1 . 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 |
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3 . Sleeping in a noisy room isn’t only distracting (使人分心的), and it can also harm your health. Although researchers have known for decades that longterm loud noises can harm us, it’s only recently become recognized as a widespread problem.
In a new review of previously published studies, researchers from Germany and Denmark took a look at the ways in which noises, such as an airplane passing by or jackhammer digging in the ground, can affect our hearts. Perhaps the most obvious impact of a loud sound while you are sleeping is that it can wake you up. But, even if you don't remember hearing the noise or you don’t physically get out of bed, it can disrupt you in ways you may not realize.
“Noise is not just causing annoyance, but it actually makes us sick,” said Dr. Thomas Münzel, a professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. “Regardless of where the sound is coming from, if it gets louder than 60 decibels (分贝),it can increase the risk of heart disease.”
When our body hears these noises, it reacts with a stress reaction. In this case, these sudden and unexpected noises cause hormones(荷尔蒙) to speed up and eventually damage the heart. Although the chance that a single noise will affect you is unlikely, it’s the continuous exposure (接触) to the sound that can finally affect you.
“But our heart health isn’t the only cause for concern. Long-term noise may also raise the risk of type 2 diabetes (糖尿病), depression, and anxiety disorders,” he warns. In the future, Münzel plans to examine how noises from cars, planes, and other vehicles affect the brain. But despite the amount or the depth of research he conducts, it’ll take the help of politicians to improve the effect of noise on our health.
“Politicians have to take into account, in particular, the new findings,” Münzel said, “As for aircraft noise and airports, it is important to make new laws and set new lower noise limits that protect people living close by the airport instead of the owners of the airport.”
1. What do researchers from Germany and Denmark find?| A．Noise does little harm to people who are asleep. |
| B．Noise can cause people’s memory to get worse sharply. |
| C．Noise has been a widespread concern for a long time. |
| D．Noise louder than 60 decibels may cause heart disease. |
| A．Defeat. | B．Harm. | C．Attract. | D．Discourage. |
| A．Politicians should take action to handle noise pollution. |
| B．Münzel will continue other studies on brain diseases. |
| C．Benefits of airport owners are more important than health. |
| D．Attention should be paid to heart health and other diseases. |
| A．Who Is to Blame for Noise Pollution | B．What Should Be Done to Stop Noise |
| C．How Münzel Carried Out His Research | D．How Noise Pollution Harms Our Body |
4 . Microplastic pollution is increasing dramatically around the globe, according to a study of airborne (空气传播的) plastic particles (粒子).
People are already known to breathe, drink and eat microplastics, and research suggests that pollution levels will continue to rise rapidly. The researchers said that breathing in these particles can damage lung tissue and lead to serious diseases.
Professor Natalie Mahowald, at Cornell University in the US and part of the research team, said, “But maybe we could solve this before it becomes a huge problem, if we manage our plastics better, before they accumulate (积聚) in the environment and move around quickly everywhere.”
The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined airborne microplastics, which have been far less studied than plastic in oceans and rivers.
The team gathered more than 300 samples of airborne microplastics from 11 sites across the western US. These were the basis for atmospheric modeling that estimated (估计) the contribution from different sources, and was the first such study to do so.
They found that roads were the main factor in the western US, linked to about 85 percent of the microplastics in the air. These are likely to include particles from tires on vehicles, and plastics from litter that had been broken down.
The researchers enlarged their modeling work to a global level and this suggested that while roads are also likely to be the main driver of airborne plastics in Europe, South America and Australia, plastic particles blown up from fields may be a much bigger factor in Africa and Asia.
Professor Andreas Stohl of the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Earth Sciences, and not part of the study team, said, “The study confirms the global-scale nature of microplastic transport in the atmosphere and does a good job in highlighting highly relevant and concerning possibilities, but more measurement data is needed to get a better idea of the sources.”
1. What did the researchers find out about airborne plastic pollution?| A．Its impact varies on different continents. |
| B．Public transportation takes responsibility for it. |
| C．Its main driver differs across continents. |
| D．Africa is suffering the most from the pollution. |
| A．To predict the possible damages of microplastics. |
| B．To get more data to understand the sources of microplastics. |
| C．To understand the nature of airborne plastic pollution globally. |
| D．To improve the method of collecting samples of microplastics. |
| A．Effects of microplastics on human health |
| B．Possible solutions to microplastic pollution |
| C．Microplastic pollution on the global scale |
| D．Microplastic pollution rising rapidly in the air |
| A．Society. | B．Nature. | C．Health. | D．Science. |
| A．The sea is getting smaller. |
| B．The sea is being polluted. |
| C．The sea is getting cleaner. |
6 . Last night’s meteor(流星) shower left many people in the community dissatisfied and demanding answers. According to Gabe Rothsclild, Emerald Valley’s mayor, people gathered in the suburbs of the city, carrying heavy telescopes, expecting to watch the brightly burning meteors passing through the sky. What they found instead was a sky so brightened by the city’s lights that it darkened the light of the meteors passing overhead.
