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主題語境：環(huán)境保護(hù)篇幅：322詞 建議用時：6分鐘

1 A lot of manufactured glass today madefrom sand and sodium carbonate（碳酸鈉）canbe reused or melted down and recycled intonew items， but it isn't broken down in the envi?ronment and will sit in landfills for thousandsof years. A team of Chinese scientists aimed todeal with this environmental concern by developing an eco?conscious alternative.

2 In a study published in the journal Science Advances， a team at the Chinese Academyof Sciences' Institute of Process Engineering describes how they engineered biodegrad?able （可生物降解的） glass made from amino acids （氨基酸）. That glass would have asmaller impact on the environment and can be broken down in a few weeks or in severalmonths.

3 In a test， glass beads （玻璃珠） made from amino acids were placed under the skin ofmice， and the breakdown of the beads and the skin healing process were observed for 30days. A diagram of the study shows how the mices bodies broke down the beads. In thatmonth， the glass implant degraded beneath the skin， the wound site healed， and fur grewback.“ Throughout the experimental period， no mice exhibited any pain?related behaviorthat may have been caused by the glass implantation， and none of them experiencedobvious weight loss，” the researchers wrote in their paper.

4 Although amino acids do degrade over time in the environment， this biodegrad?able glass is not as durable as traditional glass， because amino acids can be brokendown quickly in heat. In order to overcome this hurdle， the researchers chemically modi?fied the amino acids using the heating?cooling procedure applied to glass manufacturing.This is when materials for the glass are heated to become soft and then rapidly cooled so asto make the glass tougher.

5“ It's important to point out that this biodegradable glass is currently in the lab stage，and far from large?scale commercialization，” emphasized Yan Xuehai， a professor involvedin the study， in a press release.

Reading

Check

1. What is an advantage of the new glass？

A. It can be recycled at a low cost.

B. It is produced without pollution.

C. It takes less time to be broken down.

D. It has a wide range of applications.

2. Why did researchers implant glass beads into mice？

A. To assess whether the glass is biologically harmless.

B. To investigate why amino acids are medically useful.

C. To explore how long it takes for the glass to degrade.

D. To observe if the glass can be melted down in mices stomachs.

3. What does the underlined word“ hurdle” in paragraph 4 refer to？

A. The instability of amino acids.

B. The difficulty of selecting materials for the glass.

C. Environmental problems caused by traditional glass.

D. The challenge of improving the heating?cooling procedure.

Language

Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Although amino acids do degrade over time in the environment， this biodegradableglass is not as durable as traditional glass， because amino acids can be broken downquickly in heat. 雖然氨基酸會隨著時間的推移在環(huán)境中降解，但這種可生物降解的玻璃并不像傳統(tǒng)玻璃那樣耐用，因?yàn)榘被釙诟邷叵卵杆俜纸狻?/p>

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句中，Although引導(dǎo)讓步狀語從句，主句是this biodegradable glassis not as durable as traditional glass，because引導(dǎo)原因狀語從句。

Ⅱ. Fill in the blanks with the word and phrases in the box in proper forms.

break down aim to apply to point out current melt down

1. If an object is_________， it is heated until it melts， so that the material can be used to make something else.

2. AI_________a wide range of fields to perform specific tasks， including education，finance， heavy industry and transportation so far.

3. The car_________on the way to the airport， so we had to call for a tow truck.

4. In her book Good Habits， Bad Habits， she_________that repeatedly checking the phones is one of the bad habits.

5. 30 percent of reptiles， birds and fish are_________threatened with extinction.

6. _________attract young readers， the book is full of interesting stories and features simple language.