1 . The French Danone company is the latest to replace some plastic water bottles with aluminum (铝) cans. Competitors like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle have also started selling water in aluminum cans.
Replacing plastic water bottles that pollute the seas with recyclable aluminum cans should be an easy way to help the environment, right?
Maybe not.
Aluminum cans might result in less ocean waste, and the metal containers also are lighter than glass or plastic bottles, but they also come with their own cost to the environment. The production of an aluminum can is estimated to release two times as much carbon dioxide into the air as a plastic bottle.
“That’s the dilemma you’re going to have to choose between,” said Ruben Griffioen, an official at beermaker Heineken. He said his company was Lrying to reduce the use of plastic bottles.
Bruce Karas of Coca - Cola North America agreed. He said, “There’s a mix. There are some things that are not that desirable, but if you have five good things and one that isn’t, we’ll all have to make decisions.” He added, “It’ll never be that clean.”
Bottled water is a 19 billion industry. Although its use of cans is increasing, experts say cans are unlikely to completely replace plastic bottles.
Aluminum is costlier than plastic so canned drinks mean higher prices for buyers. Another major consideration is user convenience-cans stay open while bottles can be reclosed. More importantly, there is one barrier to ending the use of plastic water bottles: There may not be enough cans to go around. Beer and wine makers are now also increasingly using aluminum.
1. What’s the advantage of aluminum cans?| A．They are pollution-free. | B．They are lighter. |
| C．They are cost-effective. | D．They are low-carbon. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. | C．Neutral | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The wide application of aluminum cans. | B．The promising future aluminum cans |
| C．The major advantages of aluminum cans. | D．The unavoidable limitations of aluminum cans. |
| A．Aluminum Cans or Plastic Bottles? | B．A Blessing or a Misfortune? |
| C．How to Deal with Plastic Bottles? | D．Why Do We Choose Aluminum Cans? |
2 . If you’re worried about your receding hairline (后退的发际线) and you live in a city, you might want to consider moving, as scientists have found exposure to high levels of air pollution may be linked to retention.
New research presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress in Madrid found particulate matter (PM) (颗粒物), which is present in polluted air, could impact both hair growth and retention.
The team took cells from the base of hair follicles (毛囊) and then exposed them to the polluted air. They used various concentrations of PM10, and 24 hours later, they tested the samples to detect whether specific hair-growth proteins in the cells had changed at all.
Researchers found that the presence of PM10 decreased levels of the protein responsible for hair growth — beta-catenin — and morphogenesis, the biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape. According to the study, the levels of three other proteins which are responsible for hair growth and hair retention — cyclin D1, cyclin E and CDK2 — were also decreased.
This meant that the greater the level of pollutant, the greater the decrease in proteins was found.
This is one of the first studies to look at the link between pollution and baldness (秃头).
Hyuk Chul Kwon from the Future Science Research Centre in South Korea said: “While the link between air pollution and serious diseases, such as cancer, are well established, there is little to no research on the effect of particulate matter exposure on the human skin, and hair in particular. And our research explains the mode (模式) of action of air pollutants on human hair follicle cells, showing how the most common air pollutants lead to hair loss.”
1. What does the underlined word “retention” in Para 1 refer to?| A．Hair cells. | B．Hair loss. |
| C．Hair growth. | D．Hair-growth proteins. |
| A．Air pollution can increase levels of hair-growth proteins. |
| B．There’s only one protein that is responsible for hair growth. |
| C．Polluted air has no direct impact on hair growth or retention. |
| D．The more serious air pollution, the more likely you’re to lose your hair. |
| A．Meaningful. | B．Negative. |
| C．Unimportant. | D．Objective. |
| A．The solutions to air pollution. |
| B．The growth mechanism of hair. |
| C．The impact of air pollution on health. |
| D．The close link between air pollution and hair loss. |
3 . 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 inhaling (吸入) these particles can irritate (刺激) 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 swirl (打旋) around 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 the contribution from different sources, and was the first such study to do so.
They found that roads were the dominant factor in the western US, linked to about 85 percent of the microplastics in the air. These are likely to include particles from tires and brake pads on vehicles, and plastics from litter that had been broken down.