“My family was so frustrated,” admitted town resident Duane Cosby, “We wanted to make this an unforgettable family outing, but it turned out to be a huge disappointment.”
Astronomers—scientists who study stars and planets—have been complaining about this problem for decades. They say that light pollution prevents them from seeing objects in the sky that they could see quite easily in the past. They call on people and the government to take measures to fight against it.
There is yet a population besides professional and amateur star observers that suffers even more from light pollution. This population consists of birds, bats frogs, snakes, etc. For example, outdoor lighting severely affects migrating birds. According to the International Dark-Sky Association. “100 million birds a year throughout North America die in crashes with lighted buildings and towers.”
Countless more animals casualties result from the use of artificial lighting. Clearly, people enjoy the benefits of lighting their evenings, but some scientists think it can be harmful for humans, too. They worry that exposure to light while sleeping can increase person’s chances of getting cancer.
Emerald Valley is only one community that is becoming aware of the negative effects of high pollution. For years, Flagstaff, Arizona, has enforced lighting regulations in its city in order to assist astronomers at the Lowell Observatory. Similar efforts have been made worldwide, and a movement is underway to remind us to turn off lights when we are not using them, so that other creatures can share the night.
1. It happened last night that .| A．the meteors flew past before being noticed | B．the city’s lights affected the meteor watching |
| C．the city light show attracted many people | D．the meteor watching ended up as a social outing |
| A．Light pollution has remained unsolved for years. | B．Their observation equipment is in poor repair. |
| C．Meteor showers occur less often than before. | D．Their eyesight is failing due to artificial lighting. |
| A．create an ideal observation condition | B．lessen the chance of getting cancer |
| C．ensure citizens a good sleep at night | D．enable all creatures to live in harmony |
| A．Saving wildlife is saving ourselves. |
| B．Great efforts should be made to save energy. |
| C．New equipment should be introduced for space study. |
| D．Human activities should be environmentally friendly. |
7 . Just when you thought you were taking care of your health by eating enough fruit and vegetables every day, new research has come out revealing that you might be swallowing microplastic particles (颗粒) along with all those vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A groundbreaking study published in the journal Environmental Research has found that fruits and vegetables absorb microplastic particles from the soil and move them through vegetal tissues, where they remain until eaten by hungry diners, thus getting transferred to human bodies.
The researchers, who are from the University of Catania in Italy, as well as Sousse and Monastir universities in Tunisia, analyzed a variety of common fruits and vegetables —carrots, lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, apples, and pears. These were chosen for the fact that they are frequently consumed, usually one per day, which allowed the researchers to better assess the dietary intakes of MPs (microplastic particles) and NPs (nano-plastics). The samples were purchased from different sources in the city of Catania, including a small fruit vendor and a supermarket.
The researchers found that apples, followed by pears, were the most polluted fruit samples, and carrots were the most polluted vegetable. In the study’s discussion section, the authors wrote, “We can assume that the fruits contain more MPs not only because of the very high vascularization (血管化) of the fruit pulp (果肉) but also due to the greater size and complexity of the root system and age of the tree (several years) compared to the vegetables (60-75 days for the carrot).”
This study is important because it's the first to detect microplastics in fruits and vegetables. They have been found in other sources before, such as sea salt, beer, water (bottled, in particular), shellfish, sugar, soil, and even air, but never inside fresh produce. It’s an alarming discovery that raises yet another red flag about microplastic pollution in the natural environment.
It’s an area that will likely see a lot more attention in coming years, with the study authors calling for further research into the question of microplastic and whether it harms the health of both plants and humans.
1. What is the study mainly about?| A．The main cause and influence of soil pollution. |
| B．The microplastic pollution in fruits and vegetables. |
| C．The benefits of daily fruits and vegetables consumption |
| D．The great changes in people's dietary habits. |
| A．The age of root system. | B．The huge size of fruit tree roots. |
| C．The complex preservation method. | D．The large amounts of the fruit pulp. |
| A．It needs to be further studied. | B．It wasted them quite a lot of time. |
| C．It has caused harm to health. | D．It has attracted attention to diets. |
8 . Natural selection is the process by which one type of animal within a species thrives (兴旺) because of certain characteristics that make it more likely to live than others in its group. The history of the peppered moth (灰蛾) is an example of the natural selection process.
In nineteenth-century England, certain types of peppered moths were able to better blend (融合) into their surroundings. During that time period, great changes were happening in Great Britain. The Industrial Revolution was part of this change, and with it came air pollution. Natural selection often takes hundreds or even thousands of years to occur. For the peppered moth, this process occurred comparatively quickly.
