1 . For centuries, historians and archaeologists have defined periods of human history by the technologies or materials that made the greatest impact on society — like the Stone Age, Bronze Age, or Iron Age. But what age are we in now? For some researchers, according to Atlas Obscura’s Cara Giamo, that question can be answered with one word: plastics.
“Plastic has redefined our material culture and the artifacts we leave behind. It will be found in stratified (分层) layers in our trash deposits (沉积层)” That’s according to archaeologist John Marston.
The wide variety of synthetic polymers (合成聚合物) would not exist if it weren’t for human action. Since the first plastic polymers were invented, about six billion tons of plastics have been made and spread around the planet, from forests to oceans ever since the first plastics polymers were invented.
Plastics are one of the most significant changes that humans have made to the Earth’s makeup. Most plastics don’t easily degrade. This only adds to the problem. Recycling isn’t an adequate solution. Not all types of plastic are easily recyclable. And there are only a few recycling plants that can process all varieties of plastic.
According to Debra Winter, writer for The Atlantic, this means that many of the materials thrown into recycling bins can cross the planet several times before they are processed. They are made into produce rugs, sweaters, or other bottles. Although millions of tons of plastic are recycled every year, millions more end up in landfills or the ocean. The problem has reached the point where it’s possible that in just a few decades there might be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fishes.
“Plastics have a supposed life span of over 500 years, it’s safe to say that every plastic bottle you have used exists somewhere on this planet, in some form or another,” Winter writes.
The damage may already be done. It may be too late for human populations worldwide to change their plastic-using ways. So the Plastic Age might soon take its place next to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the history of human civilization.
1. Why do people call our age the Plastic Age?| A．Because plastics are not naturally made. | B．Because humans create plastics. |
| C．Because plastics influence the world greatly. | D．Because historians and archaeologists think so. |
| A．They are recycled | B．They are degraded |
| C．They are thrown away | D．They are made into bottles |
| A．Human beings are in the Plastic Age | B．Plastics have ruined our environment |
| C．We must stop using plastics altogether | D．Plastics are significant to human development |
2 . Eating too much fatty food, exercising too little and smoking can raise your future risk of heart disease. But there is another factor that can cause your heart problems more immediately: the air you breathe.
Previous studies have linked high exposure to environmental pollution to an increased risk of heart problems, but two analyses now show that poor air quality can lead to heart attack or stroke(中风) within as little as a few hours after exposure. In one review of the research, scientists found that people exposed to high levels of pollutants(污染物) were up to 5% more likely to suffer a heart attack within days of exposure than those with lower exposure. A separate study of stroke patients showed that even air that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers to be of “moderate” quality and relatively safe for our health can raise the risk of stroke as much as 34% within 12 to 14 hours of exposure.
The authors of both studies stress that these risks are relatively small for healthy people and certainly modest compared with other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. However, it is important to be aware of these dangers because everyone is exposed to air pollution regardless of lifestyle choices. So stricter regulation by the EPA of pollutants may not only improve environmental air quality but could also become necessary to protect public health.
1. The passage aims to________.| A．call the government to improve environmental air quality |
| B．list all the factors that can cause heart problems |
| C．inform people of the relationship between heart problems and air quality |
| D．persuade people to exercise more and give up smoking to decrease the risk of heart problems |
| A．relatively high | B．extremely low | C．relatively low | D．extremely high |
| A．Smoking is the most immediate factor that causes heart problems. |
| B．High level of air pollution can lead to heart problems in a short time after exposure. |
| C．Moderate air quality doesn’t raise the risk of stroke. |
| D．It’s not important to be aware of the air quality. |
3 . Around the world, people are realizing the significant problems caused by plastic waste. In the last 65 years, we have become increasingly dependent on plastic. It’s easy to understand why: it’s cheap to produce, light—therefore easy and cheap to transport—and incredibly strong and durable.
One popular solution to the problem is to ban single-use plastic. In the UK, shoppers are encouraged to make more environmentally-friendly choices in packing and transporting their food. A tax has already been placed on plastic carrier bags, which has cut their use by 90%.
Such plans are well-intentioned, but may not be helpful in getting rid of the use of single-use plastic altogether.
Another issue is that alternative(可供替代的) materials are often more environmentally harmful than plastic. Take paper bags, for example.
