外研版必修二册第六单元听力练习

Unit 6 Earth first

Host: Good morning and welcome to Dialogue. Today with us is John Mayer, an environmentalist. For decades, Southern California has been fighting against smog. Thanks to new environmental rules, this war seems to have been won. Now there's a new battle, as the city of Malibu takes action against straws. What's changed?

John: Malibu has become the latest city in the US to ban or limit the use of plastic straws and single-use plastic items in restaurants. In fact, many restaurants all over the US have also decided not to provide plastic straws to their customers…

Host: Sorry to interrupt, but this isn't just happening in North America. Scotland plans to be rid of plastic straws by 2019, and by 2030 Taiwan will ban straws and other plastic items that can be used just once, such as plastic cups.

John: That's very good news for the environment. Surprisingly, about 500 million straws are used each day in the US – that's enough straws to go around the Earth two and a half times! It takes up to two hundred years for one plastic straw to decompose and there are few places that can recycle them.

Host: Sorry, can I say something, please? As a result, plastic straws are the 11th most common item amongst the ocean's rubbish. Their shapes and sizes make them harmful to the marine animals in the oceans – birds and fish can eat them and sea animals can get caught in them.

John: Indeed. Plastic straws represent a small percentage of the plastic that's produced and consumed around our planet. Plastic makes up 80 to 90% of all the ocean's rubbish. Each year, half a million sea birds and 100,000 marine animals die…

Host: Excuse me, may I make a correction? In fact, every year 1 million sea birds and 100,000 marine animals die from eating plastic items, such as straws.

John: I'm afraid you are right. So, next time you order a drink in a café or a restaurant, consider saying “no” to the straw. Lifting a cup or glass to our mouths worked perfectly well for our ancestors, so try and do the same and help save the planet for future generations!