1 . Peru demanded compensation (赔偿金) Wednesday from Spanish energy giant Repsol over an oil spill (石油泄漏). It might be caused by sudden and big _________ from a volcanic eruption near Tonga in the South Pacific because volcanic eruption can cause waves.

Authorities _________ three beaches on Monday _________ 6,000 barrels (桶) of oil were spilled during the _________ of an oil-transporting ship at the Pampilla oil-processing factory off the coast near Lima. The Repsol oil spill “is the worst _________ disaster in Lima in recent times, and has caused serious _________ to hundreds of _________ families. “Repsol must make an immediate _________ for their loss,” the authority said on Twitter. “This terrible situation has put plants and animals _________ in two protected areas,” it noted. Peruvian authorities found lots of dead sea animals __________ in oil. The spill happened on Saturday at the oil-processing factory in the Lima region, __________ a 3-kilometer stretch of beaches.

Officials of the factory __________ described the spill as “limited” and said it was working with authorities to __________ the beaches. “Controlling barriers that cover all of the affected __________ have been set up. And a team of __________ in sea and land have been sent,” said the factory, which __________ the spill on the waves caused by the volcanic eruption more than 10,000 kilometers away but not a bit on the mishandling of the workers who moved the oil barrels off the __________.

The oil-processing factory could face a __________ of up to $32.3 million, the __________ ministry of Peru said on Monday. And the prosecutors (公诉人) have opened an __________ into the company for environmental pollution.

In a study conducted twelve years ago near natural gas wells in New Mexico, researchers found that there were 75% fewer pinon pine seedlings(幼苗) in noisy sites than in quiet     1     . This was most likely due to the noise driving away the scrub jay(灌丛鸦), which plants thousands of pine seeds while     2    (store) them to eat during the winter months. A research team from California Institute of Technology recently returned to the sites to find out whether the pinon pine had recovered     3     time.

    4     companies changed the sites where they used noisy compressors(压缩机) to help produce natural gas, some of the     5    (previous) noisy sites had become quiet. The researchers found that in these areas, there were still fewer seedlings     6    (compare) to sites that didn’t have compressors added to speed up gas extraction. This shows that though the noise was removed before the pinon pine seeds     7    (plant), they still didn’t sprout(发芽).

“The effects of human noise pollution     8    (grow) into the structure of the woodland communities at present,” said biology professor and senior author Clint Francis.     9     we’re seeing now is that     10    (disappear) of the noise doesn’t necessarily immediately result in a recovery of ecological function.

Fresh warning sounded on plastics problem

Walk along any beach in the world, no matter how isolated, and you will see plastic of some kind washed up on the shoreline,     1    (offer) a reminder of the reckless throwaway culture of the present-day world.

Lately, a study     2     (sound) a fresh warning on the damage caused to the marine ecosystem due to discarded plastics, which eventually has a bearing on human health due to the seafood we consume.

In a paper     3    (title) “A Growing Plastic Smog” published on March 8, 2023 in the peer-reviewed research journal Plos One, researchers called on governments around the world     4    (take) sweeping action to address the “unprecedented plastic pollution” of the world’s oceans.

The plastics break down over time into minute particles that cannot be detected by the naked eye, but find their way into the marine ecosystem and into the seafood humans consume. No one knows for certain     5     the long-term damage will be to marine life and humans, but the study placed much of the blame on the plastics industry for failing to recycle or design for recyclability. “    6     eaten, microplastics can severely damage an animal’s internal tissues. Globally, we have reached a situation     7     we can no longer ignore the plastic pollution pandemic that is infecting our oceans,” he said.

“This research shows us that beach cleanups and citizen science projects that focus on the environmental fate of plastics have little impact on solving the enormity of the plastic problem. Marcus Eriksen, lead author of the study, said in a statement that the findings were a “stark warning     8     we must act now at a global scale”. “We’ve found an alarming trend of exponential growth of microplastics in the global ocean since the millennium, which     9    (expect) to reach over 170 trillion plastic particles,” said Eriksen, adding that the exponential increase in microplastics across the world’s oceans makes     10     necessary to “bring in an age of corporate responsibility for the entire life of the things they make”.

4 . Microplastics —   tiny pieces of plastic waste less than five millimetres long that have been degraded by waves, wind and ultraviolet rays — have been discovered in the deepest oceanic trenches and within the stomachs of the organisms that live there, but we have little idea about where the great majority of them end up. More than eight million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year, comprising between 80 and 85 percent of all marine trash, but with inadequate data, there are concerns that these figures could be underestimates.

Currently, most of the data we have on microplastics are accidentally captured by research ships, which use plankton nets to collect marine-microorganism samples. However, researchers Christopher Ruf and Madeline Evans from the University of Michigan have discovered an innovative way to identify and track concentrations of microplastics in the ocean.