Clearly there is a need to reduce plastic waste and its impact on the environment.
| A．But it’s these advantages that also make it so harmful. |
| B．They are easily broken and rarely reusable, unlike plastic. |
| C．It improves the local economy and saves costs in managing litter and waste. |
| D．One of the fields where single-use plastic has an important role is medicine. |
| E．However, simply banning the use of single- use plastic may not be the best option. |
| F．Bans on single-use plastic items like drinking straws are also coming into play. |
| G．Research shows four times more energy is required to produce a paper bag than a plastic bag. |
4 . Living downstream from a waste-treatment plant can leave fish tired, a new study finds, led by Graham Scott, a biologist in Canada. “Wastewater treatment plants are pretty good at taking out the waste and treating it before it gets into our waterways,” he said. “But not everything can be taken out,” he added.
For example, some plants beside the stream were not designed to remove remains of drugs. So when some medicines are left over after people use them, they can be released into the environment. These include the drugs used to treat depression and high blood pressure.
Life-sustaining chemical reactions in an animal’s body (including ours) allow it to grow, move and reproduce. These reactions, taken together, are known as the creature’s metabolism (新陈代谢). Some studies have shown that even just one drug can change the metabolism of fish, making their metabolism slow down. Then that will impair their bodies.
That creates a problem for the animals — using the extra energy to rid their bodies of the pollutants which can damage their cells and tissues. “That’s energy they burn just to stay alive,” explained Scott. That is also the energy no longer available to avoid predators (天敌), to find food and to mate.
And they report that fish exposed to a mix of chemicals can use up some of their energy just to deal with those pollutants. Therefore, they will have less energy to eat and avoid being eaten, says Paul Craig, a biologist in Ontario.
“It is up to us to help reduce the types of pollutants in. wastewater,” Craig says. “That includes not throwing leftover medicines down the toilet.” he recommends.
1. What do Scott’s words mean in paragraph 1?| A．There are still some pollutants in the treated water. |
| B．Wastewater treatment plants don’t work well. |
| C．Things in waterways are difficult to deal with. |
| D．Canadians tend to throw waste down the toilet. |
| A．Form. | B．Harm. | C．Benefit. | D．Examine. |
| A．They will stop growing. |
| B．They will avoid their mates. |
| C．They will have to rid their bodies of the polluted cells. |
| D．They will consume extra energy to survive. |
| A．To explain how pollutants affect animals. |
| B．To show ways of fighting against pollution. |
| C．To advise people to stop buying polluted fish. |
| D．To urge people to reduce pollutants in wastewater. |
5 . It seems there’s nowhere left to run from the microplastic (微塑料的)pollution. A small pilot study recently took microplastics from one of Europe’s most distant places, the French Pyrenees mountains, and found as many microplastics in the soil as you might expect from a big city like Paris.
The reason? The wind. Researchers now fear that our planet’s winds can pick up microplastics from about anywhere and transport them around the world, sometimes in large quantities. “We’d kind of expected it in a city getting blown around,” said Steve Allen from the University of Strathclyde in the UK, one member of the team. “But way up there? We expected to find some, ” he said. “We didn’t expect to find so many.”
Microplastics are pieces smaller than a fifth of an inch that have broken down from larger pieces of plastic. The forces of nature don’t distinguish (区分)between materials like stones and rocks, and plastics. Wind and waves hit plastics and break them down just the same, making them into dust that can then get swept up by the gentle wind and into the atmosphere. It’s a continuing environmental concern, as more and more microplastics find their way into our food and air.
The fact that microplastics can be found in large numbers even in distant places is a sign that is has become a global pollution problem. Steve Allen and his team set up collectors 4,500 feet up in the mountains for five months to trap plastic particles (粒子) as they fell to the Earth. The team found that an average of 365 plastic particles fell on their square meter collector daily. This included bits form plastic bags, plastic film and packaging material, among other plastic sources. Many of these materials were small enough to be breathed in without even realizing it. They’re in the air, and they’re everywhere.
1. How did Steve Allen think of the finding?| A．It was interesting. | B．It was surprising. |
| C．It was conflicting. | D．It was disappointing. |
| A．How the wind spreads the microplastics. |
| B．How the microplastics come into being. |
| C．How the microplastic pollution appears. |
| D．How the wind makes the pollution serious. |
| A．It is difficult to collect them. | B．They all come from big cities. |
| C．They are part of the air we breathe. | D．It is impossible to know their source. |
| A．Plastics have been found in the distant areas. |
| B．Plastics are proved to do great harm to the soil. |
| C．The microplastic pollution is worse in big cities. |
| D．Wind is carrying microplastics around the world. |
6 . The measurable threat to the environment has been worsened by the spread of COVID-19 that increases the need for plastic protective equipment. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Millions of tons of greenhouse gas are released from the development of these resources and plastic production and burning.
