Questions: 1-5:
TOO MUCH PLASTIC
by Paula Jones
Plastic is everywhere: in our streets, in the countryside, in rivers, in seas and in oceans. In the UK, over 13 billion plastic bottles are used every year. The good news is that more and more people are recycling plastic and there are also some clever ways to use it.
Roads are usually made of asphalt, but in some countries like the USA and the UK, engineers have started to use plastic to make new roads. First, they collect the plastic, wash it and dry it. Then they cut it into small pieces and heat it to about 170°C. After that, they mix it with hot asphalt and use it to make the road surface. This way of making roads is more difficult than the usual way, but the plastic and asphalt mixture is harder and better than asphalt only.
How about wearing a pair of trainers made from recycled plastic bottles? Some well-known sports companies use six to eleven plastic bottles to make one pair of trainers. This means that fewer plastic bottles are thrown away, and they end up on people's feet, not in the ocean!
Plastic can be recycled in other clever ways too. It is used to make rubbish bins, toys, tables and chairs, sleeping bags, backpacks and hundreds of other things. One clothes company cuts it into very small pieces to make clothes. Believe it or not, the England women's national football team wears a kit made from recycled bottles!
1. What is happening in the UK that is good news?
Plastic can be used in clever ways.
Over 13 billion plastic bottles are used every year.
There are a lot of clever people there.
2. Which of these sentences is true?
Roads are made of plastic all over the world.
Engineers usually make plastic roads in the UK and the USA.
In the past, roads weren't made of plastic.
3. Asphalt and plastic roads _________
are not easy to make.
are better when they are heated to 170°C.
are not as hard as roads that have only asphalt.
4. Some famous companies _________
make sports shoes using rubbish.
throw away fewer plastic bottles than others.
use six to eleven plastic bottles to make one shoe.
5. The writer says that you can use plastic to make _________
footballs.
camping equipment.
rubbish bins and jewellery.
