Dr Ria Devereux leads a study of the River Thames at a universityuniversity/ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːrsəti/L1大学a place where people go to study after high school. She looks for tiny plasticplastic/ˈplæstɪk/L1塑料a material that is made by people and used to make many things like bags and bottles pieces called microplastics. They take water from seven places from Teddington to Southend. The river has a lot of plastic. It is one of the most pollutedpolluted/pəˈluːtɪd/L1被污染的dirty and not clean because of bad things like trash or chemicals rivers in the world. The scientists are worriedworried/ˈwʌrid/L1担心的feeling afraid or unhappy because something bad might happen and want to help make the waterwaterL1水a facility that provides a source of water cleaner.
MicroplasticsmicroplasticsL1微塑料。microplastics come from bigger plasticplastic/ˈplæstɪk/L1塑料a material that is made by people and used to make many things like bags and bottles things and break into small pieces. These tiny plastics are in waterwaterL1水a facility that provides a source of water, soil, and air and can hurt animals and plants. The study will show if pollutionpollution/pəˈluːʃən/L2污染（有害物质进入环境造成破坏）the process of making air, water, or land dirty and dangerous for living things. is going up or down. Then people can make better rulesrules/ruːlz/L1规则things that tell you what you can or cannot do.
