2024届高考英语外刊阅读天天练：阅读理解专题十八

高考英语外刊阅读天天练 阅读理解专题十八 1 Human activities are making the globe saltier, specifically in our soils, fresh water and air, according to a study released this week in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. Salt pollution isn’t some flashy threat to our existence — like, say, a meteor hitting Earth — but the issue is gravely overlooked and is a “sleeping giant,” said Sujay Kaushal, lead author of the study. Over the past 50 years, salt have increased in streams and rivers as people have begun using and producing more salts. The team found that across the globe, about 2.5 billion acres of soil — an area about the size of the United States — have become saltier. Most people think of salt as the White specks we put in our food or the salt in the oceans, chemically known as sodium chloride (NaCl). That sodium salt can also be found in detergents, other household products and more, but there are many different salts, including calcium, magnesium and other ions used in additional products — and they’re all increasing in places where they don’t normally occur. Salt is a natural and necessary component of Earth. The compound is brought to the surface slowly over long geological time scales, through natural processes such as weathering of sedimentary rocks. When exposed at the surface, the salt can mix with water, be transported into water or go into the air. Living organisms, from plants to people, take up small portions to help regulate daily functions. Excess salt hitches a ride with water molecules, entering groundwater, soil and the oceans. But human activities have altered this normal salt cycle in recent decades, the team found. Agriculture, mining, construction, water and road treatment, and other industrial activities are increasing the salt in our ground, freshwater systems and air. Before this study, scientists didn’t really know how much humans were changing salt concentrations around the globe. But the “magnitude to which we have altered one of Earth