The technique relies on NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), a constellation of eight micro-satellites used to predict hurricanes that calculate wind speeds above the ocean by measuring the roughness of surface waters. As the satellites are continuously recording, Ruf and Evans realised that they collect a great deal of additional data. It was while analysing these data that they noticed some differences-times where the surface of the ocean appeared to be much smoother than it should, given the prevailing wind (盛行风) conditions.

Knowing that water isn’t roughened as much when it contains a lot of floating material, Ruf and Evans identified a pattern that linked areas of unusual smoothness and predicted microplastic distributions. They found that the difference between their measurements, and how much rougher the surface would be if winds of the same speed were blowing across clear water, was “highly correlated with the presence of microplastics, and the degree of the difference also correlated with the concentration of the plastics.”

The research reveals that there are seasonal variations,where the concentrations of microplastics tend to be higher in the summer and lower in the winter in a very clean, periodic way, which Ruf explains mirrors the way in which the ocean circulation changes throughout the year. It also confirms, as was previously thought, that rivers are the main source of ocean microplastics.

Raising awareness of the issue of ocean microplastics among the public and politicians is just one of the researchers’ future aims; they are also in conversation with Duteh non-profit The Ocean Cleanup and Finnish clean-technology specialist Clewat, which are interested in using the information to more efficiently target their trash-collection campaigns.

So far, only one year’s worth of data have been processed since CYGNSS was launched in 2016. By looking at a longer time period, Ruf and Evans aim to determine whether the seasonal pattern is repeatable, and whether the concentration of micmplastics in the ocean is getting worse.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a shocking finding about the air we breathe. It has found that almost everyone on Earth breathes unhealthy air. The WHO made     1    (it) air quality update ahead of World Health Day on April 7. The update reported that 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes air     2     goes beyond WHO air quality limits. It looked at data from over 6,000 cities in 117 countries. People     3    (live) in lower- and middle-income countries breathe the poorest-quality air. Millions of people die in these countries because of pollution-related diseases. The WHO said: “After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths due     4     air pollution.”

The WHO said its report highlighted the need to move away from fossil fuels. It asked governments to do more     5     (reduce) levels of air pollution. It said: “Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner and     6    (healthy) energy systems.” It added that high gas prices, energy     7    (secure), the dangers of air pollution, and climate change mean the world must be less dependent on fossil fuels. The WHO report     8    (include) many recommendations for change. One of these is     9     use of clean energy for cooking, heating and lighting. Another is to “build safe and affordable public transport systems and pedestrian- and cycle-friendly     10    (network)”.

9 . Conifers (针叶树) are generally better than broad-leaved trees at purifying air from pollutants. But deciduous (落叶的) trees may be better at taking in particle-bound pollution. A new study led by the University of Gothenburg shows that the best trees for air purification depend on the type of pollutants involved.

Trees and other greener in cities provide many benefits that are important for the well-being of residents. Leaves and needled on trees filter air pollutants and reduce exposure to poisonous substance in the air. But which trees purify the air most effectively? Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have collected leaves and needle from eleven different trees growing in the same place in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden (GBG) to analyse which cub-stances they have absorbed.

“This tree collection provided a unique opportunity to test many different species of trees with similar environmental conditions and exposure to air pollutants,” said Jenny Klingberg, a researcher of the GBG

A total of 32 different pollutants were analysed, some of which are bound to articles of various sizes. Others are gaseous. This project has focused on paths (多环芳烃). In cities, traffic is the biggest source of these pollutants, which are released due to incomplete burning in engines.

“Our analysis show that different species of trees have different abilities to absorb air pollutants. Conifers generally absorb morn gaseous paths than broad-leaved trees. Another advantage of conifers is that they also act as air purifies in winter, when air pollution is usually at its highest,” said Jenny Klingberg.

“This study contributes to improving our understanding of the ability of trees to clean the air and which species are best at absorbing air pollutants,” said Jenny Klingberg. This known-edge is important for urban planning when designing sustainable cities. While trees and green-era can contribute to better air quality in cities, at the end of the day, the most important measure is to reduce emissions.

Microplastics are some of the Earth’s tiniest and     1     (harm) enemies.     2    new study reveals that microplastics have even polluted Alpine snow and Arctic ice. How did the microplastics get there? The study,    3     (publish) this week in the journal Science Advances,assumes that the tiny particles become airborne and, when     4     (sweep) up into the Earth’s atmosphere, can be transported virtually around the globe. If microplastics     5    (find) in original Arctic ice, they’re probably being breathed in, lived in and eaten by animals in other ecosystems.    6     microplastics are being swirled around the atmosphere, the study says, we’re breathing     7    in, as well. And that could have serious health     8     (consequent).“The high MP concentrations detected in snow samples from continental Europe to the Arctic indicate significant air pollution and stress the urgent need for research     9     human and animal health effects     10     (focus) on airborne MPs,” the study says.