Trashed Oceans Threaten Marine Life

     Last September, more than 600,000 volunteers from all over the world participated(参与共享) in International Coastal¹ Cleanup Day. According to a report released recently, they removed more than 3.5 million kilos of trash from ocean beaches, rivers and other waterways worldwide, enough to cover 170 football fields. They collected enough tires to outfit² almost 6,000 cars, and enough cigarette butts³ to fill nearly 95,000 packs.

    Talking trashThe report is called "Tracking Trash: 25 Years of Action for the Ocean." It contains data and stories about the trash that volunteers collected during last year's International Coastal Cleanup Day.

    The annual event is organized by the advocacy group, Ocean Conservancy. Plastic bottles, bags, cigarette butts and other trash are clogging⁴ the oceans and killing⁵ marine⁶ mammals and sea turtles every year, according to Vikki Spruill, the group's president.

    "Earth, as we know it, is a water planet," says Spruill. "If you look from outer space, you see blue before you see the land. It’s all connected. The ocean is the system that actually provides the rain water that we all depend on in our life. Half of the oxygen in the next breath you’re going to take comes from the oceans."Luckily, she says, thousands of people from more than 120 countries and all 50 U.S. states care enough to volunteer every year for clean ups of the planet's waterways, beaches and ocean fronts.

    "We have students, school kids, scout⁷ troops, stay-at-home mothers. We have military leaders, every imaginable walk of life, participating in these cleanups."International effortOne of those volunteers is Oscar Oviedo, a banker from the Dominican Republic. "A couple of friends and myself, we practice scuba⁸ diving and we began to see the situation of the ocean from underneath⁹ and said we had to do something," he says. "So we established（建立） our own foundation, Vida Azul, which means Blue Life, four years ago. We gathered about 1,800 volunteers."They've been cleaning waterways in the Santo Domingo area.

    "What we’re doing is we organize speeches and reunions where we talk about the importance of water and try to get people involved, mostly children under 12," Oviedo says. "I think we’re pretty effective. A lot of people know about our efforts and they know the importance of not throwing trash in rivers and lakes and the ocean as well."When Blue Life volunteers reach out to school children, he says, they raise other issues as well.

    "For example, we ask them if they’ve seen their fathers while they shave. We say if you close the water every time you shave, then you open the tap again to wash the razor, you’re saving so much amount of water."Spreading the wordJudy Bolin, an American from the east coast state of North Carolina is also concerned about the oceans. She runs NC Big Sweep, a group which conducts year-round education to cut down on littering.

    "The great thing about people participating in the clean ups is that after they’re finished with their cleanup, we’ll hear them say, ‘I didn’t know there was so much litter out there. I’m never going to litter again,'" says Bolin. "It’s an eye-opening experience for everyone as it was for me. I remember one time we released a green heron from a fishing line out there in the river, and it was just wonderful to see it fly away and recover from what someone had done, [leaving] a fishing line in the river, which is not a good thing to do."Now, Bolin says, volunteers from all over the world can communicate and exchange experiences.

    "We’ve got social media. We’ve just started getting into Facebook and Twitter last year and a couple of our counties were successful recruiting¹⁰ volunteers this way. So we’ve got connections all over the world."Judy Bolin and Oscar Oviedo say they hope more volunteers will join their effort to clean up the oceans. To those who cannot join, they say, please stop littering our waterways.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

3 butts   

笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
• The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。

4 clogging   

堵塞，闭合

参考例句：

• This process suffers mainly from clogging the membrane. 这种过程的主要问题是滤膜的堵塞。
• And you know that eyewitness that's been clogging up the airwaves? 你知道那个充斥着电视广播的目击证人？

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

8 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 recruiting   

招聘( recruit的现在分词 )； 吸收某人为新成员； 动员…（提供帮助）； 雇用

参考例句：

• We are recruiting a sales manager with responsibility for the European market. 我们正在招聘负责欧洲市场的销售经理。
• "Hoist the recruiting flag and hungry men will come. “插起招军旗，就有吃粮人。”