Cleaning Mount Qomolangma:An adventurer's journey

江苏 朱 慧

在亲眼看见了数十年来的探险活动对该地区的影响后，女冒险家马里恩和她的团队于2016 年启动了“清洁珠穆朗玛峰”项目，以清除多年来留在山上的垃圾。截至2019年，他们一共清除了重达8.5吨的垃圾。

主题语境：环境保护 篇幅：349词 建议用时：6分钟

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.那时39 岁的马里恩已经登上珠穆朗玛峰3 次，亲眼看见了30 多年来人们的登山探险活动对珠峰的山坡造成的污染。

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句。句中的and 连接并列谓语；what 引导的名词从句作谓语动词saw的宾语。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

clean up 清理；清除

amount to 总计为；相当于

aim to 立志；力求

compare...to 把……与……相比

be passionate about 对……充满热情

have an effect on 对……有影响