英语高考时文阅读材料(十三)

英语高考时文阅读材料（十三）

编者：如今的英语高考、模拟考的阅读材料（完形填空、阅读理解、任务型阅读）大都选自中国、欧美等主流媒体的最新时鲜文章，与最新人文科技、政治文化接轨。作为一名考生，在接触阅读世界最新潮流的同时也应该积累素材，并培养相关英语文章的阅读能力。

下面摘取了最新的来自中国日报网（CHINA DAILY）的两篇文章，并做了必要的批注，且于文章末尾增添了几个小习题，可自行按照所附的参考答案检测阅读效果。

研究：卧室地毯比马桶圈脏十倍

Bedroom floor harbors TEN times more bacteria than a toilet seat

中国日报网2020-02-12 08:23

NeONBRAND/unsplash

You might be diligent about running the vacuum（吸尘器）over your carpet（地毯）whenever it starts to look a bit scruffy, but shocking research has revealed that the average bedroom floor is ten times dirtier than a toilet seat.

scruffy [?skr?fi]：adj.破旧的；肮脏的

The data, compiled by sofa and carpet specialist ScS, found carpets in the bedroom also harbor（藏匿）more than double the bacteria found in a

living room, and ten times that of a gym floor.

Their findings also showed that almost half of Brits have admitted to never cleaning their carpets, making them an ideal breeding（滋生）ground for

colonies of disease-causing microbes.

Office floors were found to be the cleanest in the experiment - in which carpets and household appliances（电器）were swabbed（擦拭）to

reveal levels of aerobic bacteria, yeast and mould.

Bedroom carpets were by far the dirtiest, with a combined bacteria and yeast level of 140 CFU per cm2 (colony forming units per cm2) uncovered within them, as well as heavy mould（霉菌）.

The cleanest surface swabbed was an office carpet, which contained less bacteria than a gym floor, toilet seat or living room carpet, possibly due to more regular professional cleaning.

Daniel Wiadro/unsplash

The filthy results are perhaps not surprising considering 41 percent of 2,000 Britons recently questioned by BISSELL admitted they had never washed their carpets.

Some 84 percent of those polled by the carpet cleaning experts believed their carpets to be clean - with 63 percent were not aware that bacteria and allergens can live on the floor.

Carpets can be a breeding ground for bacteria and dust mites（尘螨）, which can lead to health issues including breathing problems, eczema（湿疹）and other allergy symptoms.

Experts recommend vacuuming at least twice a week and having carpets professionally cleaned at least once a year to avoid growing levels of bacteria, mould and yeast.

Hygiene expert Dr Lisa Ackerley said: 'This research is of concern as unwashed carpets can become homes to bacteria and germs and in particular dust mites, which can put some people at greater risk of asthma, eczema and perennial allergic rhinitis caused by allergies to dust mite faecal matter.

'Each mite produces about 20 waste droppings every day, equating to around 20,000 particles of faeces in every cubic foot of air'.

”

Dale Gillespie, Head of Acquisition at ScS, dubbed the results of the company's research 'shocking', adding people should 'put time' into ensuring their carpets are clean.

Bella Middleton, Founder of Norfolk Natural Living, added: 'I am not at all surprised that your carpets are dirtier than your loo seat, largely because people clean their bathroom a lot more often than they do their carpets.

'Psychologically, we are all more aware of the need to give the loo a good clean, despite the amount of dirt and detritus that gets trampled（踩）

through our carpets on a daily basis.

'It is often difficult to see just how dirty carpets are, especially if they're dark in color. However, it is crucial to consider just how much bacteria collects in your carpets everyday, from dead skin cells, pet dander and outside dirt.

dander ['d?nd?]：n.头皮屑，羽毛屑

'Unwashed carpets are also a haven for dust mites which can affect allergy sufferers. These findings highlight the sheer amount of bacteria we're around everyday at home - it's enough to make anyone pull out the cleaning products.'