The end life of plastic is just worrisome. Less than 10% of the plastic produced has been recycled. Even more of it has been burned. But the vast majority of plastic has been buried inland, and it is increasingly polluting the environment. We hear mostly about ocean plastic and the harm done to sea creatures that mistake plastic bags and bits for food. But microplastic is even more worrisome. Plastic doesn't break down biologically but instead breaks down into tiny particles（a very small piece of something）, which have been found in every corner of the planet, on land and in the air, in drinking water and food sources.
Yet the public has not given this global environmental disaster the attention it requires. Instead, they have viewed single-use plastic—which makes up about 40% of plastic used each year—as a litter issue that can be solved through better recycling and waste management. That attitude must change because the recent global breakdown of the market for recycling has made it clear that it has never been, nor ever will be, able to keep up with plastic trash use.
California has been the forerunner of plastic waste reduction—it was the first state to ban single-use plastic bags and may be the first state to transform the way goods are packaged. The state also came close to passing an act which would have required that products sold in plastic packaging in the state have a proven recycling rate of 75% by 2032. California, though influential, can't solve this crisis alone. The US has long been producing a great amount of plastic trash and it should engage in reducing the use of plastic as well.
1. Why does the author mention the release of greenhouse gas in paragraph 1?| A．To show the harm of plastic |
| B．To warn of the climate change. |
| C．To call for the development of fossil fuels. |
| D．To highlight the importance of plastic equipment. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Tolerant. |
| C．Curious. | D．Opposed. |
| A．A pioneer. | B．A failure. |
| C．An objector. | D．A predictor. |
| A．Microplastic Products Are Harmful |
| B．Waste Recycling Is an Urgent Matter |
| C．Plastic Waste Pollution Is a Wake-up Call |
| D．Global Environmental Disasters Are Increasing |
7 . Air pollution influences our health in many ways. No air means death. Though we can’t see it, there is air around us. Air is everywhere and it gives a life to every living thing. But bad air makes people ill. In the city, there are a great many people and there are too many cars running on the road. The cars send out bad gases. There are many factories, too. From the chimneys of these factories, we get the smoke usually in black color. Every day we breathe it in and out. This makes us feel sick, when people talk about air pollution ,they are usually thinking about outdoor air pollution. But a lot of air pollution comes from indoor activities such as smoking and cooking. Indoor air pollution can hurt people’s eyes, noses and throats. So air pollution, both indoors and outdoors, can also lead to lung cancer and heart disease.
Everyone should help to fight against air pollution. In order to keep us healthy, we have to go out to the countryside to breathe more fresh air. Or we can climb up hills to get more fresh air.
1. what is this article about?| A．air pollution |
| B．water pollution |
| C．noise pollution |
| D．environment pollution |
| A．Many factories |
| B．Bad air |
| C．The cars |
| D．Going out to the countryside |
| A．bad gas from he cars |
| B．black smoke from the chimneys of these factories |
| C．smoking and cooking |
| D．air pollution |
| A．No air means death. |
| B．air pollution can lead to lung cancer and heart disease. |
| C．Only scientist should help to fight against air pollution. |
| D．we have to go out to the countryside to breathe more fresh air. |
| A．A Little air pollution comes from indoor activities such as smoking and cooking |
| B．Bad air never makes people ill. |
| C．Air pollution influences our health in few ways |
| D．we can climb up hills to get more fresh air. |
8 . Millions of tons of electronic waste, known as e-waste, is produced ever year. In 2016, the world’s population make 49 million tons of electronic waste. It has been calculated that there will be more than 60 million tons by 2021. The amount of electronic waste is growing so rapidly that it has become a global problem that needs to be addressed.
What is causing the upsurge(激增)in e-waste? Technology is becoming more and more widespread, covering almost every aspect of our lives. Meanwhile, the lifespan of devices is getting shorter— many products will be thrown away once their batteries(电池)die, to be replaced by new devices. Companies update the design or software so quickly and it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one. Since prices are falling, electronic devices are in demand around the world.
As more people buy electronic equipment, manufacturers(制造商)are beginning to face shortages of the raw material needed to make their products, so recycling and reusing materials from discarded(废弃的)products and waste makes economic and environmental sense. Recycling e-waste is practiced both formally and informally. Formal e-waste recycling usually involves taking apart the electronics, separating and sorting through the materials and cleaning them. Companies must obey health and safety rules to reduce the health and environmental harm of handling e-waste by using pollution-control technologies. All this makes formal recycling expensive.
With the amount of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough to handle the problem. In order to reduce e-waste, manufacturers need to design electronics that are safer, and more durable (耐用的)repairable. As a customer, you’d better get our old product repaired if possible and buy a new device only when you really need.
