1 . 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 |
2 . 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 |
3 . Chinese consumers have said they will avoid eating Japanese seafood over safety concerns once Japan starts releasing (排放) nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
On July 7, the General Administration of Customs released an import (进口) ban on aquatic products from the 10 Japanese cities. It’s indicated that Japan’s plan to release polluted wastewater into the sea was a matter of global concern. The plan caused more Chinese consumers who eat seafood began to worry about their safety, according to the administration.
According to a survey in 2022 by Chinese market consultancy company iiMedia Research, 39.58 percent of participants eat Japanese seafood once every two or three weeks.
“I will not eat seafood imported from Japan anymore,” said a data engineer surnamed Wang in Shanghai. The 42-year-old has been a fan of Japanese food since 2000 and used to eat Japanese food once a month. “If I have other options, I will choose seafood that does not come from the Pacific Ocean,” he added.
Wang Qian, a financial employee in Beijing, said she has been to about 20 Japanese restaurants so far. “Normally, I would not pay attention to where the seafood came from. But now I will try not to choose seafood from Japan,”she said. “Wastewater poses a threat to human health and marine ecology.”
Wang Qian said that Japan should use other methods to solve the problem, rather than releasing nuclear wastewater into the ocean.
An employee of the Japanese restaurant Jiubanwu, in Beijing, who did not want to be named, told China Daily that the restaurant’s fish and shrimp are imported from Russia, France and other countries. “We have not been buying seafood from Japan since April,” she said.
In addition to food safety, some people are worried about using cosmetic (美容的) products made in Japan.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Releasing nuclear wastewater has aroused worldwide concern. |
| B．All the seafood which is imported from Japan will be banned. |
| C．Chinese consumers will be stricter when choosing seafood to eat. |
| D．Japan’s plan to release the wastewater is criticized by Japanese. |
| A．China’s specific methods to dealing with nuclear wastewater. |
| B．The influence of wastewater on Japanese cosmetic products. |
| C．A formal call to Japan for producing safer cosmetic products. |
| D．The world’s reply to Japanese nuclear wastewater releasing. |
| A．Surprised. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unclear. | D．Critical. |
4 . Pollution of the world’s rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical (制药的) products poses a “threat to environmental and global health”, a report says.
Various drugs were widely detected in a University of York study. The research is among the most extensive conducted on a global scale. Rivers in Pakistan, Bolivia and Ethiopia were among the most polluted. Rivers in Iceland, Norway and Amazon Rainforest were the least polluted.
The impact of many of the most common pharmaceutical substances in rivers is still largely unknown. But it is already well established that dissolved human contraceptives (避孕药) can impact the development and reproduction of fish, and scientists fear the increased presence of antibiotics (抗生素) in rivers could limit their effectiveness as medicines.
The study took samples from more than 1,000 test sites in more than 100 countries. Overall, more than a quarter of the 258 rivers sampled had what are known as “active pharmaceutical ingredients” present at a level considered unsafe for life in water.
“Typically, what happens is, we take these chemicals, they have some desired effects on us and then they leave our bodies,” Dr. John Wilkinson, who led the research, said. “What we know now is that even the most modern efficient wastewater treatment plants aren’t completely capable of removing these substances before they end up in rivers or lakes.”
The report said the increased presence of antibiotics in rivers could also lead to the development of resistant bacteria, damaging the effectiveness of medicines and finally posing “a global threat to environmental and global health”.
The most polluted sites were largely in low-income to middle-income countries, and in areas where there was poor wastewater management and pharmaceutical production. “This is most concerning because you have the weakest populations with the least access to healthcare exposed to this,” said Dr. Mohamed Abdallah from the UK’s Birmingham University.
On the question of what can be done, Dr. Wilkinson suggested, “One of the few things that could have an effect right now is the proper use of medicines.” That would mean making it harder to get hold of medicines like antibiotics, and tougher restrictions on doses (剂量).
