海藻能解決全球塑料危機？

甘肅 謝啟紅

倫敦的Notpla 公司從第一個產(chǎn)品問世后就得到了英國政府的資助，這些資金將用以開發(fā)海藻制成的生物可降解包裝材料。該公司以海藻為原料，生產(chǎn)一種可食用且可完全生物降解的包裝材料，旨在讓包裝材料能夠“自然地消失”，并用這種材料取代塑料。

_____題材______海藻體裁_________說明文___________文章詞數(shù)_________368___________難度_________★★★_________建議用時___7分鐘_____

After you finish your fries,eat the ketchup packet.When you add your pasta to boiling water, put the bag into the pot, too. If these instructions sound confusing to you, it is only because you haven't yet heard of Notpla,a London-based startup company that is designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging.

Notpla's products are meant to be dissolved. Current offerings include film wrap for products like coffee or toilet paper and takeaway boxes that replace plastic-based coating with seaweed lining to make them fully biodegradable.Notpla's design director Karlijn Sibbel said they looked to nature as inspiration for the ideal packaging,like the skin on a fruit.“A peel will eventually be used as nutrients by nature,and disappear and become a part of the cycle,”she said.

According to the UN, 331 million tons of plastic waste are produced globally each year,and out of the estimated 9.15 billion tons of plastic that have been produced since the early 1950s, about 60% has been buried or discarded outdoors. Microplastics pollute the ocean,the air and our bodies.

Notpla's founders looked to seaweed as the solution to the world's plastic problem because it is abundant, grows quickly, doesn't compete with land crops, and takes in carbon from the air. Seaweed grows in the ocean and has a lot of positive benefits because it can create new ecosystems for other organisms to thrive in.

Since its founding, the startup has been funded by the British government for its first product, the Ooho sachet. The new financing round will go toward the production of the Ooho and Notpla coating, while further developing their new seaweed paper and multipurpose film wrap.“The exciting thing is that this is a film that can replace most of the flexible packaging that you see around,”Sibbel said. For food items, such as pasta, scientists have even experimented with adding flavors to the packaging, so that dissolving the bag could add seasoning.

Some of Notpla's products are available online,and the company has landed some major partnerships in the UK and around Western Europe. As they scale up, Notpla's team hopes seaweed could replace single-use plastic in the supply chain more broadly.

Reading Check

1.What's the purpose of paragraph 1?

A.To introduce the topic of the text.

B.To deal with confusing problems.

C.To tell Notpla is a startup company.

D.To show some packages are edible.

2.What does paragraph 3 intend to tell us?

A.Our oceans have been polluted.

B.Plastic problems affect our lives.

C.We can get rid of plastic waste.

D.Plastic crises are rather serious.

3.What advantage does seaweed have over other materials?

A.It is easy to obtain.

B.It can be planted easily.

C.It is easy to break down.

D.It absorbs abundant nutrients.

4.Why does the company cooperate with companies in more countries?

A.To make its products available online.

B.To scale up the influence of the products.

C.To take the place of plastic on a large scale.

D.To supply more chances for ordinary people.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

If these instructions sound confusing to you, it is only because you haven't yet heard of Notpla,a London-based startup company that is designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging.如果這些說明聽起來讓你感到困惑，那只是因為你還沒有聽說過Notpla，一家總部位于倫敦的初創(chuàng)公司，這家公司正在設(shè)計一種以海藻為基礎(chǔ)的一次性塑料包裝替代品。

【點石成金】本句中的If these instructions sound confusing to you 為if引導(dǎo)的條件狀語從句；it is only because...為because引導(dǎo)的表語從句；a London-based startup company作Notpla 的同位語；that is designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging為that引導(dǎo)的定語從句。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

replace...with 用……替換……

be used as nutrients 被用作營養(yǎng)物質(zhì)

the solution to 解決……的方法

take in carbon 吸收碳

experiment with 用……做實驗

scale up 增大；擴大（規(guī)模或數(shù)量）