What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.

PLASTIC __________

It is estimated that 1.15 to 2.41 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean each year from rivers. More than half of this plastic is less __________than the water, meaning that it will not sink once it encounters the sea.

The strong and floating plastics show resiliency(韧性) in the marine environment, allowing them to be transported over __________distances. They persist at the sea surface as they make their way off shore, transported by converging (汇聚的) currents and finally accumulating in the patch.

Once these plastics enter the gyre（环流）, they are unlikely to leave the area until they __________into smaller microplastics under the effects of sun, waves and marine life. As more and more plastics are discarded into the environment, microplastic __________in the GPGP will only continue to increase.

LOCATION

Due to seasonal and interannual variabilities of winds and currents, the GPGP’s location and shape are constantly changing. Only floating objects that are __________influenced by currents were likely to remain within the patch.

By simulating concentration levels in the North Pacific, the researchers were able to follow the location of the patch and found on average it orbits around 32°N and 145°W. However, the team observed seasonal __________from west to east and substantial variations in latitude（纬度）depending on the year.

IMPACT ON WILDLIFE

Plastic has increasingly become a very common substance in the ocean. Due to its size and color, animals __________the plastic for food, causing malnutrition; it poses entanglement（缠绕）risks and threatens their overall behavior, health, and existence.

Studies have shown that about 700 species have encountered marine debris, and 92% of these __________are with plastic. 17% of the species affected by plastic are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

IMPACT ON HUMANS AND SOCIETY

Once plastic enters the marine food web, there is a possibility that it will contaminate the human food chain as well. Through a process called bioaccumulation, chemicals in plastics will enter the body of the animal __________on the plastic, and as the feeder becomes prey, the chemicals will pass to the __________—making their way up the food web that includes humans. These chemicals that affected the plastic feeders could then be __________within the human as well.

__________, yearly economic costs due to marine plastic are estimated to be between $6-19billion USD. The costs __________its impact on tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, and governmental cleanups. These costs do not include the impact on human health and the marine ecosystem due to __________research available.

Researchers find that in new product design, connecting with users’ heart, rather than their head, can lead to more original and creative outcomes.

Developing original and _______ products is critical to a company’s long-term success. Thus, understanding what influences originality can have important and potentially _______ consequences for businesses. Ravi Mehta, a professor of business administration, shows that adopting a(n) _______ that imagines how the user would feel while using a product leads designers to experience greater empathy（同感）, which _______ creativity and, in turn, outcome originality for new product design.

There are two ways that the product designer can _______ the consumer’s product usage. One focuses on objective use of the product—how consumers might use the product, that is, an “objective –imagination” approach. The other focuses on feelings—how the product makes the consumer feel, a “feelings-imagination” approach.

Consumers always want to have new products that solve problems more efficiently and at a less cost. So product designers _______ this trap of being very objective in focusing on the use of a product. That’s important, but the _______ of usage can only attract consumers in some ways._______, the feelings-imagination approach leads designers to experience greater empathy, which makes them more _______ to the consumers’ ideas. This leads to greater outcome originality. Mehta said, “when you imagine consumers and focus on their feelings, that’s powerful and will lead to something much more innovative than only focusing on a product’s usage.” The research shows that a feelings-based approach is _______ to the commonly used objective-based approach, the researchers wrote. It not only helps product designers build a better product, but it also helps them create more innovative products.

The implications of the findings extend to everyday consumers, who now play a role in shaping companies’ design. Mehta said, “Marketers are increasingly _______ consumers for new product ideas.”_______, there was a very successful campaign a few years ago that focused on getting consumers to create a new potato chip flavor.

The experiments demonstrated a _______effect of adopting a feelings-imagination approach. That suggests that these designers may _______ imagining users’ feelings. In this way, designers can develop products that could _______ to the masses. Companies can easily adopt this process and promote feelings-imagination exercises through their websites or social media.

In the early days of TV, there were often dramas on during the_______ back in those days, it was_______for the husband to go out to work and for the wife to stay at home and_______the house and the children. Most of these daytime dramas were aimed at entertaining the_______who would traditionally be at home, probably doing the_______ companies selling washing powder would________their products at times________these dramas were on, and________those companies would________sponsor (赞助) the drama. As a result, the word “soap” appeared.

So what about the word opera? Well, that’s because these dramas are often an exaggeration (夸大) of real________. They are supposed to represent ordinary lives________to make them entertaining, lots of dramatic events________murders, divorces, affairs etc, happen probably much more________than they would in a normal neighbourhood.

Most soap operas these days are________in the evening. There are lots of different soaps on in the UK but there are three main________ones. ‘Coronation Street’ has been on since 1960. It is supposed to represent working class life. Then there’s “Eastenders’” which________in 1985 and “Emmerdale” in the north of England.