1 . Nuclear pollution is a serious global
When nuclear accidents occur in coastal areas, the
Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, efforts to cool the reactors by pumping in seawater resulted in the
This
A.change | B.opportunity | C.concern | D.possibility |
A.caused | B.posed | C.created | D.increased |
A.resulted in | B.led to | C.brought about | D.caused |
A.terrestrial | B.aquatic | C.marine | D.atmospheric |
A.balancing | B.regulating | C.considering | D.stabilizing |
A.heightened | B.raised | C.decreased | D.lifted |
A.minor | B.slight | C.substantial | D.insignificant |
A.accumulation | B.storage | C.deposition | D.buildup |
A.Therefore | B.Despite | C.However | D.Hence |
A.from | B.by | C.of | D.in |
A.residents | B.citizens | C.inhabitants | D.dwellers |
A.issue | B.measure | C.release | D.disposal |
A.web | B.chain | C.network | D.system |
A.urgent | B.immediate | C.pressing | D.critical |
A.address | B.tackle | C.solve | D.resolve |
2 . As newer, more advanced technologies come out, huge amounts of electronics (电子产品) are thrown away, instead of being reused. These goods often end up in landfills, where the chemicals inside them may be a danger to the environment. Electronics can contain harmful materials. If these materials get into the ground or water, the pollution can cause serious problems. Most electronics require metals. These metals must be mined from the Earth. Often the mining process creates serious pollution.
A group known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum is trying to make people more aware of the problems of e-waste. Recently, the WEEE Forum asked researchers from the United Nations (UN) to study a kind of e-waste that’s often not noticed because people don’t consider the goods to be electronics. The WEEE Forum calls this kind “unable-to-be-seen” e-waste.
The UN study shows that about 1/6 of all e-waste is “unable-to-be-seen”. Though it’s “unable-to-be-seen”, it’s certainly not a small amount. The “unable-to-be-seen” e-waste weighs about 9 billion kilograms. The WEEE Forum says that if this e-waste were put into 40-ton trucks and the trucks were then lined up, the line of trucks would be about 5,630 kilometers long.
The surprising kind leading the “unable-to-be-seen” e-waste group was toys. Worldwide, roughly 7.3 billion electronic toys are thrown away each year. These include goods like car racing sets, electric trains, and musical toys. They also include toys with electronic parts, like dolls that speak or games with electronic timers. In all, toys make up about 35% of “unable-to-be-seen” e-waste. But the problem is far larger than just toys. The report also shows that other everyday goods like home alarms, smoke alarms, power tools, and computer cables (电缆) are also big sources of “unable-to-be-seen” e-waste.
The WEEE Forum is hoping that as more people and governments become aware of e-waste, they will make a much greater effort to make sure electronics get reused.
1. What is paragraph 1 mainly about?A.The amount of electronics. | B.The development of electronics. |
C.The ways of reusing electronics. | D.The pollution of electronics. |
A.People’s interest in electronics’ character. |
B.People’s impression on electronics’ package. |
C.People’s misunderstanding of electronics. |
D.People’s struggle to adapt to electronics. |
A.By showing numbers. | B.By providing examples. |
C.By making a summary. | D.By making a comparison, |
A.Designing advanced electronics. | B.Making electronics get reused. |
C.Stopping giving away electronics. | D.Reducing electronics’ production. |
3 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?A.Beautifying the city he lives in. | B.Introducing eco-friendly products. |
C.Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D.Reducing garbage on the beach. |
A.To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
B.To explain why they are useful. |
C.To voice his views on modern art. |
D.To find a substitute for them. |
A.Calming. | B.Disturbing. |
C.Refreshing. | D.Challenging. |
A.Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
B.Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
C.Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
D.Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
4 . Angela never liked seeing plastic waste washed up on the shore near her home. She had been
Here's how it
The Washed Ashore team is now working on sculpture of a dolphin, with
A.offering | B.longing | C.admitting | D.hesitating |
A.landscape | B.world | C.surface | D.situation |
A.attempt | B.choice | C.program | D.instruction |
A.walks | B.applies | C.functions | D.prepares |
A.stopping | B.presenting | C.delivering | D.employing |
A.waste | B.floor | C.waves | D.creatures |
A.rethink | B.remark | C.confirm | D.announce |
A.Generally | B.Hopefully | C.Fortunately | D.Surprisingly |
A.achieved | B.observed | C.purchased | D.recommended |
A.devoted | B.surprised | C.grateful | D.adventurous |
A.guides | B.managers | C.advertisements | D.exhibitions |
A.folk | B.simple | C.special | D.strange |
A.plans | B.calls | C.elements | D.exchanges |
A.get down to | B.keep away from | C.get rid of | D.end up with |
A.answer | B.appeal | C.warning | D.response |
5 . Vitamin B could help lessen the effects of the most dangerous type of air pollution,according to a new study published recently. In the first study of its kind,a team of international researchers looked at the damage caused by one of the pollutants that has the most severe impact on health: PM2.5.
