D
Microplastics have become a common source of pollution across the Earth — they have settled in the deep sea and on the Himalayas, stuck inside volcanic rocks, filled the stomachs of seabirds and even fallen in fresh Antarctic snow. They are even appearing inside humans.
Now, new research suggests that a simple, cheap measure may significantly reduce the level of microplastics in water from your tap (水龙头): boiling and filtering (过滤) it. In a study published Wednesday in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers from China found that boiling tap water for just five minutes — then filtering it after it cools — could remove at least 80 percent of its microplastics.
Crucially, this process relies on the water containing enough calcium carbonate (碳酸钙) to trap the plastics. In the study, boiling hard water containing 300 milligrams of calcium carbonate led to an almost 90 percent drop in plastics. But in samples with less than 60 milligrams of calcium carbonate, boiling reduced the level of plastics by just 25 percent. Additionally, the research didn’t include all types of plastics. The team focused only on three common types — polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene — and they didn’t study other chemicals previously found in water such as vinyl chloride.
升元1b245e38优4a7b术东63182f33智限-网42b3公术司途有方技8ce9软方的件慧广是科b0c86f264abf学
Still, the findings show a potential path forward for reducing microplastic exposure — a task that’s becoming increasingly difficult. Even bottled water, scientists found earlier this year, contains 10 to 1,000 times more microplastics than originally thought.Scientists are still trying to determine how harmful microplastics are — but what they do know has raised concerns. The new study suggests boiling tap water could be a tool to limit intake. “The way they demonstrated how microplastics were trapped through the boiling process was nice,” Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay, an environmental engineer of the University of Glasgow in Scotland who was not involved in the research, tells New Scientist. “We should be looking into upgrading drinking water treatment plants so they remove microplastics.”
12. How does the author present the issue in the first paragraph?
A. By quoting an expert. B. By defining a concept.
C. By giving examples. D. By providing statistics.
13. What determines the effectiveness of trapping microplastics in water?
A. The hardness of water. B. The length of cooling time.
C. The frequency of filtering. D. The type of plastic in water.
14. What does the author try to illustrate by mentioning bottled water in paragraph 4?
A. The importance of plastic recycling. B. The severity of the microplastic problem.
C. The danger in overusing pure water. D. The difficulty in treating polluted water.
途软方的慧科b0c86f264abf件网42b3有方84c4优4a7b术广是费元1b245e38司公术技8ce9-东63182f33智811bf5d7学升限
15. What is Gauchotte-Lindsay’s suggestion about?
A. Choice of new research methods. B. Possible direction for further study.
C. Need to involve more researchers. D. Potential application of the
findings.
【答案】12.C 13. A 14. B 15. D
【解析】
【导语】本文是说明文。文章主要介绍了一项关于减少自来水中微塑料污染的新研究。微塑料污染已遍及全球，甚至进入人体。中国研究人员发现，将自来水煮沸五分钟并冷却后过滤可能会显著降低自来水中的微塑料含量。研究虽未涵盖所有塑料类型和化学物质，但揭示了一种潜在解决方案。苏格兰环境工程师指出，该研究展示了煮沸法的有效性，并建议升级饮用水处理厂以推广应用。
【12题详解】
广是费4e2c优4a7b术有方84c44b5bafe4网42b3东63182f33智811bf5d7慧升学c276586a途方得限件科b0c86f264abf秀元1b245e38技8ce9软方的公术7d7fddea司术-
推理判断题。根据文章第一段中“Microplastics have become a common source of pollution across the Earth — they have settled in the deep sea and on the Himalayas, stuck inside volcanic rocks, filled the stomachs of seabirds and even fallen in fresh Antarctic snow. They are even appearing inside humans. (微塑料已经成为地球上常见的污染源——它们出现在在深海和喜马拉雅山上，被困在火山岩中，填满海鸟的胃，甚至落在南极的新雪中。它们甚至出现了在人类体内)”可推知，作者通过举例提出微塑料污染的问题。故选C。【13题详解】
细节理解题。根据文章第二段中“Crucially, this process relies on the water containing enough calcium carbonate (碳酸钙) to trap the plastics. In the study, boiling hard water containing 300 milligrams of calcium carbonate led to an almost 90 percent drop in plastics. But in samples with less than 60 milligrams of calcium carbonate, boiling reduced the level of plastics by just 25 percent. (至关重要的是，这一过程依赖于含有足够碳酸钙的水来截留塑料。在这项研究中，将含有300毫克碳酸钙的硬水煮沸后，塑料含量下降了近90%。但在碳酸钙含量低于60毫克的样品中，煮沸只降低了25%的塑料含量)”可知，决定在水中截留微塑料的有效性的是水的硬度。故选A。
【14题详解】
推理判断题。根据文章第四段中“Still, the findings show a potential path forward for reducing microplastic exposure — a task that’s becoming increasingly diffcult. Even bottled water, scientists found earlier this year, contains 10 to 1,000 times more microplastics than originally thought. (尽管如此，研究结果显示了减少微塑料接触的潜在途径——这一任务正变得越来越困难。今年早些时候，科学家们发现，即使是瓶装水，其微塑料含量也比原先想象的高出10到1000倍。)”可推断，作者提到瓶装水是为了说明微塑料污染的严重性。故选B。
【15题详解】
推理判断题。根据文章最后一段中““The way they demonstrated how microplastics were trapped through the boiling process was nice,” Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay, an environmental engineer of the University of Glasgow in Scotland who was not involved in the research, tells New Scientist. “We should be looking into upgrading drinking water treatment plants so they remove microplastics.” (苏格兰格拉斯哥大学的环境工程师Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay没有参与这项研究，她告诉《新科学家》杂志：“他们展示微塑料如何在煮沸过程中被截留的方式很不错。”“我们应该考虑升级饮用水处理厂，以便它们能去除微塑料”)”可推知，Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay的建议是关于这项研究结果的潜在应用，即升级饮用水处理厂。故选D。
编辑：小徐