The researchers extended their modeling work to a global level and this suggested that while roads are also likely to be the dominant 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 do we know about microplastic pollution from the text?| A．It has become the most pressing environmental problem. |
| B．The particles can do great harm to our lungs. |
| C．Airborne microplastics have been widely studied. |
| D．There is more plastic in the air than in oceans. |
| A．Its impact varies on different continents. |
| B．Public transportation is largely to blame for it. |
| C．Its dominant driver differs across continents. |
| D．Africa is suffering the most from the pollution. |
| A．predict the potential damages of microplastics. |
| B．understand the nature of airborne plastic pollution globally. |
| C．get more data to understand the sources of microplastics. |
| D．improve the method of collecting samples of microplastics. |
| A．Effects of microplastics on human health | B．Plastic pollution rising rapidly in the air |
| C．Possible solutions to plastic pollution | D．Plastic pollution on the global scale |
4 . Most cities were built on rivers. People originally settled in Paris because of the Seine, and in London for the Thames. A third of New York City’s surface area is water. For centuries, city folk used rivers for shipping, fishing and play. In a rare city without a big river, Johannesburg say, you notice its absence.
Yet in recent decades, we have ignored urban rivers. The Industrial Revolution ruined rivers for more than a century. Huge new urban populations filled them with waste water, factory emissions(排放物) and harmful gases of ships. In Newcastle in the early 1800s, salmon(鲢鱼) had been so plentiful in the River Tyne that apprentices(学徒) were said to have terms in their contracts stating that their masters shouldn’t make them at it every day. By the 1950s, the salmon were gone.
However, in recent decades, cities began cleaning up rivers. The Thames is now the cleanest it has been in 150 years and has seals and the occasional whale, sometimes alive. In cities like Chicago, riverside storehouses have been turned into fashionable restaurants and waterfront apartments. All in all, the latest trend is to change urban waterways into the natural play space so lacking in most cities.
But rivers also need to regain their original purpose as transport center. Passenger traffic may decrease as an urban issue if working from home becomes the norm during and even alter the pandemic. But there’s one form of urban traffic that just keeps growing: deliveries. Imagine using the enormous capacity of shipping to take delivery trucks off the roads. One of the newer Thames barges(驳船) with a capacity of 1, 750 tons can replace 44 large trucks, which uses much less energy and causes less noise pollution. In other words, we need to turn truck drivers into barge captains.
Rivers are the reason our cities are where they are. We just forgot about them.
1. What is paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The reason for the rise and fall of cities. |
| B．The importance of rivers to cities. |
| C．The changes in cities along the rivers. |
| D．The locations of the famous rivers. |
| A．To indicate masters were generous to them. |
| B．To blame them for the mass extinction of salmon. |
| C．To imply the River Tyne was in good condition then. |
| D．To praise their contributions to the Industrial Revolution. |
| A．Waterfront apartments have been torn down. |
| B．Amusement parks have sprung up along urban rivers. |
| C．Riverside storehouses have served as places of leisure. |
| D．Waterways have been filled with emissions and abandoned ships. |
| A．Use barges to make deliveries. |
| B．Lay off truck drivers gradually. |
| C．Decrease working time from home. |
| D．Speed up smart urban traffic management. |
5 . Though you might think you were taking care of your health by eating enough fruit and vegetables every day, new research has come out suggesting that you might be swallowing microplastic particles（微塑科颗粒）along with all those vitamins, minerals, and fibre. A 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, 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（血资化）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 about?| A．The main cause of soil pollution. |
| B．The great changes in people’s diets. |
| C．The microplastic pollution in fruits and vegetables. |
| D．The benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. |
| A．The large amounts of the fruit pulp. | B．The planting method. |
| C．The complex preservation method. | D．The long growth period of fruit trees. |
| A．It discovered MPs in fresh produce for the first time. |
| B．It proved the source of microplastic pollution. |
| C．It presented the danger of MPs to human’s body. |
| D．It showed the influences of MPs on plants. |
| A．It has raised people’s awareness of health. |
| B．It wasted them quite a lot of time. |
| C．It needs to be further studied. |
| D．It has attracted people’s attention to diets. |
6 . Light pollution is a significant but overlooked driver of the rapid decline of insect populations, according to the most comprehensive review of the scientific evidence to date.
Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects' lives, the researchers said. "We strongly believe artificial light at night — in combination with habitat loss, chemical pollution, invasive species, and climate change — is driving insect declines,” the scientists concluded after assessing more than 150 studies.
Insect population collapses have been reported around the world, and the first global scientific review published in February, said widespread declines threatened to cause a "catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems".
There are thought to be millions of insect species, most still unknown to science, and about half are active at night. Those active in the day may also be disturbed by light at night when they are at rest.