研究发现：室内盆栽并不能真正改善空气质量

Sorry, but indoor potted plants don’t actually improve air quality

IFLScience、煎蛋网2019-11-19 09:09

在室内放上绿色盆栽让人感觉良好，似乎空气也变得清新起来，然而研究发现，室内盆栽并不能有效地净化空气，效果远不如开窗通风和空气净化器。

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

In 1989, NASA conducted its famous Clean Air Study to see whether common houseplants might purify（清洁）indoor air by removing toxins

in addition to absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. It worked, and while plants are still capable of absorbing harmful toxins（有害物质）in the air, new research suggests that potted plants（盆栽）’ ability to improve air quality in the home or office is largely overstated and buries a more effective solution to keeping the air clean.

Writing in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, researchers found that natural ventilation（通风）of indoor environments dilutes（稀释）concentrations of potentially harmful air pollutants much faster than a plant is capable of extracting（吸收）them.

"The best way to have a healthy home is to try to reduce indoor emissions （排放）, ventilate well (especially when doing high impact emissions like

cooking), and using filtration（过滤器）for certain pollutants (e.g. particulate matter),” study author Michael Waring of Drexel University told IFLScience.

Where NASA and similar studies went wrong is that they conducted their experiments in sealed chambers（密封环境）in laboratories, which do

not accurately mimic the many factors that influence our indoor environments.

To come to their conclusions, Waring and his team systematically reviewed a dozen studies by taking the available VOC removal data from different studies and converting （转化）the findings into a common metric（指标）they nicknamed the clean air delivery rate (CADR). CADR was used to parameterize air cleaning indoors. Using that metric, the impact of plants’ ability to remove VOCs was compared to the removal ability of other kinds of ventilation, both natural and mechanical.

VOC: abbr. 挥发性有机化合物（volatile organic compounds）

P hoto by Mike Marquez on Unsplash

"In a small office, you would have to have somewhere between 100 to 1,000 plants to have the same air cleaning impact of ventilation at 1 air change per hour,” said Waring.

To understand the effects of indoor pollution, Waring says to think of it in three categories. The first is volatile organic compounds, which are gas-phase molecules that are emitted from many sources such as consumer products, cleaners, and building materials. These tend to reside in the air itself.

The second is semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), which are in things like pesticides, flame retardants, or plasticizers. These tend to be

'sticky' and stick to surfaces indoors and may persist for months or years.

Lastly, particulate matter, which can be solid or liquid, may be found floating in the air. These indoor pollutants have been linked to asthma,（哮喘）allergic reactions, irritation, and other respiratory ailment s(呼吸系统疾病).

That doesn’t mean you should chuck out your plants just yet. Waring says that although houseplants do not clean the air under typical settings, houseplants have many benefits, most of which are psychological.

Translate the underlined sentence.

1. You might be diligent about running the vacuum（吸尘器）over your carpet（地毯）whenever it starts to look a bit scruffy, but shocking research has revealed that the average bedroom floor is ten times dirtier than a toilet seat.

2.Carpets can be a breeding ground for bacteria and dust mites（尘螨）, which can lead to health issues including breathing problems, eczema（湿疹）and other allergy symptoms.

3. Writing in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, researchers found that natural ventilation（通风）of indoor environments dilutes（稀释）concentrations of potentially harmful air pollutants much faster than a plant is capable of extracting（吸收）them.

Answer

1.地毯看起来有点脏的时候，你可能会很勤劳地用吸尘器清理，但是一项令人震惊的研究表明，一般来说，卧室地板比马桶座圈要脏十倍。

2.地毯可以成为滋生细菌和尘螨的温床，这会导致呼吸问题、湿疹和其他过敏症状等健康问题。

3.研究人员在《暴露科学与环境流行病学》杂志上发表文章称，室内自然通风稀释有害空气污染物浓度的速度远远快于植物吸收这些污染物的速度。