Japan says it will start releasing radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear center into the sea beginning in two years. The polluted water is     1     (treat) before it is released into the Pacific Ocean. The government announced the plan Tuesday and said it had been approved by cabinet ministers. The decision had long been expected, but faced delays linked to safety concerns and public     2     (opposite).

Japan has said three reactors (反应堆) there suffered meltdowns after the 2011 earthquake and huge ocean wave destroyed the plant’s     3     (cool) systems. The disaster forced 160,000 people to flee     4     (pollute) areas around the plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, operates the nuclear center. It is carrying out the cleanup. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the government     5     (decide) the ocean release was the most realistic way     6     (solve) the water storage problem. Other methods considered included injecting the water into the ground or converting it to steam or hydrogen     7     then releasing it into the atmosphere.

The government describes the water to be released     8     “treated” and not ”radioactive”. But experts say that 100 percent of radioactive materials cannot be removed. Government officials say tritium (氚) is the only substance     9     cannot be removed from the water. They say tritium is not considered     10     (harm) in small amounts.

China will closely track     1     assess the impacts of Japan's "extremely selfish and     2    (responsible) " plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, the National Nuclear Security Administration said.

Japan's plan prioritizes its own interests     3     the long-term well-being of humanity, the administration said in     4     media release on Thursday, the same day that Japan is set to start releasing     5     (treat) radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean     6     part of its plan to decommission the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida     7     (give) the final go-ahead for the plan to gradually release more     8    1 million metric tons of radioactive water from the plant into the ocean at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

"We urge the Japanese government to listen to the voice of the international community and     9     (effective) dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a     10     (science), safe and transparent manner under strict international supervision," the administration said.

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.

World leaders at the 5th meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) agreed that by 2024, they would create and sign a new treaty on plastics. The new treaty would create international laws     1     could help bring plastic waste under control.

Because plastic is useful for so many purposes, it has become a part of nearly all areas of our lives. It’s hard to look anywhere without finding dozens of     2     (object) made of plastic.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reports that     3     (current) 400 million tons of plastic is produced every year. By 2040, that number is predicted to double. And even though there’s a lot of talk about recycling, only 9% of all the plastic ever     4     ( produce) has been recycled.

Plastic gives off dangerous gases when it’s made and also when it’s burned or buried in the ground. Scientists say plastics are responsible     5     4.5% of the world’s greenhouse gases — the gases that are driving the climate crisis.

Plastic doesn’t “decompose (腐烂)” like natural materials. Instead, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces. And as the plastics     6     (fill) our world break down, they create     7     new problem — microplastics.

Microplastics are so tiny that     8     (they) existence is usually ignored. In the past few years, microplastics     9     (find) almost everywhere, from the North pole to Antarctica, from the top of the Earth’s     10     (high) mountain to the deepest point in the sea. They’ve even appeared in the bodies of animals including humans.

The beautiful Li River is one of the     1     (famous) tourist destinations, but the     2     (grow) in tourism has had negative effects on the river’s water quality. This report looks at the problem of water pollution and some actions that have been taken to deal with it.

Water quality in the Li River had suffered     3     (great) from an increasing volume of tourists, many of     4    frequently threw garbage into the river. Many tour boats contributed     5     the problem too. The local population rose rapidly, as well as     6     number of commercial and industrial enterprises. Water pollution levels increased, with more household and commercial waste ending up in the river. To feed more people, more chemicals     7     (use) to increase crop production. These chemicals led to severe water quality issues,     8     (cause) a decrease in the number of fish species.

Finally, a series of urgent steps were taken     9     (restore) the river’s original beauty. It     10     (believe) that the beauty of the Li River will be preserved for generations to come.

Oysters, soft-bodied animals without skeletons, are important for the underwater community they share with plants, fish, and other life. They are food     1     crabs and other animals. As new oysters grow, they attach their shells to older ones,     2     (form) bigger reefs with many small spaces     3     other animals live. Oysters eat algae (藻类). If algae grow too fast, they can exhaust oxygen from the water—and even fish need oxygen     4     (breath)!

Because so many animals depend on them, oysters are called a keystone species. If a keystone species     5    (disappear), other plants and animals may die off and not grow back.

That’s     6     (exact) what happened 100 years ago in New York Harbor—a group of rivers and bays around New York City. Before then, lots of oysters lived in these waters. The oysters were famous! They     7     (ship) to restaurants around the world. The oysters were delicious—maybe too delicious. By the early 1900s, people were eating them faster than they could grow.

The oysters were in trouble for     8     reason. Pollution was pouring into the waters of the growing city. The harbor became so     9     (pollute) that few types of animals could live in it. Since the 1970s, new laws     10     (help) reduce toxic waste. Some fish started to swim through again. But oysters were still missing—until recently.