The most familiar impact of light pollution is moths (飞蛾) flapping around a bulb, mistaking it for the moon. Some insects use the polarisation of light to find the water they need to breed, as light waves line up after reflecting from a smooth surface. But artificial light can scupper (使泡汤) this. Insects are important prey (猎物) for many species, but light pollution can tip the balance in favour of the predator if it traps insects around lights. Such increases in predation risk were likely to cause the rapid extinction of affected species, the researchers said.
The researchers said most human-caused threats to insects have analogues in nature, such as climate change and invasive species. But light pollution is particularly hard for insects to deal with.
However, unlike other drivers of decline, light pollution is relatively easy to prevent. Simply turning off lights that are not needed is the most obvious action, he said, while making lights motion-activated also cuts light pollution. Shading lights so only the area needed is lit up is important. It is the same with avoiding blue-white lights, which interfere with daily rhythms. LED lights also offer hope as they can be easily tuned to avoid harmful colours and flicker rates.
1. What is the 5th paragraph mainly about?| A．How light travels in space. | B．How light helps insects find food. |
| C．How the food chain is interrelated. | D．How light pollution affects insects. |
| A．Selective things. | B．Similar things. | C．Variations. | D．Limitations. |
| A．To offer solutions. | B．To give examples. |
| C．To make comparisons. | D．To present arguments. |
| A．Causes of declining insect populations. |
| B．Consequences of insect population collapses. |
| C．Light pollution: the key bringer of insect declines. |
| D．Insect declines: the driver of the collapsed ecosystem. |
7 . In between all the measures to battle the severe air pollution in Delhi,India,there’s one more option-a bar that has”pure air”.
Founded by Aryavir Kumar,Oxy Pure,Delhi’s first-ever oxygen bar,offers 15 minutes of 80-90 percent pure oxygen,costing Rs 299($4.2).Customers are given a lightweight tube for oxygen intake.The device(装置)is placed near the customer’s nostrils(鼻孔)through which they are advised to breathe in the oxygen.
The bar also offers its customers several aromas(气味)to go with oxygen,including lemongrass,cherry and more.According to the aroma people choose,each session promises to improve sleep patterns and digestion,cure headaches,and even claims to work as a treatment for depression.
Bonny Irengbam,a senior sales assistant at the bar,said,”Some people,who try it for the first time,will feel relaxed and fresh.But only people who do this regularly will get real benefits.By regularly,I mean once or twice a month.We don’t encourage back-to-back sessions,as increased levels of oxygen in the body can make a person dizzy.”
Dr.Rajesh Chawla,a senior doctor at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital,said,”Even if you breathe in the so-called pure oxygen for two hours in a day,you will go back to breathing the polluted air for the rest of the 22 hours.The concept is purely money-driven.”
Recalling the first few months of the bar,Irengbam admitted that people were sceptical. “Many people criticised,saying we were selling air.Others were simply scared to breathe through the tube.”
Irengbam said the bar saw a significant rise in the number of customers two to three days after Diwali,an Indian festival mainly celebrated by fireworks and lights,as the pollution levels were high.
1. What do we know about the oxygen intake?| A．It surely has a promising future. |
| B．It will always cause side effects. |
| C．It was not well received at first. |
| D．It can cure people of depression. |
| A．Once-a-month. |
| B．Once-in-a-while. |
| C．Once-and-for-all. |
| D．One-after-another. |
| A．Doubtful. |
| B．Positive. |
| C．Unconcerned. |
| D．Ambiguous. |
| A．To explain how to breathe in the oxygen. |
| B．To introduce the first oxygen bar in India. |
| C．To show people’s responses to the device. |
| D．To advertise for Aryavir Kumar’s business. |
8 . The company SpaceX has already launched hundreds of its Star-link satellites, with plans to put as many as 42,000 of them in Earth orbit. Its goal is to provide high-speed Internet to billions of people. Moving toward that kind of access is important, but it comes at a cost. Glittering with reflected sunlight, these first orbiters, sent up in the past year, are brighter than 99 percent of the 5,000 or so other satellites now circling Earth, and obviously there are going to be a lot more. This sudden increase is bad for astronomy: the probability of a Star-link satellite crossing a telescope’s field of view and ruining an observation will be quite high near sunset. For that reason, my fellow astronomers have signed a petition (请愿书) calling for governments to protect the night sky from this invasion.
In response to protests, SpaceX has promised to address the visibility problem by, for example, applying experimental coatings — essentially painting the satellites black — but the company’s aggressive launch schedule remains unchanged. And the satellites’ illuminated (被照亮) surfaces are mostly their solar panels — exactly the part that cannot be painted over.
