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 |
World leaders at the 5th meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) agreed that by 2024, they would create and sign a new treaty on plastics. The new treaty would create international laws
Because plastic is useful for so many purposes, it has become a part of nearly all areas of our lives. It’s hard to look anywhere without finding dozens of
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reports that
Plastic gives off dangerous gases when it’s made and also when it’s burned or buried in the ground. Scientists say plastics are responsible
Plastic doesn’t “decompose (腐烂)” like natural materials. Instead, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces. And as the plastics
Microplastics are so tiny that
3 . One of the problems damaging our planet is the number of things we throw away. A more recent addition to the list of things we throw away is e-waste — electronic items that are broken and not recycled.
Recently, there’s a growing trend for repair events and clubs which could be part of a solution to the growing amount of electrical and electronic junk. The BBC visited a Restart Project in London, which is one of many found around the world. One of its operators, Francesco Calo, said that “This project makes total sense.
| A．First of all, this project prolongs the life of electric objects |
| B．It is partly because it’s cheaper to replace them than fix them |
| C．It is reported that many people have made a big fortune from it |
| D．Now solutions have been put forward to give this e-waste a new life |
| E．So it’s thought that doing this could be more profitable than traditional recycling |
| F．As many electrical items contain valuable metals, another solution is e-waste mining |
| G．One of the reasons is that people don’t think their electronic items are fashionable enough |
4 . Have you ever had the feeling that you can’t think when there is too much noise around Did you ever think a fish could experience that feeling too? A recent published paper, combined over10,000 scientific papers, confirms that undersea life knows that exact same feeling, more often than not. Anthropogentic ocean noise, also known as underwater noise pollution, has created a huge impact on sea life due to “human-caused” activity within and neighboring our oceans.
The film Finding Nemo educated us about the ocean, and specifically within the ordinary world of a clown fish. A fact many may not know is that clown fish spend the first part of their lives as larvae (幼虫),moving slowly with the current of the ocean until they become strong enough to swim against it. Once they are powerful and strong, they head home in sheltered coral reefs. There is only one drawback—the fish can’t physically see the reef, but they can hear it. The only problem is, if they can’t hear it, will they ever make it home?
Our ocean noise, such as cargo ships, ship and boat propellers (螺旋桨),surfing, deep sea mining, etc. are causing destruction of sea life. Some researches found that sound is the sensory signal that travels the farthest through the ocean. The ocean noise drowns out the natural soundscapes, putting sea life under great stress. Altogether, this stress then affects their general health, disturb their behavior, reproduction and, in extreme cases causes death. Marine life can adapt to noise pollution, however, only if they can escape it. This only causes further complications of straying（使偏离）species from their traditional breeding regions or separating them from their families.
Now, what if we told you there is already a solution? Multiple ways, ideas and designs are currently in the works or already exist to remove the damage of the ocean noise. As the previous research explains, from wind-powered ships to noise-reducing propellers, a great many solutions are already available and in some cases, cost-effective. The authors of the paper hope it will catch the attention form the society.
1. What does the underlined word “Anthropogentic” probably mean?| A．Produced by nature. |
| B．Caused by ocean lives. |
| C．Related to human beings. |
| D．Made by underwater activities. |
| A．educate us to protect sea-life |
| B．introduce the film Finding Nemo |
| C．illustrate the harmful effect of ocean noise |
| D．show how terrible their living conditions are |
| A．The noise control techniques. |
| B．The attention from the society. |
| C．The application of relevant laws. |
| D．The restriction of human activities. |
| A．Narrative and serious. | B．Persuasive and critical. |
| C．Descriptive and positive. | D．Informative and objective. |
5 . Rain is vital to life on Earth. However, rain isn’t just made of water anymore—it’s partly made of plastic.
Millions of tiny pieces of plastic, called microplastics, are wandering around Earth’s atmosphere and traveling across entire continents, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 12. Another study, published in the journal Science in June 2020, has revealed that every year more than 1,000 tons of the particles (颗粒)—equivalent to over 120 million plastic bottles—fall in rain.
Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in diameter (直径) and come from a number of sources. Plastic bags and bottles released into the environment break down into smaller and smaller bits. Some microplastics are manufactured deliberately to provide abrasion (研磨) in a host of products, such as toothpaste and cleansers, according to the Daily Mail. Another major source is your washing machine. When you wash synthetic (合成的) clothing, tiny microfibers get flushed (冲掉) away with the wastewater. Even though the water is treated by a wastewater plant, the microplastics remain, and they are released into the sea, according to American magazine Wired.
Plastic rain may remind people of acid rain, but the former is far more widespread and harder to deal with. The tiny particles, too small to be seen with the naked eye, are collected by the wind from the ground. They are so light that they stay in the air to be blown around the globe. As they climb into the atmosphere, they are thought to act as nuclei (核心) around which water vapor (水蒸气) condenses (凝结) to form clouds. Some of the dust falls back to land in dry conditions, while the rest comes down as rain, according to the Daily Mail.
