned with sky glow pollution as it reduces their ability to view stars.
More than 80 percent of the world’s population, and 99 percent of Americans and Europeans, live under sky glow.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?A.The use of outdoor light must be forbidden. |
B.Electric light has both advantages and disadvantages. |
C.Electric light is the main factor to keep us safe. |
D.Electric light is the greatest human invention. |
A.Qatar. | B.Singapore. | C.Kuwait. | D.Niue. |
A.Sky glow costs too much. |
B.Sky glow has a bad effect on their sleep. |
C.Sky glow affects their viewing stars. |
D.Sky glow wastes too much electricity. |
A.Light pollution | B.Plastic pollution |
C.Different kinds of pollution | D.Air pollution |
4 . As we all know, waste is extremely bad for the environment. Let’s talk about why litter is harmful to our streets and towns, our drinking water, and sea animals.
Waste can have a bad influence on our cities. Cleaning up litter costs US taxpayers (纳税人) and businesses $11.5 billion each year.
As you can see, waste is harmful in many ways.
A.Everybody wants to breathe fresh air. |
B.That money could have been spent on parks. |
C.How do you feel when you see people littering around? |
D.In the future there might be more waste than fish in the ocean. |
E.Litter can go into the soil and water and pollute our drinking water. |
F.We need to stop littering for us, for the environment, and for the planet. |
G.Did you know every day almost 8 million pieces of litter go into the ocean? |
5 . The amount of plastic pollution in the oceans is rapidly increasing. This is problematic, as at least 700 species of sea animals — including sharks, whales seabirds and turtles — can be trapped in the stuff or mistake it for a tasty snack. While we know that some species seem to eat plastic because it looks like jellyfish or some other food source, less research has been carried out into what sea plastic smells like to sea animals.
But now, a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that the coating of algae and microbes (藻类、微生物) that naturally builds up on ocean plastics causes the rubbish to give off the smell of food.
The researchers took 15 healthy turtles, each around five months old and placed them in a laboratory aquarium (水族箱). They then piped in clean water, clean plastic, turtle food, and plastic that had been down in the sea environment for five weeks. The turtles showed no reaction to the smell of clean water or clean plastic. But when they were exposed to the smells of ocean plastic or turtle food, they exhibited hunting behaviour — like sticking their noses out of the water and showing increased activity.
“This finding is important because it’s the first demonstration that the smell of ocean plastics causes animals to eat them,” said Dr Kenneth J Lohmann, who took part in the study.
“It’s common to find the sea turtles with their digestive systems fully or partially blocked because they’ve eaten plastic materials There also are increasing reports of sea turtles that have been ill and stranded on the beach due to their swallow of plastic.”
“Once these plastics are in the ocean we don’t have a good way to remove them or prevent them from smelling like food” said Lohmann. “The best thing we can do is to keep plastic from getting into the ocean at all.”
1. What does the new research mainly focus on?A.What has caused the sea plastic pollution. |
B.What sea plastic smells like to sea animals. |
C.How dangerous the sea environment is. |
D.How dangerous the sea plastic pollution is. |
A.The turtles of 5 months old are the most healthy ones. |
B.The turtles prefer dirty environments to clean ones. |
C.The clean plastic has no certain smell to attract turtles. |
D.The clean plastic is more dangerous than the ocean plastic. |
A.trapped | B.rescued | C.harmed | D.treated |
A.Sea turtles and sea environment | B.Sea turtles and their enemies |
C.Sea turtles and sea food chain | D.Sea turtles and sea plastics |
6 . A new analysis of photographs from the International Space Station has identified a shift in the kind of lighting technologies that European countries are using at night to brighten streets and buildings. Researchers have found that the old warm high-pressure street lights are rapidly being replaced by cooler LED lights. The University of Exeter study, published in Science Advances, claimed that “this phenomenon is widely increasing the risk of harmful effects to ecosystems”.
LED lighting was promoted as being intended to reduce emissions, but its usage has raised energy consumption. One explanation of this is that the increase in power efficiency and the associated decrease in economic cost have driven increased demand for lighting, therefore, any efficiency gains have been counteracted by increased consumption of light.