At the beginning of the Industrial Age most peppered moths in England were light-colored and covered with black markings, although a few moths had dark-colored wings. Because the light-colored moths blended into the light-colored bark on the trees, they could not be easily seen by birds that would eat them. The light-colored moths became easy for birds to see against the dark tree trunks. Since the dark-colored moths now had the advantage, their numbers grew. Within 50 years, the peppered moth went from being mostly light-colored to being mostly dark-colored.
In the twentieth century, the air cleared up, and the peppered moth population changed again. As tree trunks lightened due to less soot in the air, light-colored moths once again had an advantage. Their numbers increased as soot levels declined. Depending on their environment, the coloration of the moths helped them to be “naturally selected” to survive.
1. What do we know about the peppered moth’s natural selection process?| A．It was a good example of environmental protection |
| B．The soot levels in England did not affect it. |
| C．This type of color change was typical for moths. |
| D．The length of time was unusual. |
| A．Both kinds of moths preferred the dark-colored trees. |
| B．Birds failed to see light-colored moths blending into the light-colored bark on the trees. |
| C．There were more light-colored moths than dark-colored moths. |
| D．The color of moths was unimportant |
| A．Birds would eat fewer moths. |
| B．The population of dark-colored moths would increase. |
| C．Moths would not be able to stay alive. |
| D．Light-colored moths would disturb people’s life. |
| A．there were always many peppered moths |
| B．birds preferred to eat dark-colored moths |
| C．creatures changed colors to adapt to the environment |
| D．birds were dangerously affected by the soot levels |
9 . Turtles have a habit of eating plastic objects floating in the sea, which may kill them. Many believe that it is because floating plastic bags look similar to jellyfish, which many types of turtles love to eat. However, lots of plastic objects that turtles eat do not look like jellyfish at all. Joseph Pfaller of the University of Florida doubts that the smell of sea micro-organisms（微生物） which live on floating plastic objects attract turtles to eat.
The kind of idea first appeared in 2016. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, noticed that certain chemicals, especially dimethyl sulphide（二甲基硫）, which can be found on plastics where micro-organisms live, are those which many seabirds sniff（嗅）to find food. These birds are more likely to eat plastics.
Since turtles usually appear above the sea surface and sniff the air when going to their feeding areas, Dr. Pfaller believed that they are following these same chemicals like those seabirds and mistakenly think that floating plastic objects are edible.
To test that idea, he and his team did an experiment using loggerhead turtles. They exposed 15 turtles to four smells: the smell of clean water; the smell of turtle-feeding food; the smell of a clean plastic bottle; and the smell of a bottle that had been kept in the ocean for five weeks to allow micro-organisms to grow on it. When sniffing both the smell of turtle-feeding food and that of five-week-old bottles, turtles kept their noses out of the water more than three times as long, and took twice as many breaths as they did when sniffing the smell of fresh bottle-plastic or clean water.
Though they have not yet tested whether dimethyl sulphide on the five-week-old bottles cause turtles to eat plastic objects, Dr. Pfaller and his team think it is highly possible.
1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word "edible"?| A．pleasing the eyes | B．suitable for use as food |
| C．holding the attention | D．concerned with actual use |
| A．Seabirds prefer the smell of the plastic bottles. |
| B．Seabirds feed on the food similar to the turtles'. |
| C．Seabirds produce a certain micro-organism. |
| D．Seabirds break up the plastics without difficulty. |
| A．To suggest a new way to study turtles. |
| B．To stress the importance of sea protection. |
| C．To introduce the findings on the cause of turtles' death. |
| D．To discuss the overusę of the plastic bottles. |
| A．Education. | B．Entertainment. |
| C．Science. | D．Health. |
10 . A Plastic Ocean is a film to make you think.Think,and then act.We need to take action on our dependence on plastic.We’ve been producing plastic in huge quantities.Drinking bottles,shopping bags and even clothes are made with plastic.
The film begins as a journey to film the largest animal on the planet,the blue whale.But during the journey the filmmakers make the shocking discovery of a huge,thick layer of plastic floating in the Indian Ocean.
In the film there are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life.
They present short-term and long-term solutions.These include avoiding plastic containers and recycling as much as you can.The filmmakers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes.
We make a shocking amount of plastic.Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year,and at least 8 million of those are dumped into the oceans.The results are disastrous,but it isn’t too late to change.
| A．This causes them to travel around the world to look at other affected areas. |
| B．Once you’ve seen the film,you’ll realize it is time to do our part. |
| C．It has raised public concern all over the world. |
| D．We live in a world full of plastic,and only a small amount is recycled. |
| E．But the film doesn’t only present the negative side. |
| F．In conclusion,we only have one earth to live on. |
| G．These are contrasted with dumps of plastic rubbish. |