Unfortunately, at present no regulations govern how bright a single satellite can be, let alone thousands of them together. Even if there were such regulations, one nation’s laws can not hinder (阻碍) another country’s launches. Space literally has no borders, and the sky will need to be protected at an international level. As a consequence, we hope that the United Nations will find a way to think outside of the box to save the sky for everyone.
When I was growing up in Montana, it was a game to be the first to find a moving satellite among the host of stars in the night sky. Soon it could be a game to recognize the constellations (星座) behind a swarm of moving points of light.
1. What is the writer’s attitude toward Space X’s launching plans?| A．Indifferent. | B．Doubtful. | C．Optimistic. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．SpaceX plans to send too many Star-line satellites into space. |
| B．The Star-line satellites will possibly ruin an observation near sunset. |
| C．The first orbiters are brighter than most of other satellites circling Earth. |
| D．Space X fails to provide high-speed Internet to people around the world. |
| A．The United States. | B．The United Nations. |
| C．The company SpaceX. | D．Just one nation. |
| A．Preserve the Night Sky | B．Ban Star-line Satellites |
| C．Observe the Stars Attentively | D．Protest against Space X |
9 . A handful of old mobile phones lay in a grey bucket. These outdated devices, which are about to be chopped into thousands of pieces, will be given a second life as recycled e-waste. But many phones won't.
According to the latest estimates, the world gets rid of approximately 50 million tonnes of waste annually. E-waste is full of dangerous materials that can cause damage to human health and the environment if not managed properly. But only 20 percent of global e-waste is recycled.The rest ends up in landfill, or burned—or is not recycled at all.
And yet,Switzerland is a good example of how to deal with the growing environmental issue. The country collects and recycles roughly 7S percent of this discarded material. This is thanks to a strong voluntary take-back system, where consumers can take e-waste to a reclining collection point or any electronic shop retailer（零售商）. A recycling station can be found within at most 300 meters from any residential area. Everyone gets involved. Switzerland's e-waste system is unique and can't be easily copied-due to a strong recycling culture within the country.
However, Switzerland faces the same global challenges as every nation.The built-in lithium batteries（锂电池）aren't easy to take out. The only way to remove these potentially dangerous components is with a bar and hammer. This poses a significant risk to those handling the goods. As such, producers need to be more transparent(信息透明的) and show more clearly where the harmful substances are, and how they can be removed.
Once the battery is removed, e-waste is sorted into different component parts—-metals, plastics and other materials. Roughly 70 percent of the device can be recycled. The material that cannot be recycled is used for other purposes like construction material or is burned to generate energy. Mobile phones—from a material perspective (角度), from a value perspective，and also from an environmental impact perspective -are very important.
For the past 15 years, Switzerland has been actively encouraging and supporting electrical waste disposal practices. They are happy to share their knowledge, experience, lessons learned, and they are happy if other people pick up on it.
1. What can we know about the global e-waste?| A．Only 20% of the e-waste is useful. |
| B．It is becoming an environmental problem. |
| C．Most of it has been given a second life. |
| D．It has been the major cause of pollution. |
| A．It is unique and easy to copy. |
| B．It features many devoted volunteers. |
| C．It gains great support and understanding. |
| D．It is complicated and not easily accessible. |
| A．Remove harmful substances. |
| B．Use less dangerous components. |
| C．Offer customers free bars and hammers. |
| D．Help make the removal easier and safer. |
| A．How to fight against e-waste. |
| B．Why E-waste gets out of control. |
| C．How to be champion of recycling. |
| D．How to lead an Eco-friendly lifestyle. |
10 . Many of us might not give a second thought to dropping a small piece of litter. After all, if it is so small, it cannot possibly be that harmful, can it?
Although cigarette ends are small, they are bad for the environment. Worldwide, about 4.3 trillion cigarette ends are littered every year. As well as ruining the beauty of the environment, they contain poisonous chemicals.
Waste is a big problem for the environment, so we need to do something. Not littering at all or cleaning up “small waste” saves money spent on clearing off litter properly.
| A．They are harmful to our health. |
| B．These find their way into the water supply. |
| C．In today’s world, the answer is certainly “Yes, it can!” |
| D．Proper measures should be taken to deal with the pollution issues. |
| E．However, it would be better not to smoke or use plastic bags at all. |
| F．Plastic bags are another common form of litter dangerous to the environment. |
| G．But in some countries, including China, customers are now charged for each bag. |