The study also claimed that previous research into the effects of light pollution have underestimated the impacts of blue light radiation. Chief among the health consequences of blue light is its ability to reduce the production of melatonin(褪黑素)that regulates sleep patterns in humans and other organisms. Scientific studies have warned that increased exposure to artificial blue light can worsen people’s sleeping habits.
The increase in blue light radiation in Europe has also reduced the visibility of stars in the night sky, which may have impacts on people’s sense of nature. Blue light can also alter the behavioral patterns of animals including bats and moths, as it can change their movements towards or away from light sources.
David Smith, of the conservation charity Buglife, said, “Light pollution can dramatically impact animals. We should consider light from a wider biological perspective than that of just humans and focus on better quality lighting that is harmonious with our natural world. Better quality and lower levels of lighting would help save energy, and lower financial costs, while also making our environment safer for living beings. Authorities can dim the lights during night hours, and change the bandwidths(带宽值)of their LED bulbs to produce less harmful blue light.”
1. What is the phenomenon described in paragraph 1?A.The rising demand for public lighting. |
B.The increasing use of LED lights. |
C.Old street lights producing lots of emissions. |
D.Artificial lights at night wasting much energy. |
A.Judged. | B.Maintained. |
C.Balanced. | D.Strengthened. |
A.Sleep patterns. | B.Eyesight. |
C.Learning ability. | D.Social behaviors. |
A.To stress the importance of saving energy. |
B.To persuade authorities to avoid using LED lights. |
C.To show ways of improving the quality of LED bulbs. |
D.To provide suggestions on reducing light pollution. |
My aim in life is
There is no
8 . We all have an idea about the common types of environmental problems. However, light pollution may be a new term to many of us. But, the fact is that it does affect mankind, other living forms and the environment as a whole.
What is light pollution? It presents all forms of misused man-made light. The obvious cause of light pollution is the use of outdoor lighting products improperly. It can be office lighting, car headlights, station lights, streetlights and many more.
Light pollution is harmful to both animals and plants. Upon studies, it is found that obvious effects are observed in the behaviour of animals that are active at night. Needless to mention, bright light at night makes it difficult for these animals to hunt, wander and perform their regular activities. Light pollution is directly or indirectly responsible for causing several diseases. Its effects are related to disturbance in the physical rhythm (节奏). It contributes to risks of developing cancerous cells. So, it’s nothing less than a threat to human health.
You have already seen the negative effects of light pollution on animals and human health. Apart from this, the actual cost of misused light is about millions of dollars every year. It also leads to the release of greenhouse gases and global warming. After all, coal or gas is used for producing electricity.
While outdoor lighting and using man-made lighting products are part of our modern lifestyle, some simple ways will surely help in reducing light pollution. For example, while installing (安装) outdoor lighting, make sure that they are pointed downwards. Also, use only the required lighting equipment for both home and offices. Believe it or not, many people living in the urban areas cannot view clear sky and stars at night. Let’s contribute our part in reducing the pollution.
1. What can we learn about light pollution?A.It has little effect on plants. |
B.It contributes to most cancers. |
C.It is a negative fruit of light technology. |
D.It affects animals’ behavior during the day. |
A.It increases the temperature at night. |
B.It creates clouds in parts of the Earth. |
C.It stops the release of greenhouse gases. |
D.It is related to the burning of coal and gas. |
A.Forbid the use of outdoor lighting. |
B.Use clean energy to produce electricity. |
C.Avoid unnecessary lights at home and offices. |
D.Reduce money spent on light in urban areas. |
A.Citizens should be banned to install outdoor lighting. |
B.Only simple ways can help reduce light pollution. |
C.There is no clear sky or stars over the urban areas. |
D.Light pollution needs to be dealt with urgently. |
9 . Recycling is a great way of doing your bit for the environment and helping to protect the earth’s precious resources. However, a new study has revealed that our desire to be sustainable maybe doing more harm than good. According to waste company Biffa, this is because of “wish-cycling” — assuming that items such as disposable coffee cup sand pizza boxes will be recycled if put in the recycling bin. In fact, pollution from those items or other non-recyclables can result in recyclable items that have been put in the correct bin going to landfill. David Heaton, a business director at Biffa, said: “Pollution happens when items are disposed of in the wrong bins or haven’t been cleaned before being recycled.”
