1 . 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 |
2 . Plastic is the workhorse material of the modern economy. Light and durable, it’s been used to make a vast number of products since its introduction over 100 years ago.
However, a study carried out by the World Economic Forum, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation(基金会) and McKinsey &Company showed the breakdown of the status of the global plastic system. A full 32% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into out oceans.
The Ocean Cleanup, a startup founded in 2013, is the brainchild of Boyan Slat, who came up with the idea for the company when he was just 17 years old. Since then, it has received more than $2 million in funding(基金). The company plans to use a large device that will be fixed to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. This will have arms that spread out over 100 km, getting all of the plastic garbage pushed into its nets. This is then collected by a 10,000 metrecube container that will be emptied monthly.
Most recently, the Ocean Cleanup launched a team of explorers aboard a specially refitted C130 Hercules aircraft heavily loaded with specialized sensor equipment. It discovered that the problem was worse than expected with an abundance of plastics measuring up to 1.5m across and at a higher density than previously thought. The organization will continue to pilot the device and will start removing the pile before the end of the decade.
Once the plastic is out, what should we do with it? The foundation hopes that the plastic from the ocean will have a commercial value which can help to fund the project. Ocean plastic is not easy to use, for it’s mixed with everything from intact PET bottles to microplastics. However, some of the world’s biggest companies also see the chance to market products made of ocean plastic.
Transforming today’s plastic economy from its present form (takemakewaste) to a zero waste circular economy (takemaketakemake) is a difficult challenge. However, with cooperative action from producers, recyclers, governments and consumers alike and continuing innovation, it can be done.
1. What’s Boyan Slat’s idea about?| A．A way to collect ocean plastic waste. | B．A new product made of ocean plastic. |
| C．A machine to recycle plastic garbage. | D．An organization to research into plastic. |
| A．About 35 tons. | B．About 25 tons. | C．About 45 tons. | D．About 55 tons. |
| A．It’ll sponsor the foundation. | B．It’ll be recycled by the government. |
| C．It’ll be turned into treasure. | D．It’ll take the form of takemakewaste. |
| A．A diary. | B．A guidebook. | C．A novel. | D．A magazine. |
Microplastics, referring to plastic fragments and particles (碎片和微粒) less than 5 millimeters in diameter (直径), have been found on Mount Qomolangma as high as 8,440 meters above sea level, just 408.86 meters below the peak of the mountain, according to a recent study published in the journal One Earth. Scientists collected snow and water samples from 19 different
4 . If you wear contact lenses (隐形眼镜), you might not know the best way to deal with old ones. Washing them down the sink or flushing them down the toilet is not the way to go. Yet one in five people who wear contact lenses do just that. However, the plastic in their lenses can linger (存留), polluting both water and land.
Rolf Halden, an engineer at Arizona State University in Tempe, and his team created an online survey. More than 400 contact lens wearers took part. The questions asked how many got rid of their lenses inappropriately. About 20 percent — one in five — sent their used contact lenses down sink drain or toilet. Assuming all contact lens wearers in the U. S. do that at the same rate, the researchers then calculated how much plastic would be flushed away each year. Their estimate: 6 to 10 metric tons! That's about the weight of two to three adult African forest elephants. Contact lenses are a tiny part of the world's plastic pollution. But the unique plastic used in contact lenses could make them a big concern.
To figure it out, researchers exposed contact lenses to the microbes (微生物) used to clean wastewater in water-treatment plants. These microbes made the plastics begin to fall apart, but they weren't fully broken down. Instead, they created a lot of tiny pieces called microplastics.
Halden worries that these small plastic bits will cause trouble in the food chain. In water, the plastics from contact lenses sink. Animals could view these tiny bits as food. But because the plastic won't provide them with nutrition, this could threaten the health of animals who dined on it.
And that's already happening. Many studies have shown that corals, larval fish and shellfish are mistaking microplastics for food. Over time, they risk accumulating even higher levels of plastic in their bodies. Also the pollution has already shown up in bottled water, sea salt and fish sold for human consumption.
1. Rolf Halden's survey shows that ________.| A．contact lenses have won popularity with Americans |
| B．contact lenses have caused a huge part of plastic pollution |
| C．some contact lens wearers throw away their old lenses improperly |
| D．many contact lens wearers don't wear their lenses in the proper way |
| A．They could be broken down completely. |
| B．They could be processed properly there. |
| C．They couldn't be affected by microbes. |
| D．Some of them became microplastics. |
| A．Tiny pieces are entering oceans. |
| B．Sea creatures are eating microplastics. |
| C．Animals are causing plastic pollution. |
| D．Contact lenses are damaging the environment |
| A．People's eyesight is getting worse and worse. |
| B．Contact lenses must be banned immediately. |
| C．Animals in the sea are lacking in nutrition. |
| D．The impacts microplastic pollution has on human health. |
5 . 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 |
6 . About 12 million tons of plastic wastes are entering the oceans every year. This garbage pollutes the water, kills wildlife and breaks down into small pieces that fish and other creatures eat.
