2020-2021学年度第44-45期总第750期
Raining plastic
山西省灵石县第一中学 任立琴
I. Lead in
 
 
Microplastics can be found in more than 90% of packaged food-grade (食品级包装) salt, also known as table salt, for sale in stores.
 
According to the Independent News website, microplastic flakes can be found in almost“all brands”of bottled water tested by the WHO.
 
Many species living in the ocean may be swallowing hundreds of tiny bits of plastic a day, which could push some species toward extinction.
 
Tiny bits of plastic also are finding their way into babies through make-up used by the pregnant.
 
On average, people could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of plastic every week, which is the equivalent weight of a credit card.

Horrible?
What are microplastics?
How are they formed?

II. Read for general information
Look through the passage and tell the main idea of each paragraph.
Para 1 Rain is now partly made of plastic. introduction
Para 2
Millions of microplastics are wandering around Earth’s atmosphere and traveling across entire continents.
Phenomenon
Para 3
Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in diameter (直径) and come from a number of sources.  
definition & source
Para 4
Plastic rain may remind people of acid rain, but the former is far more widespread and harder to deal with.
damage
Para 5
Microplastics have been found everywhere you can imagine. 
damage
The main idea is usually contained in the opening sentence.
III. Read for details
The two studies mentioned in paragraph 2 show that _______________________

the issue of microplastic pollution is getting increasingly more severe.

  
Read para 3 and list the sources of microplastics.
Plastic bags and bottles released into the environment break down into smaller and smaller bits. 次生微塑料

Some microplastics are manufactured deliberately to provide abrasion (研磨) in a host of products.初生微塑料

Another major source is your washing machine. 
 

Read para 4 and fill in the blanks with verbs.
 
Read para 4 and finish the following tasks.
What is Steve Allen's attitude to resolving microplastic pollution?
 A. optimistic  B. pessimistic   C. objective   D. indifferent 
Evidence: “There are no borders, there are no edges. It (plastic rain) is raining on the land and then getting blown back up into the air again, to move somewhere else. There’s no stopping it once it’s out.”

What might the author continue to talk about in following paragraphs?
 
IV. Post-reading
Group discussion
How can you reduce the amount of plastic you use in daily life?
check the product label;
say no to plastic straws;
swap disposable for reusable;
...
Adjusting our daily habits and reducing consumption of such material is a good start.

V. Language focus
Find synonyms of the following expressions in the article.
be of importance
hang around
be equal to
a lot of
a factory dealing with wastewater
make sb. remember sth.
be in an unsafe or unpleasant situation
 
key words
Plastic bags and bottles released into the environment break down into smaller and smaller bits. (para 3)
1. （机器，车辆等）出故障  
Eg. Their car broke down.
2. 分解   
eg. It takes a long time to break down plastic bags.
3. 情绪失控 
eg. Hearing the news, he broke down and cried.
4. 破除（障碍，偏见等）
eg. Women's sports are breaking down the barriers in previously male-dominated domains.

总结归纳
break in    破门而入；打断谈话，插嘴
break up    分手，关系破裂
break out   （战争，火灾等）突然爆发
break into   强行闯入；突然开始（做某事）
break through   取得突破
break away from   脱离，摆脱
即学即练
Last week, David broke _____ with his girlfriend.  
One time, his  girlfriend broke _____ laughter when a fire broke _____ in  his kitchen. 
To his disappointment, his computer broke _____.
up
into
out
down
sentences
    As they climb into the atmosphere, they are thought to act as nuclei (核心) around which water vapor (水蒸气) condenses (凝结) to form clouds. 
 这句话的主干是_____________________, as引导的是______________, which 引导的是_______。
they are thought to act as nuclei
时间状语从句
定语从句
VI. Further information
    More details about the studies
The rainfall survey, titled "It is raining plastic", was put together by scientists at the US Department of the Interior and US Geological Survey.
美国内政部和美国地质调查局的科学家们联合进行了一项名为“正在下的塑料雨”的降雨调查。
They found plastic showed up in 90 percent of the samples, mostly in fiber form, and came in a variety of colors. Blue was most prevalent, followed by red, silver, purple, green, yellow and other colors, the study says.
他们发现，90%的取样中都出现了塑料，大部分是纤维状的，而且颜色丰富。研究表明，蓝色最为普遍，其次是红色、银色、紫色、绿色、黄色和其他颜色。
Evidence is piling up that the Earth is being choked by plastic. Researchers recently wrote in the journal Scientific American that a floating mass of plastic named the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is up to 16 times larger than previously thought.