Planet Plastic 地球快要变成“塑料星球”

　　气候变化仅仅是地球遇到的挑战之一，我们所居住的星球还面临着堆积如山的垃圾和废弃物，尤其是白色垃圾。一项研究说，自1950年至今，人类已生产出83亿吨塑料制品，并尚未找到有效处理和回收塑料制品的方法。我们能做些什么呢？

　课文内容

　　Vocabulary:Environment词汇:环境

　　Here’s astaggeringstatistic.Scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made:8.3 billion tonnes.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.

　　So what’s the problem?Much plastic is in the form ofpackagingwhich is used just once and then thrown away.According to a major new study from the University of California,9%of this is recyled,12%isincineratedand 79%goes tolandfill.And because most plastic doesn’tbiodegrade,once it’s in the ground,it stays there.

　　It’s a situation that has led the paper’s lead author,ecologistDr Roland Geyer,to say that we are“rapidly heading towards‘Planet Plastic'”.He believes that there’s already enough waste out there to cover the whole of Argentina.

　　The team behind this report also estimate that eight million tonnes of plastic waste are escaping into the sea every year.This has generated concern that plastic is entering thefood chain,though fish and other sea life whichingestthe smallerfragments.

　　Of course,the reason why there’s so much plastic around is that it’s an amazingly useful material.We can’t get enough of it.It’sdurableandadaptable,and is used for everything from yoghurt pots to spaceships.But it’s precisely this quality which makes it a problem.The only way to destroy plastic is to heat or burn it–although this has the side effect of harmfulemissions.

　　So what’s the alternative,other than using less plastic?OceanographerDr 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,amarine biologistfrom Plymouth University,says it’s poor design that’sat fault.He says that if products are currently designed“withrecyclabilityin mind”,they could be recyled around 20 times over.

　　Dr Geyer agrees:“The holy grail of recycling is to keep material in use and in theloopfor ever if you can.But itturns outin our study that actually 90%of that material that did get recycled-which I think we calculated was 600 million tonnes-only got recycled once.”

词汇表

　　staggering令人震惊的

　　packaging包装材料

　　incinerate被焚毁的

　　landfill垃圾填埋场

　　biodegrade生物降解

　　ecologist生态学家

　　food chain食物链

　　ingest咽下（食物）

　　fragment碎片，碎块

　　durable耐用的

　　adaptable适应性强的

　　emission排放物

　　oceanographer海洋学家

　　tsunami海啸

　　get your act together合理安排，有条理地筹划

　　marine biologist海洋生物学家

　　at fault有责任，有过错

　　recyclability可再利用性

　　loop循环

　　turn out结果是（尤指出乎意料的结果）

测验与练习

　　1.阅读课文并回答问题。

　　1.Where does the greatest proportion of plastic waste go?

　　2.How might plastic enter the food we eat?

　　3.What do Professor Thompson and Dr Geyer agree about?

　　4.Which word means‘ability to be recycled’?

　　5.True or false:The fact that plastic is durable is good for the environment.

2.请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处。

　　1.Marine biology and _______ are related subjects.

　　ecologist marines oceanographer oceanography

　　2.As _______,I study the relationships between all living things and their environment.

　　an ecologist a chemist an oceanographer a psychologist

　　3.You need to get _______ together.You can’t keep on handing in your homework late.

　　the act my act this act your act

　　4.Because it doesn’t _______,plastic waste is very harmful to the environment.

　　emit ingest biodegrade incinerate

　　5.Finding a new form of _______ energy is the holy grail for many environmentalists.

　　clean and renewable fossil fuel cheap modern and impressive

答案

　　1.阅读课文并回答问题。

　　1.Where does the greatest proportion of plastic waste go?

An estimated 79%of plastic waste ends up in landfill.

　　2.How might plastic enter the food we eat?

It’s thought that small fragments of plastic are ingested by fish and other sea life,and from there it enters the food chain.

　　3.What do Professor Thompson and Dr Geyer agree about?

They agree that products need to be recycled many times over,not just once.

　　4.Which word means‘ability to be recycled’?

Recyclability.

　　5.True or false:The fact that plastic is durable is good for the environment.

False.Plastic being durable is bad for the environment,because it needs to be disposed of in other ways.

2.请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处。

　　1.Marine biology andoceanographyare related subjects.

　　2.Asecologist,I study the relationships between all living things and their environment.

　　3.You need to getyour acttogether.You can’t keep on handing in your homework late.

　　4.Because it doesn’tbiodegrade,plastic waste is very harmful to the environment.

　　5.Finding a new form ofclean and renewableenergy is the holy grail for many environmentalists.