Now a group of Spanish fishermen will receive economic support to catch plastics. It is part of a new project. Carlos Martin is one of the fishermen taking part in the project. He and his partners collect the plastic in the ocean and bring it back to land every week. Martin thinks rivers carry a lot of plastics to the sea. He says his most concern is no more than that the plastics often get caught in the nets, which makes nets not work properly. They take on mud（泥）, causing the nets to break because they weigh so much.
Under the new programs, one million pounds will support ocean cleanup efforts for fishermen like Martin. The money is coming from the European Union and the Catalan government. Sergi Tudela, the General Director of Catalonia Fisheries, is responsible for the cleanup project. He said, "We are hopeful that if we are successful in this project, we can apply it to other areas in the Mediterranean（地中海）."
Government reports show that the amount of plastic wastes washing up along the Spanish coastline has grown by 65 percent in just six years. Fishing equipment makes up a large part of the about 8 to 12 million tons of plastics left in the world's oceans every year.
Martin says the fishing community now understands how big the problem is. He says, "In the past we didn't see it that way. We took the plastic garbage and threw it back into the water. I think that after a few year here we have realized the problem. Nothing is thrown into the water; we collect everything and bring it to shore.
1. What worries Martin most about plastic wastes at the beginning?| A．They pollute the sea environment. |
| B．They affect the quality and taste of fish. |
| C．They prevent the fishing nets from working well. |
| D．They kill wildlife and reduce his fishing amount. |
| A．Getting more money to support the project. |
| B．Getting help from other European countries. |
| C．Spreading the cleanup project to more places. |
| D．Praising the European Union for their helping to the oceans. |
| A．Its members do a lot of work for free. |
| B．It has stopped using plastic fishing equipment. |
| C．It has made positive changes to fight plastic wastes. |
| D．Its members find people sill throw the garbage carelessly. |
| A．New programs are changing fishermen's life |
| B．Money is given to Spanish fishermen to clean up oceans |
| C．Traditional fishing equipment causes a lot of plastic wastes |
| D．Spanish fishermen are encouraging people to clean up oceans |
7 . Scientists say they have found high levels of small plastic particles(颗粒) in Arctic snow. A German-Swiss research team collected snow samples(样本）from the Arctic and other areas. They included northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps, and the North Sea island of Heligoland.When the researchers examined the samples in a laboratory, they were surprised to find very high levels of microplastics.
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic. These plastic particles are generally smaller than 5 millimeters in length. They come from the breakdown of man-made plastic products and industrial waste.
The study found the highest levels of microplastics came from the Bavarian Alps. One snow sample from the area had 154,000 microplastic particles per liter. Samples collected from the Arctic had much lower levels. However, even samples from the Arctic contained up to 14,000 particles per liter.
The study also attempted to explore how some of the material could have been carried in the atmosphere. A limited number of earlier studies did find microplastics in the air of some cities, including Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.
Bergmann Melanie co-wrote the report on the new study. She believes the new study clearly shows that “the majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air.” The new study suggests that much of the microplastic found in Europe and the Arctic comes from the atmosphere and snow.
While there is growing concern about the effect of microplastics on the environment, scientists are still studying their possible harmful effects on humans and animals. “I hope the new study will lead to more research on this issue. I think microscopic plastic particles should be included in worldwide observations of air pollution levels.We really need to know what effects microplastics have on humans, especially if inhaled with the air that we breathe.” Bergmann said.
1. Why did scientists collect samples from so many places in paragragh 1?| A．To make the research convincing. |
| B．To attract people to explore there. |
| C．To measure the length of microplastics . |
| D．To examine the samples easily in the lab. |
| A．The risks of microplastics. |
| B．The transport of microplastics. |
| C．The breakdown of plastic products. |
| D．The description of microplastics. |
| A．Many people threw them away at the Alps. |
| B．They were delivered to remote areas through air. |
| C．They could be caught sight of in the air. |
| D．They had no great effect on the environment. |
| A．Scientists are worried about the the influence of microplastics. |
| B．We have found a practical solution to the environment problem. |
| C．The effect of microplastics on human must be urgently researched. |
| D．There is no need to change observations of air pollution levels. |
As we all know, there are many kinds of pollution all over the world, air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and so on. Although we can't save the world in a short time, we can take some measures to protect
9 . Light pollution is blocking a starry view of the night sky for more than half of people across England, a research has found.
