1 . Most environmental pollution on Earth comes from humans and their inventions, such as cars or plastic. Today, car emissions(排放物) area major source of air pollution leading to climate change, and plastics fill our ocean, creating a significant health issue to marine(海洋的) animals.
And what about the electric light, thought to be one of the greatest human inventions of all time? Electric light can be a beautiful thing, guiding us home when the sun goes down,keeping us safe and making our homes bright. However, like carbon dioxide emissions and plastic, too much of a good thing has started to impact the environment. Light pollution, the inappropriate use of outdoor light, is affecting human health, wildlife behavior and our ability to observe stars.
Light pollution is a global issue. This became obvious when the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, a computer-generated map based on thousands of satellite photos, was published in 2016. Available online for viewing, the map shows how and where our globe is lit up at night. Vast areas of North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia are glowing(发光) with light, while only the most remote regions on Earth(Greenland, Central African Republic and Niue) are in total darkness. Some of the most light-polluted countries in the world are Singapore, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Sky glow is the brightening of the night sky, mostly over cities, due to the electric lights of cars, street lamps, offices, factories, outdoor advertising, and buildings, turning night into day for people who work and play long after sunset.
People living in cities with high levels of sky glow have a hard time seeing more than a handful of stars at night. Astronomers are particularly concerned with sky glow pollution as it reduces their ability to view stars.
More than 80 percent of the world’s population, and 99 percent of Americans and Europeans, live under sky glow.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?A.The use of outdoor light must be forbidden. |
B.Electric light has both advantages and disadvantages. |
C.Electric light is the main factor to keep us safe. |
D.Electric light is the greatest human invention. |
A.Qatar. | B.Singapore. | C.Kuwait. | D.Niue. |
A.Sky glow costs too much. |
B.Sky glow has a bad effect on their sleep. |
C.Sky glow affects their viewing stars. |
D.Sky glow wastes too much electricity. |
A.Light pollution | B.Plastic pollution |
C.Different kinds of pollution | D.Air pollution |
Japan started releasing nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean on August 24th and will continue to do so for at least 30 years. In the face of strong questioning and opposition from the international community, Japan plays word games by referring to the discharged “nuclear-contaminated water” as “treated nuclear wastewater”.
However, the two are fundamentally different. Nuclear wastewater refers to the wastewater produced during the normal, daily operation of a nuclear power plant, such as large quantities of water used to cool down the reactor of the plant. Because the water doesn’t touch radioactive substances (放射性物质) in the nuclear reactor, it can be flushed out after strict processing.
Nuclear-contaminated water refers to cooling water that comes into direct contact with radioactive materials inside the reactor when the reactor is breached after a nuclear accident. The cooling water becomes contaminated with highly radioactive substances, thus becoming nuclear-contaminated water.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant experienced a major incident in 2011, bringing water into contact with radioactive substances. The Japanese side’s conflation (混淆) of this with wastewater from normal operations is a deceptive attempt to hide the truth. The Japanese side claims that the multi-nuclide treatment system ALPS is used to treat nuclear contaminated water, and that the treated water is safe and even meets drinking water standards. However, such statements fail to alleviate public concerns. Japan has yet to address major international concerns, such as the long-term reliability of the purification facility, the authenticity and accuracy of the nuclear-contaminated water data, and the effectiveness if the monitoring arrangement. This is extremely selfish and irresponsible, as the discharge will spread the risks of nuclear contamination to the rest of the world.
1. How does the Japanese mislead the international community?2. In what way nuclear-contaminated water is different from nuclear wastewater.
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Japan’s deceptive attempts to hide the truth alleviate public concerns over the long-term reliability of the purification facility, etc.
4. How is Japan’s dumping nuclear-contaminated water related to you? (In about 40 words)
The international community
Japan’s action is seen as
The radioactive water is discharged into the Pacific resulting from the Fukushima nuclear leakage
On August 24, the Tokyo Electric Power Company,
4 . As we all know, waste is extremely bad for the environment. Let’s talk about why litter is harmful to our streets and towns, our drinking water, and sea animals.
Waste can have a bad influence on our cities. Cleaning up litter costs US taxpayers (纳税人) and businesses $11.5 billion each year.
As you can see, waste is harmful in many ways.