Microplastics have been found everywhere you can imagine. From fish and frogs to mice and mosquitoes, their bodies have been found, on average, to contain 40 pieces of microplastic, reported Daily Mail. As the top of the food chain, humans are exposed to microplastics, too. “We live on a ball inside a bubble,” microplastic researcher Steve Allen at University of Strathclyde, Scotland, told Wired. “There are no borders, there are no edges. It (plastic rain) raining on the land and then getting blown back up into the air again, to move somewhere else. There’s no stopping it once it’s out.”
1. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?| A．How microplastics should be handled. | B．How microplastics are used widely. |
| C．How microplastics pollute water. | D．How microplastics come into being. |
| A．They are light and can be easily dealt with. |
| B．They result in both acid rain and plastic rain. |
| C．They have a diameter of at least 5 millimeters. |
| D．They have nearly affected the whole food chain. |
| A．No place is safe from microplastic pollution. |
| B．The atmosphere possesses the capacity to self-cleanse. |
| C．Countries should work together to fight plastic pollution. |
| D．It is important to remove microplastics somewhere else. |
| A．To compare acid rain and plastic rain. |
| B．To warn people of the dangers of microplastics. |
| C．To call on people to reduce using plastic products. |
| D．To introduce the sources and effects of microplastics. |
6 . 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 |
7 . Delhi has been the centre of a succession of mighty empires and powerful kingdoms in India. Numerous ruins scattered throughout the territory offer a constant reminder of the area's history, which makes the city always be a fascinating place for tourists.
With the development of the city and more and more people moving, the city has expanded several times in size. That is why it is called New Delhi. New Delhi, a city with a population of over 20 million people, has its newest problem: never before has this city met with the worst air problem.
Air pollution in Indians capital surged to its worst levels in years, covering the city in a thick smog that has become an annual public-health emergency despite government vows to solve the problem.
Hundreds of flights were diverted, delayed and canceled over the weekend due to poor visibility, schools and offices were closed Monday and officials rushed to take emergency measures to try to reverse the eroding air quality. Millions of antipollution masks were distributed at schools, colleges, hospitals and markets.
New Delhi, is engulfed each year as the weather cools and a thick haze builds up from the pollutants emitted from cars and coal-based power plants, swirling dust from construction sites and roads and smoke from crop stubble burning in neighboring states. Fireworks and firecrackers to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali then arrives, leaving Delhi the world's most polluted city.
The city's air quality index, which measures a mix of dangerous pollutants, registered an average score of 494 Sunday. That is the highest 24-hour average since Nov. 6 , 2016 , when it hit 497, according to data measured by the Central Pollution Control Board.
1. Which of the following is NOT true?| A．Diwali is one of the most important festivals in India. |
| B．The government did little to protect its citizens against the serious pollution. |
| C．Such a serious air pollution in New Delhi appears on a regular basis. |
| D．The index of the recent air pollution is not the worst in the history. |
| A．The parents whose children have to stay at home. |
| B．The pilots whose planes have been diverted or delayed. |
| C．The manufacturers who produce antipollution masks. |
| D．The officials who have to work out of their offices. |
| A．Sent out. | B．Sent up. |
| C．Sent in. | D．Sent on. |
| A．Problems Caused by the Development of New Delhi |
| B．Dangerous Pollution Envelops New Delhi |
| C．Antipollution Masks Are in Great Need in New Delhi |
| D．Farmers in the Neighboring States are to Blame for Burning Crop Stubble |
8 . You'll need to take a deep breath before hearing this news. An astonishing 93% of kids around the world live in environments with air pollution levels that are damaging their health, according to a new report by WHO.
Air pollution is to blame for the deaths of 543,000 kids under 5 in 2016, with more than one in four deaths of children under five years old being related to environmental issues. Exposure (暴露)to air pollution can damage the health of kids in a variety of ways, either causing or being associated with everything from low birth weight to childhood obesity and so on.
"The large toll of disease and death revealed (揭示)by these new data should result in an urgent call to action for the global community especially for those in the health department WHO stated. “ Strong action to reduce exposure to air pollution offers an opportunity to protect the health of children. " The report stressed that health experts should communicate with families , communities and policy-makers about the serious risks of air pollution exposure. " Although more researches into how air pollution affects children's health will continue to be valuable, there is already evidence to justify strong, swift action to prevent the damage it clearly produces," WHO added.
Disease caused by dirty air is more common in low-and-middle in come countries, especially those in Africa, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific regions. Poor countries in these areas have the highest levels of exposure to household air pollution due to the use of polluting fuels and technologies for basic needs like cooking, heating and lighting.
