Antarctica's plastic threat 科學家稱微塑料污染已給南極海域造成威脅

學習要點

和“the environment 環境”有關的詞匯

邊看邊答

Scientists use a 'manta' to collect samples. What is it?

文字稿

This is the most remote continent on Earth. It looks pristine, but today there's new evidence that microplastics are now reaching even these waters and perhaps more disturbingly there is also pollution from airborne chemicals in freshly fallen snow.

這是地球上最偏遠的大陸。它雖然看起來一塵不染，但現在新證據顯示，微塑料已蔓延到了這片海域，也許令人更加不安的是，在剛落下的雪片中也含有彌漫在空氣中化學污染物。

We were with scientists on board a Greenpeace ship in January as they began testing waters off the Antarctic Peninsula. Very little data exists. It's a question of picking a tiny bit of the Southern Ocean and lowering in a manta, a trawling device. Any microplastics should find their way into the net.

今年一月，我們和一組著手測試南極半島周邊水質的科學家一起登上了綠色和平組織的一艘船。相關數據微乎其微。問題的關鍵是選南冰洋中很小的一部分，把形似蝠鲼的拖網裝置放入水里。這樣，任何微塑料成分都會被收入網中。

The team searched some of the most isolated places on the planet. They also hunted for pollution on land, gathering samples of freshly fallen snow. We didn't know it at the time, but even here, deposited either as a gas or in dust, were molecules of man-made chemicals.

該科研小組在地球最孤僻的地區開展過搜索活動。他們還曾通過采集新雪樣本的方式來搜尋陸地上的污染物。那時我們并不知道，即使在南極，人造化學品分子也會以氣體或塵埃的狀態積存起來。

The samples of the three-month-long expedition were brought to this laboratory in Exeter; the majority were found to be contaminated.

在這次歷時三個月的考察中所收集到的樣本被帶到了這間位于英國埃克斯特的實驗室中。科學家們發現，大多數樣本已被污染。

Dr David Santillo, Exeter University
大衛·桑提羅博士 英國埃克斯特大學

What we're finding is that in almost all of the samples of water we collected, we find tiny pieces of microplastics. Maybe only a few fragments of fibres in every litre of water, but given that this is really the end of the Earth, it's remarkable once again that we are finding microplastics almost wherever we look.

“我們發現，幾乎所有被采集的海水樣本中都含有少量的微塑料碎片。雖然每升水中可能只有微量的纖維碎屑，但考慮到南極是地球的盡頭，所以在所有樣本中幾乎都找到了微塑料這一事實非常驚人。”

This will only add to the growing calls for something to be done about plastic before more of it reaches the end of the Earth.

該發現只會使這一日益增高的呼聲愈演愈烈：那就是我們應該在更多塑料污染蔓延至世界盡頭之前有所作為。

詞匯

pristine 未被污染的，原始的

microplastics 微塑料

airborne 空氣傳播的

contaminated 受污染的

你知道嗎？

In Antarctica, the sea, rather than the land, supports most creatures such as penguins and seals. It's often warmer than the land, so is a good place to retreat to and warm up to a balmy -2 Celsius!

在南極，是海水而非陸地孕育企鵝和海豹等大多數生物。南極海洋常暖于陸地，所以“高”達零下2攝氏度的海水是動物們避寒和取暖的好去處。

問題答案

A 'manta' is a trawling device – a type of net for dragging through the water to collect small particles such as microplastics.