墨尔本PTE素材库——Microplastic Oceans

墨尔本PTE素材库——Microplastic Oceans

中文批注

这篇文章是一篇绝佳的PTE段落总结素材，虽然乍一看觉得内容很多，但其实关键信息只有那么几句。各位同学听完之后，可以试着一句话总结一下。关注点是：到底什么是Microplastics？它造成了什么问题？怎么解决这个问题？

顾名思义，Mircroplastic指的是微小的塑料颗粒，这类颗粒因为过于微小，而无法被污水处理装置过滤出来。最后只能排入海中，并且造成了海洋生物误食，而导致海洋生态问题。目前美国的处理方法是取缔所有使用此类微小颗粒的产品，同时科学家们也在研究如何解决现有的问题。

澳大利亚语言学院整理的PTE素材库，旨在帮助各位PTE的烤鸭们在平时练习、复习备考的阶段，除了一些官方的练习题之外，还能有不少的素材可以练习听力、阅读、口语、写作，不同PTE的题型，例如re-tell lecture，例如summarize spoken test 都是各位考生们比较纠结的难点题型。这段采访虽然不短，但主题内容和关键点非常清楚，大家都来试试把它当做Summarize spoken/written text的素材，看看能不能把它一句话总结出来吧。通过这大量的素材练习，大家在考场就能做到熟练作答，正常发挥！

【Key Vocabulary】

break down 分解，毁掉

break off 断掉，折断

face scrub 磨砂洁肤膏

toothpaste n. 牙膏

microbeads n. 微胶珠，磁珠

munch v. 用力咀嚼

digest v. 消化

chemical n. 化学制品

get rid of 摆脱，除去

bipartisan adj. 两党连立的，代表两党的

invisible adj. 隐形的

Full Transcript

Tuesday the 22nd of March is World Water Day. So we’re going to take a closer look at a threat to our oceans that you might not have heard of before. We’ve all visited the beach and seen heaps of rubbish lying around. But scientists say there’s also trash there that we can’t see. It’s called microplastics.

Come to a place like this and you’ll see loads and loads of rubbish.

CARL: But it could be the trash you haven’t seen that’s causing the biggest problems.

CARL: Those little bright flecks you can see down there are called microplastic and researchers say this miniature rubbish is causing some major problems.

Microplastics can form when bigger bits of plastic break down into smaller bits.
They can even break off our clothes when we wash them! But some companies actually make them too. You probably have some microbeads at home right now in your scrubs or shampoos.

CARL: In fact scientists reckon there are about 300,000 of them in the average bottle of face scrub!

CARL: 300-thousand in a bottle!?

CARL: Yep, and even some toothpastes have plastic microbeads in them too!

Scientists say these microplastics are becoming a really big issue, especially in our oceans.

DR MARK A BROWNE: It is a huge problem. So if you look at the amount of plastic in the environment, over 85% of that is microplastic.

In case you missed that, he said 85 per-cent of plastic in our environment is tiny bits of microplastic! That’s really bad news especially for marine animals because those little flecks look a lot like food to them!

Just imagine sitting down for lunch and munching away, only to realise a bunch of what you’re eating isn’t really food. It’s the same colour the same size and it looks a whole lot like the regular food you might eat! But it’s actually plastic! That’s basically what’s happening to creatures that see microplastic floating in our oceans. It can get stuck in their stomach making it harder for them to digest food.

Another big problem is that plastic often has dangerous chemicals in it and they can seep into the animal’s body. This not only causes issues for them, but can also be a real danger for the animals that eat them – including humans!

CARL: Unlike other rubbish, microplastic is just too small to get filtered out in water treatment plants like this one, and that means they just end up floating straight out to sea.

So, many people reckon the best way to stop them is just to get rid of them altogether. And in the US that’s exactly what they’ve decided to do!

NEWS READER: President Obama signed a bipartisan bill to phase out microbeads…

Here in Australia our two major supermarkets say they won’t stock any products with microbeads past the end of 2017 and the government and scientists are looking for ways to tackle the problem too.

But for those who still like the idea of having little beads like these to wash your face with, many cosmetics companies are now looking at natural biodegradable solutions, things like seeds or other small bits of rough material.

There’s still a long way to go, but the fight against this almost invisible enemy has well and truly begun.

(Source: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4425888.htm)