Air pollution is damaging 60% of Europe’s prime wildlife sites in meadows, forests and bushes, according to a new report.

A team of EU scientists said nitrogen emissions(氮排放) from cars, factories and farming were threatening biodiversity. It’s the second report this week warning of the on-going risks and threats linked to nitrogen pollution.

Nitrogen in the atmosphere is harmless in its inert(惰性的) state, but the report says reactive forms of nitrogen, largely produced by human activity, can be a menace to the natural world.

Emissions mostly come from vehicle exhausts(排氣), factories, artificial fertilizers(肥料) and animal waste from intensive farming. The reactive nitrogen they emit to the air disrupts the environment in two ways: It can make acidic soils too acidic to support their previous mix of species. But primarily, because nitrogen is a fertilizer, it favors wild plants that can maximize the use of nitrogen to help them grow.

In effect, some of the nitrogen spread to fertilize crops is carried in the atmosphere to fertilize weeds, possibly a great distance from where the chemicals were first applied.

The effects of fertilization and acidification favor common aggressive species like grasses, brambles and nettles. They harm more delicate species like mosses(苔蘚), and insect-eating sundew plants.

The report said 60% of wildlife sites were now receiving a critical load of reactive nitrogen. The report’s lead author, Dr Kevin Hicks from the University of York’s Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), told BBC News that England’s Peak District had a definitely low range of species as a result of the reactive nitrogen that fell on the area.

“Nitrogen creates a rather big problem that seems to me to have been given too little attention,” he said. “Governments are responsible for protecting areas like this, but they are clearly failing.”

He said more research was needed to understand the knock-on effects for creatures from the changes in vegetation accidentally caused by emissions from cars, industry and farms.

At the conference, the representatives agreed “The Edinburgh Declaration on Reactive Nitrogen”. The document highlights the importance of reducing reactive nitrogen emissions to the environment, adding that the benefits of reducing nitrogen outweigh the costs of taking action.

1.The underlined word “menace” is used to express that the reactive nitrogen, largely produced by human activity can be ___________.

A. frightening              B. threatening      C. unique           D. unusual

2. We can infer from the passage that _________.

A.        it’s harmless to have reactive nitrogen existing in the atmosphere

B.        reactive nitrogen emissions help aggressive species less than crops

C.        the harm to those delicate species has a negative impact on biodiversity

D.        reactive nitrogen can fertilize soils and keep their biodiversity

3. The team of EU scientists released the second report of nitrogen emissions this week when __________.

A.        no action was taken to stop nitrogen emission

B.        governments were willing to protect areas harmed by nitrogen

C.        “The Edinburgh Declaration on Reactive Nitrogen” was agreed

D.        nitrogen emissions were threatening wildlife sites’ biodiversity

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Keeping Away From Nitrogen Emissions     B. Stopping Nitrogen Emissions

C. Air Pollution Damaging Europe’s Wildlife        D. Saving Europe’s Wildlife

 

【答案】

1. B                  2. C              3. D              4. C

【解析】

 

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