Since the outbreak （爆发） of the pandemic（疫情），it has made its way around the world.

    It has a strong influence on our daily life.People have found a way to protect themselves by wearing face masks （口罩）.We must wear masks anywhere in public.But the masks are one ﹣ time items.This means that we need to discard them after one or two uses.The world has seen wasted masks strewn （散布在） all over the streets and filling up garbage bins （垃圾箱）.

    Experts have pointed out that the materials used in masks are difficult to degrade （降解）.It will take at least 100 years for them to degrade naturally.Environmentalists become quite worried because a countless number of wasted masks have ended up in the sea!They are polluting the sea!The sea animals suffer （遭受） a lot and so do we humans.If the sea animals eat them by mistake，the rubbish will be hard to digest （消化） and stay in their stomachs forever.The bacteria on the masks may.kill them too.They will not only largely influence the ecological balance （生态平衡） of the sea，but also can spread some more dangerous illnesses.People will also leave these harmful things in their own bodies and may become ill when eating these sea animals.

    In general，the harm of wasted masks to the sea is serious，so we must take action to stop it right now.We should leave them in a safe place and find a wise way to recycle them.

（1）How do people protect themselves in the pandemic？

　                                　

（2）What does the underlined word"discard"mean in Chinese？

　                                 　

（3）How long will it take for the wasted masks to degrade naturally？

　                                   　

（4）What should we do with these wasted masks？

　                                     　

（5）What is the writer's purpose of writing the passage？