1 . If plastic had been invented when the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, to North America - and their Mayflower had been stocked with bottled water and plastic-wrapped snacks, their plastic waste would likely still be around four centuries later. Atlantic waves and sunlight would have worn all that plastic into tiny bits. And those bits might still be floating around the world’s oceans today, waiting to be eaten by some fish or oyster, and finally perhaps by one of us.

Because plastic wasn’t invented until the late 19th century, and its production only really took off around 1950, we have a mere 9. 2 billion tons of the stuff to deal with. Of that, more than 6. 9 billion tons have become waste. And of that waste, a surprising 6. 3 billion tons never made it to a recycling bin - the figure that shocked the scientists who published the numbers in 2017.

No one knows how much unrecycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean, the earth’s last sink. In 2015, Jenna Jambeck, a University of Georgia engineering professor, caught everyone’s attention with a rough estimate: between 5. 3 million and 14 million tons of plastic waste each year just come from coastal regions.

Meanwhile, ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine( 海 洋 的 )animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. Some are harmed visibly, stuck by abandoned things made of plastic. Many more are probably harmed invisibly. Marine species of all sizes, from zooplankton to whales, now eat microplastics, the bits smaller than one-fifth of an inch across.

“This isn’t a problem where we don’t know what the solution is,” says Ted Siegler, a Vermont resource economist who has spent more than 25 years working with developing nations on garbage. “We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to deal with it. We know how to recycle.” It’s a matter of building the necessary institutions and systems, he says, ideally before the ocean turns into a thin soup of plastic.

1. Why does the author mention the Pilgrims in paragraph 1?

A．To prove plastic was difficult to invent.

B．To introduce what marine animals like eating.

C．To tell the Pilgrims contributed a lot to the marine protection.

D．To show plastic waste has a lasting effect on the ocean.

2. What’s the main trouble marine animals face according to the text?

A．Lacking protection.	B．Being stuck by plastics.
C．Being caught by humans.	D．Treating plastics as food.

3. What does Ted Siegler want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．Some people don’t know the solution of plastics waste.

B．Plastics will turn the ocean into a soup of plastic.

C．It’s time to take measures to deal with plastic waste.

D．People should avoid using plastics to protect the ocean.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A biology textbook.	B．A travel brochure.
C．An environmental report.	D．A lifestyle magazine.

2 . The loud noise of the cars or the sound of a plane can force its way into the deepest forest, yet it’s not only humans that are bothered by the noise.

Bioacoustician Bernie Krause has been studying the effect of noise pollution on wildlife, and has come across some interesting behaviors, especially among animals that communicate by sound, like humans. Birds use sound to communicate, but in noisy places, these animals have to shout over the natural noise to be heard.

Krause mentions a study of nightingales(夜莺) to explain what he means. The birds responded to（回应） traffic noise by singing louder and louder until they actually went beyond noise pollution standards in the city. To belt out (sing loudly) their songs, they increased their lung pressure fivefold, but scientists say that this is not dangerous for the birds themselves.

Studies show that sudden noise can cause certain birds to leave their nests, leaving the young to their enemies. One study also showed that songbirds that nested close to busy motorways were much less productive than those that nested farther away. Mammals（哺乳动物）too are affected(影响). A recent study showed that nursing caribou（驯鹿） responded to plane noise by not producing enough milk to feed their young.

In some cases noise pollution can actually help some animals while harming others. Toads（蟾蜍）and frogs are known to sing in union（同步发声）so that no predator (their enemies) can catch them. Krause found that when planes flew overhead and disturbed the toad’s song, they lost their union, and it took them 45 minutes to get it back again. That gave their natural enemies plenty of time to find and catch individual toads by sound.

According to Kruse, “Not only will noise pollution bother wildlife, but it won’t help our lives either.”

1. How do young caribou suffer from aircraft noise?

A．.They can’t hear their mothers.	B．They can’t sleep at night.
C．They are often displaced.	D．They receive less food.

2. What would happen if toads and frogs failed to sing in union?

A．They would soon regain their rhythm.

B．They would stop communicating.

C．They might not be able to protect themselves.

D．They might ne unable to hunt in groups.

3. What is the text mainly about?

A．The ways animals communicate with each other.

B．The causes of noise pollution.

C．Animals’ reaction to noises.

D．The effects of noise pollution on wildlife.

3 . 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

2. Hundreds of years ago, life was __________ it is today.

A．much easier than	B．as easy as
C．much harder than	D．as hard as

3. Pollution comes in many ways. We can even hear it. Here “it” means _______.

A．rubbish(垃圾)	B．noise pollution
C．air pollution	D．water pollution

4. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution because _______.

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

5. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution.

B．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does.

C．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth.

D．If people could go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike, it would be helpful in fighting against the problem of SO2.