1. In which county were rivers the least polluted?| A．Pakistan. | B．Bolivia. | C．Ethiopia. | D．Iceland. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By comparing different facts. | D．By debating and concluding. |
| A．Positive. | B．Hateful. | C．Worried. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．How to Deal with the Pollution in the Rivers |
| B．The Proper Use of Medicines such as Antibiotics |
| C．Most Rivers in the World Have Been Polluted Seriously |
| D．Pharmaceutical Products Left in Rivers Threaten Creatures and People’s Health |
5 . Oil spills (泄漏) are common. When they happen, they can cause a lot of damage.
How Oil Spills Happen
Oil is a fossil fuel. It’s used in gasoline. That powers boats, cars, and trucks. It’s also used to make things. Some plastics, paints, and makeups are made with oil. Oil can be found below the ocean floor. Machines drill beneath the ocean. Then the oil is pumped out. This is called extraction (开采). It’s one way oil can accidentally leak. Oil spills can also be caused by transporting or moving oil.
Impacting the Environment
In the United States, thousands of oil spills happen each year. It can take years to clean up after a large spill. But even small leaks and spills can cause damage. Oil spills can have long-lasting effects. They hurt wildlife. Birds get oil on their feathers. They can’t fly. Sea otters (海獭) get oil in their fur. This makes it hard for them to stay warm. Oil creates poisonous gas. This makes it hard for whales to breathe.
Larger oil spills are a danger for people and wildlife. Spilled oil must be removed from the environment. Emergency response teams are called in to do the work. There are several ways to clean up oil spills.
●Shoreline flushing (冲刷). Pipes flush oil from the shore. The oil is washed into the water. It’s more easily collected there.
●Booms. Booms are floating barriers. They are used to stop oil from spreading on the water’s surface.
●Sorbents. Sorbents act like sponges (海绵). They absorb oil but do not pick up water.
●Burning. Newly spilled oil can be set on fire. This helps remove the oil that is floating on the water.
1. What can we know about oil spills?| A．They are uncommon. | B．They are easy to clean up. |
| C．They affect the environment. | D．They are not a danger for people. |
| A．They can’t swim. | B．They can’t breathe. |
| C．They can’t find enough food. | D．They can hardly stay warm. |
| A．Pipes. | B．Booms. | C．Sponges. | D．Boats. |
6 . The essence (本质) of fast fashion is to make clothes inexpensively and quickly, to get new trends and styles into stores and online as soon as possible, and it comes at a high social and environmental cost. Keeping production costs low means they can make their clothes cheap, using cheap labour in unsafe working conditions, and in countries with bad environmental regulations.
Throw-away culture is deeply rooted in our society; three in five of our clothing pieces are thrown out within a year. Fast fashion brands keep the consumers hungry and feeling like they need more by attracting them with newness and convincing the consumers that they need what they’re selling. This only results in increasing textile (纺织品) waste as people no longer want but throw it away.
Criticisms of the fast fashion industry include its negative environmental impact: water pollution, the use of toxic (有毒的) chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste. Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture. Fast fashion companies rely on their products being made cheaply and quickly, so they avoid talking when it comes to being aware of their impact on the environment. Greenpeace’s recent Detox Campaign showed that many brands use toxic and dangerous chemicals in their supply chains, and many of the chemicals are either banned or strictly controlled in lots of countries.
In conclusion, the fast fashion industry has a bad effect on our environment through fast fashion brands’ ecological practices and only continues to make the problem last for a long time in the future through extreme consumerist culture. In order for change to happen, the common people need to open their eyes and take measures to prevent the fast fashion from growing.
1. What’s one of the characteristics of fast fashion?| A．Producing clothes quickly. | B．Making people buy old clothes. |
| C．Causing a lot of anxiety. | D．Selling most clothes through stores. |
| A．They are mainly sold online. | B．They are made by cheap labour. |
| C．They save the cost of advertising. | D．They are made in unsafe countries. |
| A．Positive. | B．Surprising. | C．Natural. | D．Puzzling. |
| A．Changing fast fashion brands’ working conditions. |
| B．Changing clothes stores ‘sales model. |
| C．Introducing stricter laws for factories. |
| D．Raising public awareness of preventing fast fashion. |
7 . Plastic pollution has become an unfortunate fact of life all over the world—including in the oceans. While all that junk floating around can pose a serious threat to many animals, a new study finds some species may have actually turned it into an entirely new ecosystem!