A.Everybody wants to breathe fresh air. |
B.That money could have been spent on parks. |
C.How do you feel when you see people littering around? |
D.In the future there might be more waste than fish in the ocean. |
E.Litter can go into the soil and water and pollute our drinking water. |
F.We need to stop littering for us, for the environment, and for the planet. |
G.Did you know every day almost 8 million pieces of litter go into the ocean? |
A.The stronger sunshine. | B.The heat given off by his car. | C.The pollution in the air. |
6 . To solve a big environmental problem, chemists have been thinking small. Really small: a new mini robot with the purpose of helping clean up tiny plastic that pollutes water across the world.
The new microrobots, each of which is no bigger than the tip of a pencil, are magnetic(有磁性的)and shaped like four-pointed stars. When the sunlight shines on them, they can swim in a direction; when the sunlight disappears, they stop moving. Finding a piece of plastic, they hold onto it, produce chemical reactions and start to break it down.
The project is led by chemist Martin Pumera, a researcher who also studies ways to build microrobots at the Czech University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. About ten years ago, he noticed the microplastic was everywhere, from the bottom of the ocean to the ice on the top of mountains. It even turned up in drinking water, both bottled and tap water. Just think about how much plastic you meet every day. It doesn’t easily degrade ( 降 解 ) which is a big problem. Therefore, Pumera chose to focus on the problem of water pollution caused by microplastic.
The researchers tested the microrobots on four types of plastic in the lab. After a week, all four began degrading, losing around 3 percent of their weight, which showed the microrobots were breaking the plastic down. The robots also turned the plastic’s smooth surface into the rough one. Finally, the scientists showed that magnets could attract the microrobots at the end of the test - along with the plastic waste.
In fact, Pumera says they still have a long way to go. These microrobots are unlikely to succeed in degrading all types of plastic. They’ll also need a lot of testing to show that they’re safe in open waterways, such as at sea. But he thinks that these challenges can be overcome. Someday, the microrobots will play a big role in a worldwide cleanup effort.
1. What can be learned about the new microrobot?A.It is in the shape of a ball. | B.It is as small as a pencil. |
C.It is driven by sunlight. | D.It uses physical reactions. |
A.The microplastic pollution. | B.The ice on the mountains. |
C.The need for drinking water. | D.The development of ocean resources. |
A.Sorting it into four types. | B.Making its surface smooth. |
C.Taking in it completely. | D.Breaking it down to some degree. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Confident. | C.Regretful. | D.Uncertain. |
7 . The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.
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 |
Japan said
The decision ends years of debate over how to deal with the water,
Greenpeace criticized Japan’s plan and said there are other solutions that should
In the face of
Japan will begin releasing treated radioactive wastewater from the
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in July the government’s plan met the agency’s safety standards and
But some scientists have raised questions about whether the Japanese government and the company that operated the plant, Tokyo Electric Power, have been
The Chinese government,
10 . The amount of plastic pollution in the oceans is rapidly increasing. This is problematic, as at least 700 species of sea animals — including sharks, whales seabirds and turtles — can be trapped in the stuff or 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 sea plastic smells like to sea animals.
But now, a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that the coating of algae and microbes (藻类、微生物) that naturally builds up on ocean plastics causes the rubbish to give off the smell of food.
The researchers took 15 healthy turtles, each around five months old and placed them in a laboratory aquarium (水族箱). They then piped in clean water, clean plastic, turtle food, and plastic that had been down in the sea 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 smells of ocean plastic or turtle food, they exhibited hunting behaviour — like sticking their noses out of the water and showing increased activity.
“This finding is important because it’s 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 the sea turtles with their digestive systems fully or partially blocked because they’ve eaten plastic materials There also are increasing reports of sea turtles that have been ill and stranded on the beach due to their swallow of plastic.”
“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. “The best thing we can do is to keep plastic from getting into the ocean at all.”
1. What does the new research mainly focus on?A.What has caused the sea plastic pollution. |
B.What sea plastic smells like to sea animals. |
C.How dangerous the sea environment is. |
D.How dangerous the sea plastic pollution is. |
A.The turtles of 5 months old are the most healthy ones. |
B.The turtles prefer dirty environments to clean ones. |
C.The clean plastic has no certain smell to attract turtles. |
D.The clean plastic is more dangerous than the ocean plastic. |
A.trapped | B.rescued | C.harmed | D.treated |
A.Sea turtles and sea environment | B.Sea turtles and their enemies |
C.Sea turtles and sea food chain | D.Sea turtles and sea plastics |