Fifty-seven percent of stargazers(观星者)struggled to see more than 10 stars, while just 2% of participants said they experienced a truly dark sky enabling them to count more than 30, according to the research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England(CPRE). People in the countryside were encouraged to count how many stars they could see with eyes within the constellation(星座)of Orion, which is visible only in the winter months.
Campaigners said the results of the star count, supported by the British Astronomical Association, showed the problem of light pollution and how it affected one of the countryside's most magical sights-a dark, starry night sky. They said the results of the research to map England's night skies suggested more could be done by the government, local councils and the general public to lessen the negative effects of artificial light from streets and buildings.
Emma Marrington, dark skies campaigner at the CPRE, said, “We're hugely grateful to the people who took the time to get out and take part in our star count. But it's deeply disappointing that the vast majority were unable to experience the natural wonder of a truly dark sky blanketed with stars. Without intervention, our night sky will continue to be lost under a covering of artificial light, ruining the health of the natural world.”
She added, “The star count results show just how far-reaching the light from street lights and buildings can be seen. Light doesn't respect boundaries, and careless use can see it spread for miles from cities.”
She suggested better-designed lighting, street light dimming(暗淡)systems and partnight lighting where some street lights are turned off during the small hours should provide an opportunity to limit the damage caused by light pollution, reduce carbon emissions and save money.
1. What effect does the light pollution bring about to England?| A．It leads the stars to disappear. |
| B．It makes the countryside dim. |
| C．It makes the environment terrible. |
| D．It prevents the people seeing stars. |
| A．The overuse of artificial light. |
| B．More and more buildings. |
| C．Less and less outdoor activities. |
| D．The spread of light in the countryside. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Appreciative. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．Changing the streets' design. |
| B．Turning off lights at night. |
| C．Spreading light further. |
| D．Using street lights wisely. |
10 . A review from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) warns that the oceans are facing multiple threats. They are being heated by climate change, turning slowly less alkaline (碱性的) by absorbing CO2, and suffering from overfishing and pollution.
The report says, “We have been taking the ocean for granted. It has been shielding us from the worst effects of accelerating climate change by absorbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere.”
Although the temperature increases may be experiencing a pause, the ocean continues to warm regardless. For the most part, however, the public and policy makers are failing to recognize — or choosing to ignore — the severity of the situation. Coral reefs, for instance, are suffering from the higher temperatures.
IPSO, funded by charitable foundations, is publishing a set of five papers based on workshops in 2011 and 2012 in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The reports call for governments all over the world to halt (暂停) CO2 increase at 450ppm, and also urge much more focused fisheries management and a priority list for tackling the key groups of chemicals that cause most harmful effects. They want the governments to negotiate a new agreement for the sustainable fishing in the high oceans to be monitored by a new global high seas enforcement agency.
The IUCN's Prof Dan Laffoley said, “What these latest reports make absolutely clear is that delaying action will increase costs in the future and lead to even greater, perhaps permanent losses. “The UN climate report confirmed that the ocean is bearing the pressure of human-induced changes to our planet. These discoveries give us not only more cause for alarm, but also a roadmap for action. We must use it.
1. According to the passage, _______ are NOT the reason why the oceans become slowly less alkaline.| A．various pollutions | B．higher temperatures |
| C．bad fishing practices | D．destroyed coral reefs |
| A．warning | B．protecting |
| C．showing | D．cooling |
| A．To appeal to world governments to halt CO2 increase at 450ppm. |
| B．To tell us that the ocean is bearing the pressure of human-induced changes to our planet. |
| C．To ask the governments to carry out new measures for the sustainable fishing in the high oceans. |
| D．To advise the governments to make a priority list for tackling the key groups of chemicals that cause most harm. |
| A．The reports warn us that we need to take actions right now. |
| B．Coral reefs are weakened by bad fishing practices and pollution. |
| C．The global temperature is increasing and the ocean continues to warm as well. |
| D．It seems that the policymakers are trying to ignore the severity of the ocean situation. |
| A．To tell us that the oceans become less alkaline. |
| B．To advise us to negotiate a new agreement for the sustainable fishing. |
| C．To tell us that global warming has a great effect on the oceans’ temperature. |
| D．To warn us that the oceans are in danger and immediate measures should be taken. |
