1 . What concerns the man about the oil company?
A.It causes water pollution. |
B.It makes locals lose their jobs. |
C.It results in a fight on social media. |
2 . There is an increasing alarm about the extent of microplastics pollution, which has been found everywhere from Everest to the Arctic. However, it turns out there’s an even smaller and more poisonous form of plastic pollution entering remote reaches of the globe. A new study published in Environmental Research found significant quantities of nanoplastics (纳米塑料) in ice samples from both the North and South Poles.
“Now we know that nanoplastics are transported to these corners of the Earth in these quantities. This indicates that nanoplastics are really a bigger pollution problem than we thought,” study lead author Dusan Materic said in a press release.
Nanoplastics are plastics that are smaller than a micrometer in size. Their small size means they are more difficult to study than microplastics, or plastics between five millimeters and a micrometer. But they may be even more dangerous.
“Nanoplastics are very toxicological active compared to, for instance, microplastics, and that’s why this is very important,” Materic said.
Materic and his team used new methods to measure nanoplastic pollution in ice samples from Greenland and Antarctica. They sampled a 14-meter-deep ice core from the Greenland ice cap and sea ice from Antarctica’s McMurdo Sound. They found that there were an average of 13.2 nanograms per-milliliter of nanoplastics in the Greenland ice and an average of 52.3 nanograms per milliliter in the Antarctic ice
But what was even more surprising than the amount of nanoplastics in the remote ice was just how long they had sat there. “In the Greenland core, we see nanoplastic pollution happening all the way from the 1960s. So organisms, despite the lack of the solid evidence, likely all over the world, have been exposed to it for quite some time now,” Materic said.
The study also looked at the types of plastic present in the samples. Half of the Greenland nanoplastics were polyethylene (PE), the kind of plastic used for plastic bags and packaging. A quarter came from tires and a fifth were polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used for clothing and bottles.
1. Why should researchers focus more on nanoplastics?A.They are smaller but more dangerous. |
B.They are more important to science. |
C.They are easily polluted by ocean water. |
D.They are more active in cold surroundings. |
A.The North and South poles are the birthplace of nanoplastics. |
B.Nanoplastics have less influence on the planet than microplastics. |
C.Nanoplastics have been existing since the 1960s throughout the world. |
D.Nanoplastics found in the samples are widely used in the daily life. |
A.The Greenland core. |
B.The Antarctic ice. |
C.The amount of nanoplastics. |
D.Nanoplastics pollution. |
A.Mircoplastics prove to be more dangerous. |
B.Nanoplastics pose a threat to people’s life. |
C.Nanoplastics are making their way to the poles. |
D.Mircoplastics set the alarm bells ringing. |
3 . 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 |
4 . In the endless sky, the unaided human eye should be able to perceive several thousand stars on a clear, dark night. Unfortunately, growing light pollution has impeded people from the nightly view.
New citizen-science-based research throws alarming light on the problem of “sky glow”-the diffuse illumination (漫射照明) of the night sky that is a form of light pollution. The data came from crowd-sourced observations collected from around the world as part of Globe at Night, a program developed by astronomer Connie Walker.
Light pollution has harmful effects on the practice of astronomy but also on human health and wildlife, since it disturbs the cycle from sunlight to starlight that biological systems have evolved alongside. Furthermore, the loss of visible stars is a great loss of human cultural heritage. Until relatively recently, humans throughout history had an impressive view of the starry night sky, and the effect of this nighty spectacle (壮观) is evident in ancient cultures.
Globe at Night has been gathering data on star visibility since 2006. Anyone can submit observations through the Globe at Night web application. Participants record which one best matches what they can see in the sky without any telescopes or other instruments.
Researchers find that the loss of visible stars indicates an increase in sky brightness of 9.6% per year while roughly 2% is measured by satellites. Existing satellites are not well suited to measuring sky glow as it appears to humans, because they can not detect wavelengths shorter than 500 nanometers (纳米). White LEDs, with shorter wavelengths under 500 nanometers, now are increasingly commonly used in outdoor lighting. But human eyes are more sensitive to these shorter wavelengths at nighttime. Space-based instruments do not measure light from windows, either. But these sources are significant contributors to sky glow us seen from the ground.
“The increase in sky glow over the past decade underlines the importance of redoubling our efforts and developing new strategies to protect dark skies,” said Walker. “The Globe at Night dataset is necessary in our ongoing evaluation of changes in sky glow, and we encourage whoever can to get involved to help protect the starry night sky.”
1. What does the underlined word “impeded” in the first paragraph mean?A.separated. | B.disabled. | C.demanded. | D.protected. |
A.Poorer human health. | B.Fewer wildlife species. |
C.More delicate biological systems. | D.Less nightly culture elements of the sky. |
A.Crowd sourced data are invaluable | B.Shorter wavelengths are hard to detect. |
C.Satellites play a vital role. | D.White LEDs are widely used. |
A.Their consistent efforts pay off. | B.The dataset needs to be updated. |
C.The sky glow has been over-emphasized. | D.More participants are expected to join in. |
On August 24, Japan started releasing wastewater from its Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (福岛第一核电站) into the Pacific Ocean. This has caused anger and fear across the world.
