Boyan Slat was just a regular Dutch high school student when he went on a diving trip to Greece. Once underwater, he was surrounded by plastic waste. “There were more plastic bags than fish，” he told the BBC in an interview. “That was the moment when I realized it was a huge issue and that environmental issues are really the biggest problems we are facing.”
Like many of us, Slat heard about various great rubbish piles the world over, and he figured that someone was working to solve it. During his research after the trip, he learned that there were a few cleanup ideas out there, but most of them relied on nets to filter(过滤) the plastic out of the water. Those nets also scooped up(舀起) a lot of fish, turtles and other sea lives. So he worked on developing his own solution. “I finally decided to focus all my school life on developing this idea. I wasn’t sure if it would succeed, but I thought at least it was worth a try，” said Slat.
And now, despite some scientists denouncing his idea, he sets to start his rubbishcollecting booms(水栅), after a twoyear study. Just six years from his Greek dive to solution, the $320 million donation to his cause seems to have been worthwhile investments. According to Slat’s current estimates, his booms will collect about half of the Pacific Ocean rubbish piles in five years.
The design works through massive floating booms sitting on top of the water and acts like a minicoastline. Just like beaches collect our plastic waste, the boom can passively gather plastic waste and pull it to its center. Once a month or so, a boat would go and collect the rubbish.
It’s a huge job, with some of the rubbish up to 40 years old. But Slat has used computer models to determine how much his booms can collect, and he believes that he can take tons of plastic waste every year.
【解题导语】 Boyan Slat去希腊潜水旅游时发现海洋垃圾污染严重。因此，他决心为打捞海洋垃圾做出自己的贡献。
1．When did Slat realize the serious pollution in the sea?
A．When he went to a Dutch school.
B．When he had a diving in Greece.
C．When he learned some cleanup ideas.
D．When he heard about great rubbish piles.
B 解析：细节理解题。根据第一段的内容可知，Boyan Slat在希腊潜水旅游时意识到海洋污染非常严重。
2．What made Slat start his own solution?
A．His interest in creating new things.
B．His major in environment protection at school.
C．The disadvantages of the existing ideas.
D．The seriousness of the pollution in his country.
C 解析：细节理解题。根据第二段中的most of them relied on...his own solution.可知，现有的处理海洋垃圾的方式有些缺陷，所以Slat想找到自己的解决方法。
3．The underlined word “denouncing” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by “________”．
A．thinking highly of
B．discussing a lot about
C．having some doubt about
D．making an agreement on
C 解析：词义猜测题。根据第三段despite some... booms(水栅)中的despite及后半句可知，Slat不顾一些科学家对他的想法的质疑，依然决定开始他的计划。
4．What can we learn about Slat from the passage?
A．He has collected lots of rubbish from the ocean.
B．He will get the investment from the government.
C．He will collect half of the sea rubbish in 5 years.
D．He has great confidence in collecting sea rubbish.
D 解析：推理判断题。根据最后一段的最后一句可推测，Slat对打捞海洋垃圾有很大的信心。
