You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans—between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.

At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse”, a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168, 000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source(来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.

In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate(说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic”, Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10, 000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped(倾倒) from a truck all at once.

Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.

1.What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?

A Beautifying the city he lives in.

B Introducing eco-friendly products.

C Drawing public attention to plastic waste

D Reducing garbage on the beach.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据第一段的“forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.(迫使观众重新审视他们与一次性塑料产品的关系。)”可知，本杰明·冯·王用塑料垃圾制作的雕塑想让人们重新审视与一次性塑料制品的关系，由此可知他做这个雕塑的目的是为了引起公众对塑料垃圾的关注。故选C。

2.Why does the author discuss plastic straws in Paragraph 3?

A To show the difficulty of their recycling.

B To explain why they are useful.

C To voice his views on modern art.

D To find a substitute for them.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据第三段的“Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. ... because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. (全球只有9%的塑料垃圾被回收……由于塑料吸管的体积小、重量轻，无法回收利用)”可知，作者在第三段讨论塑料吸管是为了展示它们回收的困难。故选A。

3.What effect would “Truckload of Plastic” have on viewers?

A Calming.

B Disturbing.

C Refreshing.

D Challenging.

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据最后一段“Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint(Von Wong希望他的作品也能帮助向大公司施压，减少塑料使用)”，由此可推断，这个作品会让观众对塑料垃圾进入海洋这件事感到不安。故选B。

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety

B Media Interest in Contemporary Art

C Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies

D Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures

解析：选D。D 标题判断题。通读全文，并结合艺术家本杰明·冯·王用塑料垃圾建造的多个巨大的雕塑的作用可知，他通过利用塑料垃圾制作巨型雕塑的方法来提示人们重新思考与一次性塑料的关系，唤醒和提高人们循环利用的意识，促进环保的发展。由此可知，D项“海洋塑料变成雕塑”符合文章主旨，适合作为标题。故选D。