In March 2011, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its
The plant was operated by TEPCO (东京电力公司). According to the company, the wastewater is diluted (稀释) before
“They’ll pollute the ocean, the animals within it, and
On the same day, China announced
China was the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood. More than 255,000 users took a poll (民意调查) on Weibo. Up to 97% of them said that they would no longer eat seafood from Japan. “We’re on the same planet,” said one of them. “Nobody can be free from harm. It’s just a matter
6 . Scientists visiting tiny Henderson Island in the South Pacific recently made an alarming discovery.
Plastic waste in the sea has long been known about, but only now are we discovering the true extent of the problem. Plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose, so all the plastic ever produced still exists somewhere. Around 95% of plastics made are not recycled, and large amounts enter the sea. Currents(洋流) collect this waste in large circular systems called “gyres”.
The problem gets worse as plastic breaks down into very small pieces, or “micro plastic”,
“Sea plastic is a symbol of the negative effects of our lifestyle and technology,” he says. “
A.it goes unnoticed and finds its way to human bodies. |
B.This is eaten by fish and leads to massive species loss. |
C.To work with the currents would help collect the waste. |
D.Our aim should be to create a new lifestyle for this century. |
E.However, there are some young minds working to clean up the sea for future generations. |
F.Although remote and previously untouched by humans, the island was covered in plastic waste. |
G.One of the largest is in the Pacific Ocean, an area now known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. |
7 . Plastic recycling is a hot topic. But what’s the real face behind it? You diligently sort your rubbish; you dutifully wash your plastic containers; then everything gets thrown in a landfill or in the ocean anyway. According to one analysis, only 9% of all plastic ever made has likely been recycled. Here’s the kicker companies making all that plastic have spent millions on advertising campaigns lecturing us about recycling while knowing full well that most plastic will never be recycled.
A new investigation by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reports that the large oil and gas companies that manufacture plastics have known for decades that recycling plastic was unlikely to ever happen on a broad scale because of the high costs involved. “They were not interested in putting any real money or effort into recycling because they wanted to sell raw material,” Larry Thomas, former president of one of the plastic industry’s most powerful trade groups, told NPR. “There is a lot more money to be made in selling new plastic than reusing the old stuff. But, in order to keep selling new plastic, the industry had to clean up its wasteful image. If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be so concerned about the environment,” Thomas noted.
We have been successfully convinced that people start pollution and people can stop it and that if we just recycle more, the planet will be OK. To some degree that is right: there must be a level of personal responsibility when it comes to the climate emergency. We all have to do our part. But individual action is a tiny drop in a heavily polluted ocean. We need systematic change to make a real difference. And, more than anything, we need to change what we value.
1. According to the text, what does the underlined word “kicker” probably mean?A.An event that is controversial. |
B.A player who kicks the football. |
C.An action that is taken to start a plan quickly. |
D.A discovery that is unpleasant and unexpected. |
A.Plastic recycling is necessary and effective. |
B.Large amounts of money are spent on recycling. |
C.The companies try to promote the sales of new material. |
D.The companies prefer to sell recycled material rather than new materials. |
A.Most people have a sense of responsibility. |
B.Plenty of rubbish is dropped into the ocean. |
C.Systematic change was made to reduce pollution. |
D.Fighting against pollution calls for joint efforts. |
A.Plastic recycling: a trick in industries. |
B.Plastic recycling: a benefit to the public. |
C.Plastic recycling: a way to reduce pollution. |
D.Plastic recycling: a popularity among people. |
8 . If humans were truly at home under the light of the moon and stars, we would go in darkness happily, the midnight world as visible to us as it is to the vast number of nocturnal (夜间活动的) species on this planet. Instead, we are diurnal creatures, with eyes adapted to living in the sun’s light. This is a basic evolutionary fact, even though most of us don’t think of ourselves as diurnal beings. Yet it’s the only way to explain what we’ve done to the night: We’ve engineered it to receive us by filling it with light.
The benefits of this kind of engineering come with consequences—called light pollution—whose effects scientists are only now beginning to study. Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design, which allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky. Ill-designed lighting washes out the darkness of night and completely changes the light levels—and light rhythms—to which many forms of life, including ourselves, have adapted. Wherever human light spills into the natural world, some aspect of life is affected.
In most cities the sky looks as though it has been emptied of stars, leaving behind a vacant haze (霜) that mirrors our fear of the dark. We’ve grown so used to this orange haze that the original glory of an unlit night—dark enough for the planet Venus to throw shadows on Earth-is wholly beyond our experience, beyond memory almost.
