主题语境十三：世界与环境

2020-02-21蒋建平

疯狂英语·新策略 2020年1期

Ⅰ.阅读理解

体裁：说明文篇幅：3 4 7 建议用时：7分钟文本来源：2 0 1 8·北京卷新颖度：★★★★ 主题意义：大蜡螟为解决塑料污染提供了新的途径

Plastic-Eating Worms

Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year.Almost half of that winds up in landfills(垃圾填埋场),and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans.So far there is no effective way to get rid of it,but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms.

Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene,which accounts for 40%of plastics.The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours,and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams,or almost 3%of it.To confirm that the worms'chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown,the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物)and applied it to plastic films.14 hours later the films had lost 13%of their mass—apparently broken down by enzymes(酶)from the worms'stomachs.Their findings were published inCurrent Biologyin 2017.

Federica Bertocchini,co-author ofthe study,says the worms'ability to break down their everyday food—beeswax—also allows them to break down plastic.“Wax is a complex mixture,but the basic bond in polyethylene,the carbon-carbon bond,is there as well,”she explains.“The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond.”

Jennifer DeBruyn,a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee,who was not involved in the study,says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene.But compared with previous studies,she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting.The next step,DeBruyn says,will be to identify the cause of the breakdown.Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物)?

Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team's findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills.But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process—not simply “millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic.”

1.What can we learn about the worms in the study?

A.They take plastics as their everyday food. B.They are newly evolved creatures.

C.They can consume plastics. D.They wind up in landfills.

2.According to Jennifer DeBruyn,the next step of the study is to _______.

A.identify other means of the breakdown B.find out the source of the enzyme

C.confirm the research findings D.increase the breakdown speed

3.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the chemical might_______ .

A.help to raise worms B.help make plastic bags

C.be used to clean the oceans D.be produced in factories in future

4.What is the main purpose of the passage?

A.To explain a study method on worms. B.To introduce the diet of a special worm.

C.To present a way to break down plastics. D.To propose new means to keep eco-balance.

Ⅱ.补全信息

体裁：说明文篇幅：2 6 9 建议用时：6分钟文本来源：原创新颖度：★★★★ 主题意义：大自然的水循环和人类参与的水循环

In one way or another,all our water comes from the sea.The vapor rises and freezes to form clouds.These clouds release their water as rain,often when they are blown over high ground.Rain goes deep into the ground,runs into streams and rivers,and flows back into the sea.Also,plants take water from the soil and put some back into the air as vapor.In this way,water is always being recycled.

Human beings also take part in the water cycle.We build reservoirs(水库)to trap water for our houses and factories.

Some water takes many thousands of years to complete the cycle.It collects in huge areas of underground.This kind of water is often used by people as a source of tap water.People around the world use tap water in their daily life.A lot of reservoirs have been built and they have brought many changes to the landscape and affected wildlife.People do not know the fact that taking too much water from underground can change the conditions on the surface.For example,it can dry out the habitats of some wildlife.If sewage(污水)or chemical waste is not made clean carefully,they can make drinking water dirty.

A.It is important that we should use water in a responsible way.

B.There are many problems with the use of tap water.

C.This is called the water cycle.

D.Learning how to recycle water not only saves you money,but also is good for the planet.

E.The sun heats the sea,and water evaporates to become vapor.

F.Our waste water and sewage is put back into the sea though it is sometimes purified first.

G.Many rivers and lakes are being polluted by the waste water from factories.

Ⅲ.短文改错

体裁：记叙文篇幅：1 1 3 建议用时：7分钟文本来源：改编新颖度：★★★ 主题意义：地球日活动

A week before Earth Day,posters were put up around our school,called on us to take part the action for a greener earth.Our class came up with the idea of making a better use of used materials.We bring worn-out clothes and empty plastic bottles but turned them into dolls and handbags.That weekends,we went to a nearby neighborhood and gave away that we had made to the people there.Everyone was very happily with those gifts,especially little kids and elderly people.We did such well that we were invited by our headmaster to share this meaningful experience and our ideas with all the students of their school.