"Once there was the Stone Age, then the Bronze Age, and now we are in the middle of the Plastic Age，" said teenager Boyan Slat. "Every year, we produce 300 million tons of plastic. Much of it reaches our oceans."

　　At the age of 16, Boyan Slat scuba dived off Greece in the Mediterranean Sea seeing more rubbish floating on and under the surface. He said, "At first, I thought I was swimming through strange jellyfish. Instead, I swam through more plastic bags than fish." Seeing all the ocean trash, he asked himself，"Why not clean it up？"

　　Slat quit his Aerospace Engineering studies to create www. theoceancleanup. com in order to fund his research on how to pick up all the plastic trash floating on the oceans of the world. Researchers discovered that 46, 000 pieces of plastic float on every square mile of the oceans, produced by billions of humans around the planet throwing their plastic into rivers, streams and directly into the oceans. What's worse, plastic does not break down.

　　Today, we find plastic in the tissue of about every creature in the oceans. Additionally, millions of tons of plastic gather in giant ocean­going garbage patches (垃圾带). You may Google "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch". It grows from 60 to 90 feet deep in places. It kills millions of sea birds, turtles, sharks, dolphins and whales.

　　Being a brilliant, innocent teenager, Boyan Slat decided to construct designs of some equipment that would collect millions of tons of plastic floating on our oceans. He created a solar­powered trawler (拖网渔船) to pick up surface plastic, chew it up and store it in huge bins for collection. He also created floating booms (挡栅) that allow the oceans to sweep the plastic for efficient pick­up. When you see the designs, they will blow your mind.

　　Boyan Slat stands at the head of his class in creating solutions for the folly of humans. If ever humans need leaders to stand up and be counted, we need more people like Boyan Slat to lead us out of damaging our planet home towards a biologically healthy future.

　　语篇解读：16岁的Boyan Slat设计出了专门用于收集海洋塑料垃圾的设备，为保护海洋生态系统作出了杰出的贡献。

　　5．Boyan Slat said we are in the Plastic Age because nowadays ________.

　　A．the use of plastic is all humans' big concern

　　B．there is too much plastic all over the world

　　C．plastic threatens many creatures in the oceans

　　D．plastic is the most important material in our daily life

解析：选B　推理判断题。根据第一段可知，Boyan Slat在说了我们处在塑料时代之后，紧接着说明我们每年制造大量塑料这一事实。由此可推知，他这样说是因为现在全世界有