1. The underlined word “addressed” in paragraph 1 can be replaced by _________.| A．reduced | B．changed |
| C．controlled | D．solved |
| A．The problems caused by the upsurge in e-waste. |
| B．The reasons for e-waste’s sharp increasing. |
| C．The bad effect of updating devices. |
| D．The causes of devices’ price dropping. |
| A．Improving the quality of e-devices. |
| B．Lowering the costs of technology innovation. |
| C．Relieving companies’ lacking raw materials. |
| D．Increasing the variety of electronic products. |
| A．Recycling is the only way to reduce e-waste. |
| B．Companies should be mainly responsible for reducing e-waste. |
| C．Repairing a device is better than buying a new one. |
| D．Everyone should take action to reduce e-waste. |
9 . The amount of plastic in our oceans-and thus in our seafood-is rising. A study says Europeans alone throw about 11,000 small pieces of plastic every year. And unless we make some very big changes, that number could reach 780,000 pieces per person within a few decades.
Microplastics are popular additives(添加剂)to a wide range of personal care products, from face wash to toothpaste. We wash them off and send them down the drain(下水道), where they head out into the water supply. And there they’ll stay, absorbing chemicals, until something or somebody comes along and eats them.
Studies have found that fish that consume microplastics are smaller than others. They refuse real food in favor of more plastic. Their eggs are less likely to hatch, and they are less likely to escape from other hunters.
Researchers at the University of Ghent in Belgium have been studying the effects of microplastics on shellfish(海贝). The average shellfish sucks(吮吸)in and spits(吐)out about 20 liters of water per day. Most of the plastic particles in that water will be sent back out into the ocean. Most, but not all; lead researcher Colin Janssen says the shellfish they examined had an average of one tiny plastic piece.
Janssen and his colleagues say the same process occurs in humans who consume shellfish. About 99 percent of the microplastics will pass through your system. That still leaves 1 percent to stay in the body, and we don’t yet know what that means for our health.
“We do need to know the fate of the plastics,” Janssen said. “Where do they go? Are they forgotten about by the body, or are they causing inflammation (炎症) or doing other things? Are chemicals coming out of these plastics and then causing damage? We don’t know.”
1. What does the underlined word “They” refer to in paragraph 3?| A．The researchers in the study. |
| B．The fish which eat the small fish in the ocean. |
| C．The common people who eat fish and seashell. |
| D．The small fish which eat plastic pieces. |
| A．It will be easier to catch them. |
| B．Their population will get smaller and smaller. |
| C．They will help reduce the amount of plastic pieces in the ocean. |
| D．People will find it an effective way to deal with water pollution. |
| A．It means developing a good taste in delicious food. |
| B．It means that eating sea creatures is dangerous. |
| C．It means storing plastic in the human bodies. |
| D．It means that plastic shellfish can take the place of real one. |
| A．No one will be sure of its effects. | B．They will lead to some strange diseases. |
| C．They will be forgotten. | D．They will give off some poisonous chemicals. |
10 . For over a month, forest fires in Indonesia spread very quickly out of control as the country suffered its worst drought(干旱) in 50 years. Within days a cloud of smog was hanging over neighboring countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
When the smoke combined with pollution from factories and cars, it soon became poisonous(有毒的). Dangerous amounts of CO became trapped under the smog and pollution levels rose. People coughed as they left the house and their eyes watered immediately.
The smog made it impossible to see across streets and whole cities disappeared as grey soot (烟灰) covered everything. In some areas, tap water was used from high-rise city buildings to try and break up the smog.
Finally, heavy rains, which came in November, put out the fires and cleared the air. But the environmental costs and health problems will remain. Breathing problems could well increase and many non-sufferers may have difficulties for the first time. Wildlife has suffered too. In lowland forests, elephants, deer, and tigers have been driven out of their homes by smog.
But smog is not just an Asian problem. In fact, the word was first used in London in 1905 to describe the mixture of smoke and thick fog. Sometimes the smog was so thick and poisonous that people were killed by breathing problems or in accidents. About 4,000 Londoners died within five days as a result of thick smog in 1952.
1. When did the forest fires most probably happen?| A．In July. | B．In October. |
| C．In November. | D．In December. |
| A．The fires spread to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. |
| B．The fires were put out by the firefighters and volunteers. |
| C．Many animals were left homeless because of the smog. |
| D．4,000 people were killed by the forest fires. |
| A．Smog can lead to drought problem. | B．Smog can cause forest fires easily. |
| C．Smog has little effect on wildlife. | D．Smog is more than an Asian problem. |
| A．Both were caused by drought. | B．Both caused many deaths. |
| C．Both were poisonous. | D．Both spread in several countries. |
