CNN News: 清理海洋塑料垃圾

The North Pacific gyre is our next stop. It`s a giant clockwise rotating current between Asia and North America, and it`s home to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This has been characterized as an ocean of plastic. It`s the largest accumulation of garbage in the sea. People are responsible for causing it and some are taking on the responsibility of trying to clean it up.
下則新聞我們來關注北太平洋環(huán)流。它是亞洲和北美之間的一個巨大的順時針旋轉洋流，同時也是“太平洋垃圾帶”的所在地。這里還被定性為“塑料的海洋”。這是海洋中最大的垃圾堆。是人類造就了它，不過現(xiàn)在有人承擔起了清理它的責任。
In the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, the nearest coastline more than a thousand miles away, the evidence of human activity is visible from every angle. This is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling sop of manmade litter. And the solution to cleaning it up is the brainchild of 22-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat.
在北太平洋中部，離我們最近的海岸線有一千多英里遠，然而從各個角度都能看到人類活動在那里留下的證據(jù)。那就是巨大的太平洋垃圾帶，一個旋流中的人造垃圾帶。清理它的方案來自22歲的荷蘭發(fā)明家博伊安•斯萊特的創(chuàng)意。
Right now, trillions of pieces of plastic have accumulated in this large offshore garbage patches, damages ecosystems and economic problem as well, about $13 billion per year of damage. These pieces of plastic, they attract chemicals and those chemicals then get transported into the food chain through the plastic, which also includes as humans.
現(xiàn)在，數(shù)以萬億計的塑料垃圾已經(jīng)積聚在這個巨大的海洋垃圾帶中，破壞生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的同時還引發(fā)經(jīng)濟問題——每年它都會造成約130億美元的經(jīng)濟損失。這些塑料會吸引化學物質，然后這些化學物質會通過塑料進入食物鏈，而它的影響也會波及人類。
I do think the major challenge humankind face in this century is in the avenue sustainability.
我認為本世紀人類面臨的主要挑戰(zhàn)是可持續(xù)發(fā)展之路。
Four years ago, at just 19 years old, Slat founded the Ocean Cleanup.
四年前， Slat才19歲，那時他就創(chuàng)建了“海洋清理”項目。
We need to clean up what`s already out there. It doesn`t go away by itself.
我們需要清理那些已經(jīng)存在的垃圾。它不會自行消失。
Single use items are particular issue. Although recycling has become more popular and accessible in recent years, only 14 percent of global plastic packaging is collected for recycling, according to the World`s Economic Forum.
一次性物品是個特殊問題。據(jù)世界經(jīng)濟論壇數(shù)據(jù)顯示，盡管近年來循環(huán)利用已經(jīng)變得更加流行和普及，但全球只有14%的塑料包裝做到了回收利用。
In May 2017, Slat and a team of 65 scientists and engineers unveiled their latest project, this floating barriers sits in the water, trapping plastic while water flows beneath.
2017年5月，Slat和一個由65名科學家和工程師組成的團隊公布了他們的最新項目，這些漂浮的障礙物坐落在水里，水在下面流動的同時將塑料帶進其中。
Instead of going after the plastic, we let the plastic come to us, that we could then take it out of the water and bring it to land for recycling.
我們不去撈捕塑料，而是讓塑料來找我們，然后我們再把它從水里撈出來，把它帶到陸地上進行循環(huán)利用。
These lessons were learned after the first model spent two months in the North Sea back in 2016, with rather mixed results.
2016年第一個模型在北海試用了兩個月后，我們得到了這些經(jīng)驗教訓，當時的試用結果喜憂參半。
At the Dutch organization`s headquarters, oceanographer Julia Reisser leads the research into what kinds of items find their way into our seas.
在荷蘭組織的總部，海洋學家茱莉亞·賴瑟爾領導了一項研究，研究哪些物品能進入海洋。
What we have here is a collection of different types of plastic. They are mostly fragments coming out of the breakdown of plastics, like single use plastic like plastic lids and bottles, as well as fishing gear that`s lost or discarded at sea.
目前我們搜集到的就是一堆不同類型的塑料。它們大多是塑料分解后形成的碎片，比如一次性的塑料蓋和塑料瓶，以及在海上丟失或被丟棄的漁具。
Experts are predicting that in a few decades, we might have more plastic than fish in our oceans. In some areas of the ocean, that`s already the case. For instance, on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, when we put out our trawls into the water, we got more plastic than fish.
專家預測，幾十年后，海洋里的塑料制品可能會比魚還多。在海洋的某些區(qū)域，情況已經(jīng)如此。例如，在太平洋垃圾帶，我們把拖網(wǎng)放下水，撈上來的塑料比魚都多。
Plastic breaks down into tiny particles, like this called microplastics.
塑料被分解成微小的顆粒，被稱為塑料微粒。
Fish, birds and other sea life mistake them for food. Those animals are then eaten by humans and the effect on our food chain is not really clear.
魚、鳥和其他海洋生物會將其誤食。隨后，這些動物被人類吃掉，這對食物鏈會產(chǎn)生何種影響目前尚不清楚。
Boyan Slat and the Ocean Cleanup believe that their innovations can clean up to half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within five years, plus twice as quick as their previous estimates.
博伊安·斯萊特和海洋清理組織認為，他們的發(fā)明可以在5年內(nèi)清除掉太平洋垃圾帶的一半垃圾，比之前的估計要快兩倍。
And thanks to this improvement, we will also be able to start the cleanup within 12 months, instead of waiting for 2020.
多虧了這一改進，使得我們能夠在12個月內(nèi)開始清理工作，而不必非等到2020年。
Bold claims from the young entrepreneur, but it is a welcome thought for the 3 billion people that WWF say rely on fish, as well as seafood as their main source of protein.
這位年輕企業(yè)家此言論相當大膽，但對于世界自然基金會所稱的依賴魚類為食的30億人來說，以及以食用海鮮作為主要的蛋白質來源的人來說，這是一個可喜的想法。