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.

3 . In many ways, life has become far more comfortable and convenient in the past few decades.     1     Here, we look at three of the most serious environmental problems we are currently facing.

Air Pollution

The main cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles and power plants. Other human activities, such as construction and the burning of waste, also contribute to air pollution. The effects on our health can be very serious.

You can easily contribute to reducing air pollution by only using a car to make journeys when it’s absolutely necessary.     2    

Global Warming

Global warming is the increase in the temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans. It’s caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere. These trap the Sun’s heat and warm up the planet.

Global warming has already caused a wide range of problems.     3     Countries around the world have faced extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, floods and heat waves.

Overflowing Landfills

Landfills are used for waste disposal (处理) in many countries around the world. However, these landfills are now nearing their limit. When this happens, the chances of dangerous chemicals in the waste entering our water supply increase.

The amount of waste in landfills in China has risen sharply over the last ten years.     4     Some cities, such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, among others, are leading the way and have promised to send “zero waste to landfill!”.

    5     They believe that, although recycling waste is effective, the most effective way of solving the problem of overflowing landfills is to encourage people to take responsibility for reducing the waste they produce themselves.

5 . A Plastic Ocean is a documentary to make you think. Think, and then act. We need to take action on our dependence on plastic. We’ve been producing plastic in huge quantities. Some bottles, shopping bags and toys are made of plastic.     1     What happens to all the rest? This is the question the documentary A Plastic Ocean answers.

The documentary begins with a journey to film the largest animal on the planet, the blue whale. But during the journey, the producers made a shocking discovery of a huge, thick layer of plastic floating in the Indian Ocean.     2     In total, they visited 20 locations around the world during the four years to make the documentary.

In the documentary there are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life.     3     We see how marine species (海洋物种) are being killed by all the plastic we are dumping (倾倒) in the ocean. The message about our use of plastic is painfully obvious.

    4     In the second half, the producers look at what we can do to deal with the problem. They present short-term and long-term solutions. These include avoiding plastic containers and recycling plastic as much as you can. The producers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes.

We make a shocking amount of plastic. Over 300 million tons of plastic is produced every year, and at least 8 million of it is dumped into the oceans. The results are disastrous, but it isn’t too late to change.     5    

6 . The amount of plastic pollution in the oceans is rapidly increasing. This is problematic, as at least 700 species of sea animals may 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 sources, less research has been carried out into what plastic smells like to marine animals.

But now, a study from the University of North Carolina has found that the coating of algae that naturally builds up on ocean plastics causes the rubbish to give off the scent of food.

The researchers took 15 loggerhead turtles, each around five months old, and placed them in a laboratory tank. They then piped in clean water, clean plastic, turtle food, and plastic that had been immersed in the marine 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 smell of ocean-soaked plastic or turtle food, they exhibited food-seeking behaviours like reaching their noses out of the water or showing increasing activities.

“This finding is 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 loggerhead turtles with their digestive systems fully or partially blocked because they’ve eaten plastic materials. There are also increasing reports of sea turtles that have become ill and stranded on the beach due to their ingestion (摄食) of plastic.”

According to the researchers, areas of the ocean with dense concentrations of plastic may trick turtles and other marine animals into thinking that there is an abundant food source. “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 Li River is one of the     1     (destination) tourists won’t miss. However, with the number of tourists increasing, the river’s water was polluted. Some tourists     2     (frequent) threw garbage into the river. Kitchens on the tour boats were using lots of oil,     3     was often thrown into the water. Besides, more chemicals were used to increase crop production,     4     (cause) water quality issues and a decrease in the number of fish species. These problems made the local officials worried about the natural environment. They felt urgent steps should be taken     5     (restore) the river to its original beauty.

The waste water treatment facilities were constructed, which helped improve the water quality and water     6     (conserve). Dozens of polluting enterprises     7     (close) or moved. What’s more, the local government set up strict regulations regarding further industrial development. New rules were also introduced regarding tour boat routes and garbage disposal methods. With these measures,     8     is believed that the beauty of the Li River will come back soon.

What is     9     most amazing is that the “Water Ten Plan” is now tackling water pollution across the country. With such campaigns     10     effect, China’s waterways are heading towards a clean and sustainable future.

Since Japan began releasing nuclear-contaminated (核污染) wastewater into the Pacific Ocean on last Thursday despite little     1     (approve) from the international community, Chinese netizens have expressed their anger and concern, with a large number of them     2     (say) that they would no longer go to Japanese restaurants.

According to the spokesperson, the actions of the Japanese government are contradictory to international conventions (公约) and experts say that the influence of Japan’s release of wastewater     3     the safety of people throughout the world is unpredictable. As       4     consequence, many domestic Japanese restaurants say that they will adjust their product lines, and seafood will be selected from domestic sources or imported from other coastal countries. Some even say that they will seek     5     (develop) other new cuisines (菜肴).

“The Chinese government will take necessary measures to     6     (firm) protect the marine environment     7     Japan is determined to go on with its discharge (排放) plan.” said a majority of Chinese, among     8     are those living and studying in Japan now. In a poll (民意调查)     9     (conduct) on Sina Weibo, more than 200, 000 netizens urge Japan to cancel its wrong decision and address the wastewater in a responsible manner. “We don’t want August 24, 2023 to be a disaster day for marine environment and we hope that the issue     10     (give) priority to and dealt with as soon as possible. If Japan does not change course, it must bear the historic consequence for this decision.”