1 . Scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made: 8.3 billion tons. Looked at another way, that’s as heavy as 25, 000 Empire State Buildings or one billion elephants. And incredibly, almost all of it has been made in the last 65 years.
______ Much plastic is in the form of packaging which is used just once and then thrown away. According to a major new study from the University of California, 9% of this is recycled, 12% is completely burnt and 79% goes to landfill. And because most plastic is not easily disposed of, once it’s in the ground, it stays there.
It’s a situation that has led the paper’s lead author, ecologist Dr. Roland Geyer, to say that we are “rapidly heading towards ‘Planet Plastic’”. The team behind this report also estimate that eight million tons of plastic waste are escaping into the sea every year. This has caused concern that plastic is entering the food chain, through fish and other sea life which swallow the smaller fragments.
Of course, the reason why there’s so much plastic around is that it’s an amazingly useful material. It’s durable and adaptable, and is used for everything from yoghurt pots to spaceships. But it’s exactly this quality that makes it a problem. The only way to destroy plastic is to heat or burn it — although this has the side effect of harmful emissions.
So what’s the alternative, other than using less plastic? Oceanographer Dr. Erik van Sebille from Utrecht University says we’re facing a “tsunami” of plastic waste, and that the global waste industry needs to “get its act together”.
Professor Richard Thompson, a marine biologist from Plymouth University, says it’s poor design that’s at fault. He says that if products are currently designed “with recyclability in mind”, they could be recycled around 20 times over.
1. Which of the following is the best topic sentence for paragraph two?| A．So where does the plastic go? |
| B．So why is much plastic thrown away? |
| C．So what’s the problem? |
| D．So how is the plastic disposed of? |
| A．By being eaten and absorbed by sea creatures. | B．By being used as useful materials. |
| C．By getting into the food market directly. | D．By getting into the deep sea. |
| A．Plastic waste has caused tsunami. |
| B．The design of products should be environmentally friendly. |
| C．Plastics are currently recycled over 20 times. |
| D．Global waste industry is to blame for the plastic waste problem. |
| A．Global Waste Industry | B．Recyclability of Plastics |
| C．Planet Plastic | D．Plastic Waste into the Sea |
2 . Plastic is everywhere in our environment, especially in the ocean. Actually, a large amount of plastic waste is 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. No one knows how much unrecycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean. In 2015, Jenna Jambeck, an 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 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. We are closely related to oceans so the consequences of throwing plastic away may return to affect us some day.
“This isn’t a problem where we don’t know what the solution is,” says Ted Siegler, a Vermont resource economist, “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 systems, he says, ideally before the ocean turns into a thin soup of plastic.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To prove plastic was difficult to invent. | B．To tell us what marine animals like eating. |
| C．To call on us to protect marine animals. | D．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By analyzing reasons. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．results | B．functions | C．causes | D．aims |
| A．Some people don’t know the solution of plastics waste. |
| B．It’s time to take measures to deal with plastic waste. |
| C．Plastics will turn the ocean into a soup of plastic. |
| D．People should avoid using plastics to protect the ocean. |
Air pollution has largely gone under-reported by the media, yet despite
Then how can we measure and end such a problem? The answer is
4 . In the first test of its kind in Europe, and only the second in the world, Belgian researchers tested 39 brands of straws (吸管) for the group of synthetic (合成的) chemicals known as poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The straws are made from five materials — paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. PFAS were found in the majority of the straws tested and were most common in those made from paper and bamboo. They were not found only in steel straws tested.
PFAS are used to make everyday products, from outdoor clothing to non-stick pans, resistant (抵抗to water, heat and stains. They are, however, potentially harmful to people, wildlife and the environment. They have been related to a number of health problems, including lower response to vaccines (疫苗), lower birth weight, thyroid disease, liver damage, kidney cancer and testicular cancer. They break down very slowly over time and can last thousands of years in the environment, a property that has led to them being known as “forever chemicals”.
A growing number of countries, including the UK and Belgium, have sopped the sale of single-use plastic products, including drinking straws, and plant-based versions have become popular. The PFAS concentrations (浓缩物) were low in them and, bear in mind that most people tend to only use straws occasionally, bringing a limited risk to human health. However, PFAS can remain in the body for many years and concentrations can build up over time.
It isn’t known whether the PFAS were added to the straws by the producer for waterproofing or the PFAS were the result of contamination. Potential sources of contamination include the soil the plant-based materials were grown in and the water used in the production process. However, the presence of the chemicals in almost every brand of paper straws means it is likely that it was, in some cases, being used as a water-resistant coating, say the researchers.
1. Why are PFAS called “forever chemicals”?| A．They are commonly seen in daily life. |
| B．They bring humans health problems. |
| C．They remain in the environment for long. |
| D．They can resist water, heat and stains. |
| A．By bringing people air pollution. |
| B．By polluting humans’ food. |
| C．By building up little by little in humans’ body. |
| D．By making people addicted to drinking easily. |
| A．Pollution. | B．Discovery. | C．Experiment. | D．Development. |
| A．More and more countries give up single-use plastic products. |
| B．PFAS are widely used in the production of daily necessities. |
| C．Certain kinds of new synthetic chemicals were discovered. |
| D．Environment-friendly drinking straws are actually harmful. |
On August 24, Japan started releasing wastewater from its Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (福岛第一核电站) into the Pacific Ocean. This has caused anger and fear across the world.
In March 2011, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its
The plant was operated by TEPCO (东京电力公司). According to the company, the wastewater is diluted (稀释) before
“They’ll pollute the ocean, the animals within it, and
On the same day, China announced
China was the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood. More than 255,000 users took a poll (民意调查) on Weibo. Up to 97% of them said that they would no longer eat seafood from Japan. “We’re on the same planet,” said one of them. “Nobody can be free from harm. It’s just a matter
With the
Air pollution
We should take some measures
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 S02 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 care about the rise in pollution at the same time.
