科學家們發現，大西洋上漂浮著的微塑料碎片總重在1200萬噸到2100萬噸。由英國國家海洋學中心（National Oceanography Centre）領導的一項研究，研究團隊在穿越大西洋中部的一次考察中對海平面以下200米（650英尺）內的海水進行了測量。

In the decades that our discarded plastic waste has been finding its way into the environment, much of it is broken down into tiny pieces too small for us to see. 

幾十年來，我們丟棄的塑料垃圾已經進入了自然環境中，其中很多被分解成了肉眼無法看到的微小碎片。

So, Dr Katsia Pabortsava, from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, led an expedition to find all that missing microplastic – particles, smaller than the diameter of a human hair – floating in the Atlantic.

因此，來自英國南安普頓國家海洋學中心的卡茨亞·帕波爾茨亞娃博士（Dr Katsia Pabortsava）帶領了一支考察隊去尋找漂浮在大西洋上所有分解得不見蹤影的微塑料碎片，這些碎片的大小小于人類頭發的直徑。 

On that expedition from the UK to the Falklands, Katsia used what's essentially a large ocean-going sieve with a very fine mesh to drag through the top 200 metres of the sea at different locations. That revealed that up to 21 million tonnes of microplastic is floating in those upper layers of the ocean.

在這次從英國到福克蘭群島的考察中，卡茨亞使用了一個本質上適合遠洋探索的巨大濾篩，濾網的網眼十分細密，在不同的地點濾過海平面以下200米內的海水。結果表明，有多達2100萬噸的微塑料碎片漂浮在海洋的上層。 

The team only analysed their samples for the three most commonly used packaging plastics. So, they say their estimate is actually likely to be conservative.

這個團隊只對他們采集樣品中最常見的三種包裝塑料進行了分析。因此，他們表示他們估算的數據實際上很可能是保守的。

But what these tonnes of microscopic fragments show is that decades of plastic pollution has been washed from rivers or even blown on the wind into the ocean.

但這些成噸的微型碎片表明，幾十年來的塑料污染已經從河流中被沖走，甚至被風吹入了海洋。

詞匯

discarded 丟棄的
broken down 被分解的
expedition 考察
microplastic 微塑料
particles 微粒，粒子
sieve 過濾器
mesh 濾網
packaging 包裝材料
conservative 保守的，低估的
fragments 碎片

閱讀理解：請在讀完上文后，回答下列問題。

1. True or false? The particles of microplastic are bigger than the diameter of a human hair.

2. What tool did Dr Katsia use to take samples of microplastic in the ocean?

3. Why did the team say their estimate of 21 million tonnes of microplastic is likely to be conservative?

4. According to the text, what do these tonnes of microscopic fragments show?

答案

1. True or false? The particles of microplastic are bigger than the diameter of a human hair. 
False. They are smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

2. What tool did Dr Katsia use to take samples of microplastic in the ocean?
Dr Katsia used what's essentially a large ocean-going sieve with a very fine mesh to drag through the top 200 metres of the sea at different locations. 

3. Why did the team say their estimate of 21 million tonnes of microplastic is likely to be conservative?
Because they only analysed their samples for the three most commonly used packaging plastics. So, there is likely to be more in the Atlantic Ocean.

4. According to the text, what do these tonnes of microscopic fragments show? 
They show that decades of plastic pollution has been washed from rivers or even blown on the wind into the ocean.