Cleaning Mount Qomolangma:An adventurer's journey

江蘇 朱 慧

在親眼看見了數十年來的探險活動對該地區的影響后，女冒險家馬里恩和她的團隊于2016 年啟動了“清潔珠穆朗瑪峰”項目，以清除多年來留在山上的垃圾。截至2019年，他們一共清除了重達8.5噸的垃圾。

主題語境：環境保護 篇幅：349詞 建議用時：6分鐘

1 Some people keep making us believe in the best of humankind with their kindness,effort, and desire to make the world a better place.One of those people is Marion Chaygneaud-Dupuy，who helped clean up Mount Qomolangma from the tons and tons of trash left behind by the people climbing it.

2 In the 3 years since founding the “Clean Qomolangma” project, Marion and her team had cleared about 8.5 tons of waste and garbage—that amount of rubbish they cleared amounted to three-quarters of all the manmade waste on the mountain.Impressive? We certainly think so.But that's nothing compared to Marion's future plans.Marion is on a tough and ambitious mission: she aims to finish cleaning up Mount Qomolangma and then she wants to move on to the entire Himalaya mountain range.

3 The then 39-year-old had already scaled Mount Qomolangma 3 times and saw firsthand what over 30 years of expeditions had done to the mountainside.“Climbing Mount Qomolangma should offer one of the purest interactions between humans and the natural world.But when I reached the top, I realized that the mountain had been damaged by 30 years of expeditions.I estimated that nearly 10 tonnes of waste had been discarded at the peaks alone! I was utterly shocked.I've been passionate about nature since I was a little girl,” she said.

4 For Marion, nature is a vital part of her life that helps her feel alive.That's why she wants to do her part in helping others get the best possible experience.Her connection to nature started when she was a child.She would play in the woods and learn the names of trees, plants and animals.

5 As a grown-up, she traveled to Xizang where she's been living and working as a mountain guide for over 17 years.

6 The pollution affecting the Himalayas has an effect on the drinking water used by around 2 billion people living in the valleys, so the battle to clean up the mountains isn't just about protecting nature.It's also about our quality of life.

Reading Check

Detail1.Three years before Marion started the project, how much was the total

man-made waste on Mount Qomolangma?

A.About 8.5 tons.

B.About 10.5 tons.

C.About 11.3 tons.

D.About 12.6 tons.

Detail2.What was Marion's original purpose of climbing Mount Qomolangma?

A.To clean up the waste there.

B.To see the beautiful scenery.

C.To connect with nature closely.

D.To raise money for a charity.

Inference3.What does the author seem to indicate in the last paragraph?

A.Marion's work is meaningful and necessary.

B.The pollution on the Himalayas can't be stopped.

C.Marion has a long way to go before achieving her goal.

D.There's a shortage of drinking water in the Himalayas area.

Inference 4.Which words can best describe Marion?

A.Wealthy and powerful.

B.Responsible and ambitious.

C.Sociable and fortunate.

D.Friendly and determined.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

The then 39-year-old had already scaled Mount Qomolangma 3 times and saw firsthand what over 30 years of expeditions had done to the mountainside.那時39 歲的馬里恩已經登上珠穆朗瑪峰3 次，親眼看見了30 多年來人們的登山探險活動對珠峰的山坡造成的污染。

【點石成金】本句是一個復合句。句中的and 連接并列謂語；what 引導的名詞從句作謂語動詞saw的賓語。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

clean up 清理；清除

amount to 總計為；相當于

aim to 立志；力求

compare...to 把……與……相比

be passionate about 對……充滿熱情

have an effect on 對……有影響