The North Pacific“Garbage Patch”is a huge area in the ocean where a lot of plastic waste gets stuck. However, it’s not just wastes that get caught up in this mess. Researchers from Georgetown University found that many sea creatures like jellyfish, snails, and barnacles also live there.
In 2018 and 2019, scientists collected 105 pieces of plastic from the patch, and found 46 different species of invertebrates(无脊椎动物)living on them. About 80％of those species normally live near the coast rather than in the middle of an ocean. The researchers also found that these species have been breeding on the patch—meaning there may now be a permanent community of coastal species in the middle of the ocean.
Lead author Linsey Haram said that it’s not yet known how this will affect the ocean ecosystem. But she said the coastal species are likely competing for food with ocean species, and they may also be eating each other.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the five areas of garbage that have formed in the middle of huge circular ocean currents called gyres(环流). Another garbage patch is in the South Pacific, two are in the Atlantic Ocean, and the fifth is in the Indian Ocean.
A 2018 study of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch found that about one-third of garbage that could be linked to Japan. Up to 20％of garbage added since 2011 was created by the huge tsunami that hit northern Japan that year, the study said.
1. What makes the plastic waste get stuck in the garbage patch?| A．Climate change. | B．Human activities. |
| C．Sea creatures living there. | D．Huge circular ocean currents. |
| A．Reproducing. | B．Restoring. |
| C．Revising. | D．Refreshing. |
| A．To blame Japan for polluting the ocean. |
| B．To indicate one of the sources of the garbage. |
| C．To stress the responsibility of some countries. |
| D．To suggest clues that help with the plastic pollution. |
| A．Education. | B．Economy. |
| C．Environment. | D．Entertainment. |
8 . People use plastic bags to carry items like food and clothes, which are bought from shops. Plastic bags are commonly used, even though we know they can damage the environment.
There are many root causes to attribute the problem of plastic bag waste in Nigeria and other countries. Several European countries have adopted a fee for plastic bags, taking into account the negative effect of plastic bags on agricultural production. Even though charging a levy on plastic bags has a positive effect on protecting and preserving the fertility of agricultural land, the dominant usage of plastic bags itself would negate (使无效) the benefits or advantages of the levy.
The major impact of plastic bags on the environment is that it takes many years to for them to decompose. In addition, toxic substances are released into the soil when plastic bags perish under sunlight and, if plastic bags are burned, they release a toxic substance into the air causing ambient air pollution. Animals often confuse the bags for food and consume them, therefore blocking their digestive processes. Animals becoming entanglement in marine debris, including plastic bags, may cause starvation, choking, laceration, infection, reduced reproductive success, and mortality. There were instances where large endangered tortoises were found to have suffocated because of the mistaken swallowing of plastic bags combined with seaweed.
The presence of plastics in the marine environment poses several challenges that hinder economic development. Trapped plastic bags along coastlines produces an environmental challenge that has detrimental effects on tourism. Economic losses are linked to lower tourism earnings, adverse effects on tourist activities, and harm to the marine environment. Trapped shoreline plastic has a negative effect on shipping infrastructure, energy production, fishing, and aquaculture.
Plastic bags pose a threat not only to marine life, but also to agricultural land. Plastic bags are accountable for the dilapidation of the atmosphere and agricultural land, which has inadvertently used up precious earth resources, in particular oil. This now poses a major challenge to environmental and agricultural production. Discarded plastic bags that have already made their way into the field are not only particularly detrimental to farming but also severely harmful. The consequence of this would be the environmental deterioration of the so-called developed global society.
It is very unfortunate that, although plastic bags have been seen to have reduced agricultural production worldwide, there has been little significant awareness-raising initiatives to undertake proper, effective and concrete proactive action. Indeed, few serious scientific investigations have been made by international organisations and the international community to reduce the ever-increasing consumption of plastic bags.