Advised solutions include cleaner transport , cleaner cooking and heating fuels and technologies energy-efficient housing and urban planning, safer industrial technologies and better waste management.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The way to fight air pollution. |
| B．The serious result of air pollution. |
| C．The illnesses children are suffering. |
| D．The deaths caused by air pollution. |
| A．Number. | B．Threat. | C．Fact. | D．Report. |
| A．Do more researches. | B．Find ways to fight air pollution. |
| C．Make the serious risks known. | D．Develop cleaner fuels and technologies. |
| A．Researches of this kind have stopped. |
| B．Air pollution caused 543,000 kids' death in 2016. |
| C．Nothing can be done to stop air pollution al present. |
| D．Air pollution is more serious in low-and-middle-income countries. |
9 . The tons of plastic we’re dumping in the oceans is finding a new home—the stomachs of our beautiful marine animals. Yet another reminder of this fact washed ashore in Eastern Indonesia this week. A large amount of waste, including drinking cups and flip-flops, was found in the stomach of a whale that died off the coast near Kapota Island.
The 9.5-metre sperm whale (抹香鲸) was found by rescuers from the Wakatobi National Park. The whale had swallowed 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste containing 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, and more than 1,000 other kinds of pieces of plastic, park chief Heri Santoso told the reporter.
“Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation co-ordinator at WWF Indonesia. She said it was not possible to determine if the plastic had caused the whale’s death because of the animal’s advanced state of decay (腐烂). But this is only the latest.
Four Asian nations—Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand—account for 50% of the plastic waste in the oceans, according to a report by environmental campaigner Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment. The Philippines is second to Indonesia when it comes to putting away plastic waste in the oceans, according to a study published in the journal Science in January. Of the 3.2 million mismanaged waste it produces every year, 1.29 million ends up in the ocean.
A report released earlier this year stated that the amount of plastic in the ocean is likely to increase.
1. What can we know about the sperm whale?| A．Its stomach is the home of plastic waste. |
| B．It died of swallowing lots of plastic waste. |
| C．It was the first whale to eat plastic waste. |
| D．It had eaten much plastic waste before its death. |
| A．confirm | B．cause |
| C．approve | D．contain |
| A．Thailand | B．Indonesia |
| C．Vietnam | D．Philippines |
| A．Philippines puts away 1.29 million tons of plastic. |
| B．A sperm whale was found dead near Kapota Island. |
| C．Much dumped plastic waste was found in a dead whale. |
| D．We should take measures to reduce the waste in whales. |
These were the goals set out by the Shanghai Water Authority. With the city’s population expected to increase only slightly and the economy to boom by 2020, Chen Yin, and official with the water authority, said Shanghai’s water consumption will not increase from its present amount.
Zhang Yue, director of the Urban Construction Division under the Ministry of Construction, said, “Shanghai is the first city in the country to publicize these ambitions. They will not be easy to achieve.”
He said water saving will help keep the sustainable development of China’s economy.
Saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city’s infrastructure（基础设施）costs by 10,000 Yuan. Last year, Shanghai saved 300 million cubic meters of water either from readjustment of industrial structure or the employment of new technology.
“The aim is to arouse public awareness of the seriousness of water shortages,” Chen said. “The abundant surface water and amount of rain of the city are so misleading that they result in improper use of water.”
Shanghai lacks drinkable water. The Huangpu River, which supplies 80 percent of the city’s drinkable water, is nearing exhaustion.
The city, therefore, has been exploring new sources from the Yangtze River and growing forests along it to conserve quality water.
Besides penning regulations, the authority is popularizing technology among the public to efficiently cut the amount of water used.
At present, the city has 600，000 family toilets, each using 13 liters of water per flush. These are to be renovated（整修）to use only 9 liters of water per flush.
The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households – at a cost of 40 Yuan each.
In three years, all the toilets will be renovated, which saves the city nearly 15 million Yuan every year in water conservation.
Another task the city is engaged in is the treatment of sewage（污水）to improve the water environment.
At present the city can only treat 44 percent of its daily 5.04 million tons of waste water. To meet the total demand, 27 more sewage treatment factories are to be established with an estimated investment of 18 billion Yuan.
1. People in Shanghai get their daily water mainly from now.
| A．the underground | B．the rain |
| C．the Yangtze River | D．the Huangpu River |
| A．the renovating of family toilets will save plenty of water |
| B．about half of waste water has been treated already |
| C．advanced technology makes people use water as much as possible |
| D．there is plenty surface water and large amount of rain at present |
| A．make people’s living more convenient |
| B．improve people’s living standards |
| C．ease employment pressure |
| D．meet the total demand of water |
a．improve drinking water quality b．change some industrial structure
c．introduce or use some new technology
d．speed the economic development of Shanghai
e．renovate some family toilets f．build more sewage treatment factories
| A．a, b, c, d | B．b, c, e, f | C．b, c, d, e | D．a, b, e, f |
| A．the boom of economy will need a larger amount of water in the future |
| B．citizens today in Shanghai drink the best quality of water in the world |
| C．not everyone today in Shanghai is aware of water shortage |
| D．all the family toilets will be renovated to save water within 3 years |