Particulate matter,or PM,is a type of air pollutant consisting of small particles of different sizes. PM2.5 has a diameter of fewer than 2.5 micrometers,about 30 times smaller than a human hair. These particles are so small that they can go into our respiratory system (呼吸系统), resulting in lung and systemic inflammation (炎症) and stress.
The team found that something as simple as a daily vitamin B supplement could potentially reduce the impact of the tiny particles on the human body,although they stressed that the research was in its early stages and the sample size was small.
For this study,10 volunteers were initially exposed to clean air and given a placebo (安慰剂) to check their responses. The group then took another placebo for four weeks before being exposed to heavily polluted air from downtown Toronto,where an estimated 1,000 cars pass every hour. The bad air was delivered to the volunteers through an “oxygen-type” face mask. The experiment was then repeated,with each volunteer taking a vitamin B supplement daily made up of 2.5 mg of folic acid,50 mg of vitamin B6,and 1 mg of vitamin B12. B6 can be found in liver,chicken and nuts,and B12 in fish,meat,eggs,milk and some cereals.
The researchers found that four weeks of vitamin B supplements reduced the damage of PM2.5 exposure by 28%-76%. The results highlight how prevention at an individual level could be used to fight the harmful effects of PM2.5.
1. Why is PM2.5 harmful to our health?A.It pollutes and poisons the air. | B.It is too much to be got rid of. |
C.It carries viruses and diseases. | D.It is easily breathed in and damages our body. |
A.The process of the research was not scientific. |
B.This kind of research has been done many times. |
C.Further studies are needed to confirm their findings. |
D.Vitamin B is hard to obtain in people’s daily life. |
A.International researchers have a new finding. |
B.Vitamin B could reduce the damage of PM2.5. |
C.Particulate matter does great harm to our health. |
D.Emission control and regulation are badly needed. |
A.in a science journal | B.on a government website |
C.in a fashion magazine | D.in a medical textbook |
6 . The idea of turning recycled plastic bottles into clothing is not new. During the last five years, a large number of clothing companies, businesses and environmental organizations have started turning plastics into fabric to deal with plastic pollution. But there’s a problem with this method. Research now shows that microfibers could be the biggest source of plastic in the sea.
Dr. Mark Browne in Santa Barbara, California, has been studying plastic pollution and microfibers for 10 years now. He explains that every time synthetic clothes go into a washing machine, a large number of plastic fibers fall off. Most washing machines can’t collect these microfibers. So every time the water gets out of a washing machine, microfibers are entering the sewers and finally end up in the sea.
In 2011, Browne wrote a paper stating that a single piece of synthetic(合成的) clothing can produce more than 1, 900 fibers per wash. Browne collected samples from seawater and freshwater sites around the world, and used a special way to examine each sample. He discovered that every single water sample contained microfibers.
This is bad news for a number of reasons. Plastic can cause harm to sea life when eaten. Studies have also shown that plastic can absorb other pollutants.
Based on this evidence, it may seem surprising that companies and organizations have chosen to turn plastic waste into clothing as an environmental “solution.” Even though the science has been around for a while, Browne explains that he's had a difficult time getting companies to listen. When he asked well-known clothing companies to support Benign by Design-his research project that seeks to get clothes that have a bad effect on humans and the environment out of the market, Browne didn’t get a satisfying answer. Only one women’s clothing company, Eileen Fisher, offered Browne funding.
1. What has happened during the past five years?A.Fabric has become much stronger. | B.Plastic pollution has been less serious. |
C.Many plastic bottles have been reused. | D.Microfibers have been greatly improved. |
A.It is adding microfibers to the clothes. |
B.It is worsening environmental problems. |
C.It is making synthetic clothes last longer. |
D.It is doing great damage to washing machines. |
A.It has achieved great success. | B.It hasn’t got anything done. |
C.It is known to very few people. | D.It is facing some difficulties. |
A.It’s important to learn to recycle |
B.It’s never easy to solve pollution problems |
C.Recycled plastic clothing: solution or pollution? |
D.Are human beings moving forward or backward? |
Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true.
Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.
Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.
Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO2 is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.
The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time.
1. _______, our world is becoming much smaller.
A.Because of the rise in pollution |
B.Thanks to science development |
C.Because the earth is being polluted day and night |
D.Because the earth is blown away by the wind every year |
A.much easier than | B.as easy as |
C.much harder than | D.as hard as |
A.rubbish(垃圾) | B.noise pollution |
C.air pollution | D.water pollution |
A.it makes much noise |
B.it makes us angry more easily |
C.it makes our rivers and lakes dirty |
D.it’s bad for all living things in the world |
A.Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. |
B.The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does. |
C.The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth. |
D.If people could go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike, it would be helpful in fighting against the problem of SO2. |