To stop plastic waste reaching the ocean, an Italian firm has invented 【小题1】 seems to be a perfect tool to pick up litter before it gets there. Almost 80 percent of ocean waste comes from 100 of the world’s 【小题2】 (large) waterways. So, stopping waste at source is a solution that can be 【小题3】 (whole) workable.

The company had to get over a few 【小题4】 (difficult) before it could test out the invention properly. For example, its device had to allow boats to easily pass through while being able to run 24/7 with no influence 【小题5】 the river’s environment. The result is River Cleaning. 【小题6】 (attach) to the river bed, River Cleaning is a series of buoys (浮标) that spin on axles (轴) powered by the natural flow of the river, with the ability 【小题7】 (collect) different kinds of waste. River Cleaning, 【小题8】 about 100 percent scalable (可缩放的), low-cost and low-impact solution, can collect 85 percent of the waste 【小题9】 (pass) by it. So, if it is used in all the right places, up to 85 percent of rubbish 【小题10】 (prevent) from entering the ocean in the near future.

Environmentalists are getting more 【小题1】 (worry) about the effects of fast fashion on the environment. Fast fashion is the mass 【小题2】 (produce) of clothes at a low cost. They are put in shops and online quickly 【小题3】 (create) a high demand. Factories make 100 billion items of clothing every year. The fast fashion business model is having 【小题4】 bad effect on the environment. Many of the clothes end up in landfills and are not recycled. Another bad effect on the environment 【小题5】 (cause) by the chemicals used to make the clothes. These cause health problems for people 【小题6】 (work) in clothes factories. The way people buy clothes is adding to the problem of clothing waste. Many years ago, people went to stores and tried clothes 【小题7】. People took more time and thought more 【小题8】 (careful) before they bought clothes. They also wore them for longer. Today, people order cheap clothes on the Internet and if they don’t like 【小题9】 (they), they throw them away. Every year in Europe, four million tons of clothing ends up in the trash, less than one percent of 【小题10】 is recycled.

Air pollution is no doubt a major concern in many big cities across the world. More than 80% of people living in cities are often exposed (接触) to unsafe air, according to a report 【小题1】 (give) by the World Health Organization.

“Air pollution in cities continues 【小题2】 (rise) at a high speed, and in fact, it 【小题3】 (be) bad for human health,” said Dr Maria Neira, director of Public Health and Environmental Policy at the WHO. “At 【小题4】 same time, more cities are watching over 【小题5】 (they) air quality.”

In the past few years, the number of cities watching over air pollution 【小题6】 (increase), covering about 3,000 cities in 103 countries. The WHO warned that the poor air, 【小题7】 could raise the risk of heart disease, cancer and many other diseases, had a bad effect on the health of city people.

The report also showed that poorer countries 【小题8】 (general) have poorer air quality. About 98% of cities with 100,000 or more people in low income 【小题9】 middle-income countries do not meet WHO air quality guidelines, while only 56% in high-income【小题10】 (country) fail to meet the standard. The report also encouraged local government to take stronger and more measures (措施) to fight against air pollution.