We’ve lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet (磁铁). The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being “captured” by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms. Migrating at night, birds tend to collide with brightly lit tall buildings.
Frogs living near brightly lit highways suffer nocturnal light levels that are as much as a million times brighter than normal, throwing nearly every aspect of their behavior out of joint, including their nighttime breeding choruses. Humans are no less trapped by light pollution than the frogs. Like most other creatures, we do need darkness. Darkness is as essential to our biological welfare, to our internal clockwork, as light itself.
Living in a glare of our own making, we have cut ourselves off from our evolutionary and cultural heritage—the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night. In a very real sense, light pollution causes us to lose sight of our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way—the edge of our galaxy—arching overhead.
1. Which of the followings has the similar meaning to the underlined word “diurnal” in Paragraph 1?A.Everyday. | B.Routine. |
C.Daytime | D.Nighttime. |
A.provide examples of animal protection |
B.show how light pollution affects animals |
C.compare the living habits of both species |
D.explain why the number of certain species has declined |
A.light pollution does harm to the eyesight of animals |
B.light pollution has destroyed some of the world heritages |
C.human beings cannot go to the outer space |
D.human beings should reflect on their position in the universe |
A.The Magic Light. | B.The Orange Haze. |
C.The Disappearing Night. | D.The Rhythms of Nature. |
9 . The measurable threat to the environment has been worsened by the spread of COVID-19 that increases the need for plastic protective equipment. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Millions of tons of greenhouse gas are released from the development of these resources and plastic production and burning.
The end life of plastic is just worrisome. Less than 10% of the plastic produced has been recycled. Even more of it has been burned. But the vast majority of plastic has been buried inland, and it is increasingly polluting the environment. We hear mostly about ocean plastic and the harm done to sea creatures that mistake plastic bags and bits for food. But microplastic is even more worrisome. Plastic doesn't break down biologically but instead breaks down into tiny particles(a very small piece of something), which have been found in every corner of the planet, on land and in the air, in drinking water and food sources.
Yet the public has not given this global environmental disaster the attention it requires. Instead, they have viewed single-use plastic—which makes up about 40% of plastic used each year—as a litter issue that can be solved through better recycling and waste management. That attitude must change because the recent global breakdown of the market for recycling has made it clear that it has never been, nor ever will be, able to keep up with plastic trash use.
California has been the forerunner of plastic waste reduction—it was the first state to ban single-use plastic bags and may be the first state to transform the way goods are packaged. The state also came close to passing an act which would have required that products sold in plastic packaging in the state have a proven recycling rate of 75% by 2032. California, though influential, can't solve this crisis alone. The US has long been producing a great amount of plastic trash and it should engage in reducing the use of plastic as well.
1. Why does the author mention the release of greenhouse gas in paragraph 1?A.To show the harm of plastic |
B.To warn of the climate change. |
C.To call for the development of fossil fuels. |
D.To highlight the importance of plastic equipment. |
A.Favorable. | B.Tolerant. |
C.Curious. | D.Opposed. |
A.A pioneer. | B.A failure. |
C.An objector. | D.A predictor. |
A.Microplastic Products Are Harmful |
B.Waste Recycling Is an Urgent Matter |
C.Plastic Waste Pollution Is a Wake-up Call |
D.Global Environmental Disasters Are Increasing |
10 . The amount of plastic pollution in the oceans is rapidly increasing. This is problematic, as at least 700 species of sea animals may 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 plastic smells like to marine animals.
But now, a study from the University of North Carolina has found that the coating of algae that naturally builds up on ocean plastics causes the rubbish to give off the scent of food.
The researchers took 15 loggerhead turtles, each around five months old, and placed them in a laboratory tank. They then piped in clean water, clean plastic, turtle food, and plastic that had been immersed in the marine 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 smell of ocean-soaked plastic 'or turtle food, they exhibited food-seeking behaviors like reaching their noses out of the water or showing increasing activities.
“This finding is 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 loggerhead turtles with their digestive systems fully or partially blocked because they've eaten plastic materials. There are also increasing reports of sea turtles that have become ill and stranded on the beach due to their ingestion of plastic."
According to the researchers, areas of the ocean with dense concentrations of plastic may trick turtles and other animals into thinking that there is an abundant food source. "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.
1. Why is plastic pollution posing a threat to marine animals?A.It may eat up all jellyfish. | B.It may mislead them as food. |
C.It may kill them with its smell. | D.It may trap 700 species of sea animals. |
A.Sea water | B.Clear water | C.Brand-new plastic | D.Sea-soaked plastic |
A.Turtles should be trained to be more intelligent. |
B.Plastics should be kept from getting into the ocean at all. |
C.An abundant food source should be offered to sea animals. |
D.Researchers should come up with a solution to the current problem. |
A.Ways Found to Remove Plastics | B.Loggerhead Turtles Faced with Food Shortage |
C.Ocean Plastics- Trick or Treat? | D.Plastic Pollution- Compromise or Control? |