1. Why is our world becoming much smaller?| A．Thanks to the development of science. |
| B．Because of the rise in pollution. |
| C．Because the earth is being polluted day and night. |
| D．Because the earth is blown away by the wind every year. |
| A．Rubbish. | B．Water pollution. |
| C．Air pollution. | D．Noise pollution. |
| A．Because it’s bad for all living things in the world. |
| B．Because it makes much noise. |
| C．Because it has made our rivers and lakes dirty. |
| D．Because it makes us become angry more easily. |
| A．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. |
| B．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth. |
| C．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does. |
| 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 S02. |
8 . Sixty-six years ago, there was one human-built object in Earth’s orbit. It was Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, launched in October 1957. Try to guess how many human-made objects are circling the planet now. Ready?
Your answer is wrong, unless you guessed 100 trillion. That’s a jaw-dropping number. It was provided by an international team of researchers writing in the journal Science. For years, this junk has formed an ever-growing mass near Earth. It’s a danger to spacecraft. The researchers are calling for a global treaty to limit the number of satellites and the amount of rubbish in space.
There are 9,000 active satellites in orbit, the scientists report. That could grow to more than 60,000 by 2030. The rest of that 100 trillion figure includes everything from used-up booster rockets and stray bolts to metal flecks and paint chips. Don’t think a paint chip is harmless. Travelling at 17,500 miles per hour, it can strike a spacecraft hard. The International Space Station is dotted with dents and holes. Astronauts often take shelter in an attached spacecraft to wait out a passing swarm of space debris (残骸). That way, if the station is severely damaged, they can escape in a hurry.
The mess we’ve made in space is like the mess we’ve made in the oceans. Think of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s a mass of floating junk twice the size of Texas. We’ve had centuries to make the ocean dirty. But it has taken just decades for us to do the same in space. That’s why the Science authors include experts in satellite technology and in ocean plastic pollution. “As a marine biologist, I never imagined writing a paper on space,” writes Heather Koldewey, who works at the Zoological Society of London. Cleaning up space, she says, has a lot in common “with the challenges of tackling environmental issues in the ocean.”
Coauthor Moriba Jah is an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “Marine debris and space debris,” he writes, “are both a human-made damage that is unavoidable.”
1. Why is Sputnik mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To provide background information. |
| B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To make a comparison. |
| D．To tell a story. |
| A．What caused space debris. |
| B．The number of space debris. |
| C．The seriousness of space pollution. |
| D．What astronauts often do in space. |
| A．Ocean pollution is very serious. |
| B．Ocean is the same as space. |
| C．Space pollution is getting worse. |
| D．She is going to write a paper on space. |
| A．There is the same amount of marine debris and space debris. |
| B．Humans are to blame for the space pollution. |
| C．Marine and space pollution are unavoidable. |
| D．Humans can do nothing to prevent space pollution. |
9 . All sorts of items become litter but two of the most common and most dangerous are cigarette butts and plastic bags. Litter is a big problem for our environment but it is a problem that individuals can easily do something about. Not littering at all or cleaning up litter, such as cigarette butts and plastic bags, greatly improves the quality of our environment.
Although cigarette butts are small, they are bad for the environment. Over 1,600 billion cigarettes are smoked each year in China and large quantities of the butts are thrown away. Worldwide, about 4.5 trillion butts are littered every year. Apart from the fact that butts spoil the beauty of the environment, they contain some very toxic chemicals. These find their way into the water supply where they decrease the quality of the water and endanger plants and animals that live there. Because there are so many butts and because they can take up to 5 years to break down, the toxic chemicals add up to a large amount. So, if people have to smoke, they should not throw away the butts but put them in the rubbish bin instead.
Plastic bags are another common form of litter that is a danger to the environment. There are several reasons for this. They are made from oil and gas, which are non-renewable resources. If they are not recycled, these resources are lost to us. In China, 2 billion plastic bags are used every day. An enormous number of these become litter. This is a huge problem because they last from 20 to 1,000 years in the environment. They float easily in air and water and travel long distances. They find their way to rivers, parks, beaches and oceans. Plastic bags kill up to one million seabirds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year worldwide. When the animal dies and breaks down, the plastic bag can become free again to kill another animal. It is up to people not to let plastic bags become litter. It would be better if they used fewer and recycled them.
Cleaning up your cigarette butts and plastic bags would improve the environment. The earth would be a better place because it would be less polluted. And we would know that we were doing something to look after our planet. However, I believe the best solution would be not to smoke or use plastic bags at all.
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us?| A．Dozens of plastic bags become litter. | B．Butts spoil the beauty of the environment. |
| C．Cigarette butts are bad for the environment. | D．It takes up to 5 years for butts to break down. |
| A．By making explanations. | B．By listing numbers. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By making definitions. |
| A．Classify the litter. | B．Use fewer plastic bags. |
| C．Put the butts in the rubbish bin. | D．Not to smoke or use plastic bags at all. |
| A．No smoking, no littering | B．Recycle the plastic bags |
| C．Clean up your butts and bags | D．Stop spoiling the environment |
1. What is the aim of the campaign?
| A．To remind people of Earth Day. |
| B．To encourage people to reduce garbage. |
| C．To warn people of the bad effects of pollution. |
| A．Planting trees. | B．Designing posters. | C．Collecting garbage. |
| A．Paint paper. | B．Stop driving cars. | C．Decorate classrooms. |
| A．Ridiculous. | B．Confusing. | C．Wonderful. |