Experts at Biffa analyzed the amounts of non-target and non-recyclable materials that entered UK material recycling facilities between 2016 and 2020. It was found that, in 2016, the average pollution rate of recycling waste was 13.4 percent, rising over four years to 17 percent by the end of 2020. This shows that, even as people are becoming more eco-conscious, wish-cycling is increasing both in households and businesses.
The Biffa experts say that one of the best ways to prevent pollution of recycling is to clean recyclable waste before putting it in the bin. They suggest cutting off the top of old pizza boxes and only recycling that part to avoid pollution from the grease (油脂). Check the on-packaging recycling label to check it can actually be recycled When it comes to plastics, Biffa recommends checking the resin code, the number in the plastic triangle, to know whether it should go in the recycling bin. In general, resin codes 1, 2, 4 and 5 are recyclable, while 3, 6 and 7 are not. Larger items, like electronics, furniture and batteries, can also be recycled but often can not go in household recycling bins as they need specialist separating. These will need to be taken to recycling centers or sustainable waste management companies.
“It’s vital as a nation that we get better at effective ‘pre-cycling’— sorting waste correctly before collection to reduce pollution rates,” added Mr. Heaton.
1. What’s the truth of “wish-cycling” according to the first paragraph?A.The desire to lead a sustainable life. |
B.The good intention to help recycling. |
C.The habit of throwing items that end up in landfills. |
D.The practice of recycling items that can not be recycled. |
A.People are becoming more eco-conscious. |
B.Wish-cycling is on the rise in recent years. |
C.Pollution happens less frequently in recycling facilities. |
D.People are used to cleaning recyclable waste before putting it in the bin. |
A.Dispose of electronics together with household waste. |
B.Skip the step of checking the on-packaging recycling label. |
C.Check the resin code of plastics to see whether it is recyclable or not. |
D.Cutoff the top of old pizza box and throw the rest to the recycling bin. |
A.Recycling: a Big Project | B.Wish-cycling: a New Trend |
C.Wish-cycling: a Growing Concern | D.Pre-cycling: an Effective Method |
10 . A new study suggests classic paintings by well-known Impressionists Joseph Turner and Claude Monet may have been influenced by air pollution during the Industrial Revolution.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by authors from Harvard and Sorbonne universities, analyzed 60 oil paintings by Turner from 1796 to 1850 and 38 paintings by Monet from 1864 to 1901.
Scientists don't know exactly how polluted the cities were during that time for lack of data. However, researchers say examining the works of Turner and Monet can give a picture of long-term environmental change with the air pollution.
In particular, researchers said changes in local sulfur dioxide emissions from burning coal may explain changes in the colour contrast and intensity of Turner, Monet, and others' works, even after taking into account the artistic trends and subject matter of the time.
Scientists successfully measured painters' representation of nature, focusing on differences in local weather patterns which influenced colour in works painted in different parts of Europe. Paintings' done in Britain generally feature a paler blue sky than other works in other parts of the continent. Generally, artists can historically accurately represent their environment, so Turner and Monet were chosen because they are famous for their landscape and cityscape paintings and also because they were active during the Industrial Revolution, when air pollution grew at a rate never seen before.
Additionally, researchers say that as the air in London and Paris became more polluted, the cities would appear hazier to the eyes as well as in photographs. By comparing the paintings of Turner and Monet to pictures from the era, they were able to determine the artists were at least partly influenced by the change in emissions.
1. How did the researchers conduct the study?A.By referring to relevant historical records. |
B.By comparing the paintings of Turner and Monet. |
C.By relating the paintings to the air conditions then. |
D.By analyzing the data during the Industrial Revolution. |
A.Air pollution at that time. | B.Change in subject matter. |
C.Social trends of the period. | D.Development of photography |
A.European artists preferred landscape paintings. |
B.Scientists focused on studying weather patterns. |
C.Turner and Monet intended to present pollution. |
D.Britain suffered from air pollution most in Europe. |
A.To inform people of a new discovery. | B.To instruct people to appreciate paintings. |
C.To introduce the Industrial Revolution. | D.To call on people to protect the environment. |