1. What happens after European countries have adopted a fee for plastic bags?| A．Negative effects of plastic bags on agricultural production are caused. |
| B．The use of plastic bags is prohibited. |
| C．The use of plastic bags is still prevalant. |
| D．The problem of plastic bag waste emerges. |
| A．The fertility of agricultural land. | B．Marine life. |
| C．Desertification. | D．Agricultural production. |
| A．Most people are not aware that plastic bags can damage the environment. |
| B．Plastic bags can be easily decomposed. |
| C．The combination of legislation and pricing has successfully curbed the short-term use of plastic bags. |
| D．Proper and effective measures are badly needed to reduce the use of plastic bags. |
| A．A Major Source of Land-based Litter and Marine Debris |
| B．The Negative Environmental Effects of Plastic Shopping Bags |
| C．Restriction of the Free Sale of Plastic Bags |
| D．Impact on the Environment |
9 . Many people know that rubbish is a big problem on the Earth. What many people don’t know is that rubbish is becoming a problem in outer space too. Years of space exploration (探索) have left tons of “space junk” (太空垃圾) around the planet.
According to the reports of BBC, there are more than 22,000 pieces of rubbish in space around the Earth. And these are just the objects that are easy to see. There may be millions of smaller pieces of rubbish that we can’t see.
The pieces of space junk move around the planet at very high speeds. They move so fast that even a very small piece can become dangerous. If they crashed (碰撞) into each other, it could cause explosions that might even hurt people on the Earth. If the tiniest piece of rubbish crashed into a space shuttle (航天飞机), it could blow open a hole as big as an elephant.
To help solve this problem, countries around the world have agreed to limit the time their space tools stay in space to 25 years. Each tool must fall safely into the Earth’s atmosphere, or upper parts of the sky. There, it will burn up, and it won’t crash near the Earth.
1. What is becoming a problem in outer space?| A．Unseen things. | B．Many big holes. |
| C．Too much space junk. | D．A lot of explosions. |
| A．It may kill elephants. |
| B．It causes air pollution. |
| C．It moves faster than space shuttles. |
| D．It may cause explosions and hurt people. |
| A．Burn them on the Earth. | B．Limit their time in space. |
| C．Let them crash in the sky. | D．Make them move slowly. |
10 . Threequarters of a million tourists flock to the white beaches every year, but this booming industry has come at a price. Poisonous smoke rising from open fires, rubbish made up of plastic bottles, packets..., it’s a far cry from the white sands, clear waters and palm trees that we associate with the Maldives (马尔代夫), the paradise island holiday destination set in the Indian Ocean.
Of its 200 inhabited islands, which are spread across an area of 35, 000 square miles, 99 are good resorts (旅游胜地)．So many tourists come every year, more than double the local population. Of these, over 100, 000 travel from the UK. The capital, Male, is four times more densely populated than London. Given these facts, it’s hardly surprising that the Maldives has a waste disposal problem.
Years ago, when the tourists left, the government had to deal with a stream of rubbish. Their solution was to turn one of the islands into a dumping ground. Four miles west of Male is the country’s dumping ground, Thilafushi.What you are seeing here is a view of the Maldives on which no honeymooners would like to clap eyes.Each visitor produces 3.5 kg of waste per day.The country dumps more than 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day.
Now, since many waste boats, tired of waiting seven hours or more, directly offload their goods into the sea, the government of the Maldives has banned the dumping of waste on the island. So, the waste boats ship the rubbish to India instead.
1. The underlined part in Paragraph 1 can probably be understood as“________”．| A．It’s quite similar to |
| B．It’s a long distance from |
| C．It’s a loud shout from |
| D．It’s totally different from |
| A．The large local population. |
| B．Too many waste boats. |
| C．The large number of tourists. |
| D．Dumping rubbish into the sea. |
| A．It is much more crowded in Male than in London. |
| B．Another island will be used as a dumping ground. |
| C．No honeymooners are willing to visit the Maldives. |
| D．Waste on islands will be offloaded directly into the sea. |
