Plastics: A Toxic Love Story

What is the author’s most likely purpose for including paragraphs 7 and 8 in Plastic: A Toxic Love Story?

• to describe what led to plastic trash collecting in the vortex

• to provide a detailed description of how plastic trash in the vortex affects ocean animals

• to contrast what has been reported about plastic trash with what is really happening in the vortex

• to highlight the dangers caused by plastic trash in the vortex and provide a solution for removing the trash

Answer explanation

Paragraphs 7 and 8 to contrast the common perceptions of plastic trash with the actual conditions in the vortex, highlighting discrepancies between reported information and reality.

Read the sentences from Plastic: A Toxic Love Story and High Tech Trash in the box. What do the sentences mainly suggest?

Whether they’re working a beach in Chile, France, or China, volunteers inevitably come across much the same stuff: plastic bottles, cutlery, plates, and cups; straws and stirrers, fast-food wrappers, and packaging. (paragraph 1 of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story)

Domestic e-waste . . . is accumulating rapidly virtually everywhere in the world that PCs and cell phones are used, especially in populous countries with active high-tech industries like China . . . and India. (paragraph 2 of High Tech Trash)

• The majority of waste is found near water.

• The issue of waste impacts most of the world.

• Some types of waste are discussed more in the media than others.

• Some regions have larger concerns about electronic waste than others.

Answer explanation

The sentences highlight the global prevalence of waste, with plastic found on beaches and e-waste accumulating in populous countries, indicating that waste is a widespread issue affecting many regions worldwide.

Which sentence best describes the difference between the sources of evidence used in Plastic: A Toxic Love Story and High Tech Trash?

• Plastic: A Toxic Love Story relies more on technical research, while High Tech Trash relies more on testimonials.

• Plastic: A Toxic Love Story relies more on personal accounts, while High Tech Trash relies more on facts and data.

• Plastic: A Toxic Love Story relies more on historical reports, while High Tech Trash relies more on information from websites.

• Plastic: A Toxic Love Story relies more on experiments in a laboratory, while High Tech Trash relies more on examples from newspapers and magazines.

Answer explanation

Plastic: A Toxic Love Story spends a large section on a personal story of the garbage patch, while High Tech Trash uses technical data and statistics.

Based on Plastic: A Toxic Love Story and High Tech Trash, with which statement would both authors most likely agree?

• The use of electronics is the main cause of waste in the ocean.

• The use of plastic products needs to be phased out from society.

• The human need to connect with others is causing new types of waste to enter the environment.

• The human desire for items that make life easier is creating significant damage to the environment.

Answer explanation

Both authors highlight how the pursuit of convenience through plastic and electronics contributes to environmental harm, aligning with the idea that the desire for easier living leads to significant ecological damage.

What is the main purpose of the phrases?

. . . like water circling the drain in a bathtub. (paragraph 4 of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story)

. . . a virtual alphabet soup of different plastics . . . (paragraph 5 of High Tech Trash)

• to provide a link to current events

• to provide historical context for terms

• to provide familiar images for comparison

• to provide a humorous viewpoint on a serious situation

Answer explanation

The phrases allow readers to easily visualize and compare complex concepts related to plastic waste.

What is the purpose of the parentheses?

. . . Ebbesmeyer was the one who bestowed the more colorful name—and the one that has stuck—the Pacific garbage patch. (There’s also another debris-dense convergence zone at the other end of the gyre, in the western Pacific near Japan.)

• to highlight a belief

• to present a contrast

• to transition to a new idea

• to provide additional information

Answer explanation

The parentheses provide additional information about another debris-dense convergence zone in the Pacific, enhancing the reader's understanding of the topic without interrupting the main flow of the sentence.

Part A: Which sentence from High Tech Trash suggests that people may be unaware of the destructive effects their trash is having on the environment?

• Americans own over 200 million computers, well over 200 million televisions, and over 150 million cell phones.

• The Wall Street Journal, not known for making rash statements about environmental protection, has called e-waste 'the world's fastest growing and potentially most dangerous waste problem.'

• Yet for the most part we have been so bedazzled by high tech . . . that until recently we haven’t given this waste—or the environmental impacts of manufacturing such products—much thought.

• Numerous lawsuits have already been brought by high-tech workers who believe their health or their children’s has been harmed by chemicals they were exposed to in high-tech fabrication plants.

Answer explanation

The correct choice highlights that people have been so captivated by technology that they have not considered the waste and its environmental impacts, indicating a lack of awareness about the destructive effects of their trash.

Part B: Which sentence from Plastic: A Toxic Love Story supports the same conclusion as in Part A?

• (A) "Afterward, the group publishes a detailed inventory of every item of debris that’s been collected." (paragraph 1)

• (B) "‘As I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic,’ he later wrote." (paragraph 4)

• (C) "His alarming dispatches from repeated trips back to the gyre helped bring public attention to the problem." (paragraph 6)

• (D) "He’s used to seeing them all over the Hong Kong harbor, but he saw none in the vortex; it’s so far from land they would have long since been sunk or smashed to smithereens by the ocean’s currents." (paragraph 8)

Answer explanation

Choice (C) highlights how the author's reports raised awareness about plastic pollution, aligning with the conclusion in Part A about the urgency of addressing this environmental issue.

Determine what additional evidence would best support each author’s argument. Each piece of evidence may only be used once. Which additional piece of evidence would best support the author’s argument in Plastic: A Toxic Love Story?

• a map of the currents in the Pacific Ocean

• a chart showing the change in the quantity of electronic waste by country over the past 10 years

• a presentation on the various methods of producing plastic

• a graph that shows the amount of time the average person in various countries spends using computers

Answer explanation

A map of the currents in the Pacific Ocean would illustrate how plastic waste travels through marine environments, directly supporting the argument in "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story" about the environmental impact of plastic pollution.

Determine what additional evidence would best support each author’s argument. Each piece of evidence may only be used once. Which additional piece of evidence would best support the author’s argument in High Tech Trash?

• a map of the currents in the Pacific Ocean

• a chart showing the change in the quantity of electronic waste by country over the past 10 years

• a presentation on the various methods of producing plastic

• a graph that shows the amount of time the average person in various countries spends using computers

Answer explanation

The chart showing the change in the quantity of electronic waste by country over the past 10 years directly supports the argument in High Tech Trash by providing concrete data on the growing issue of electronic waste globally.