新闻周刊:岛屿正被塑料垃圾淹没(3)

In 2017, Lavers in a separate study showed that the beaches of Henderson Island in the South Pacific had the world's highest density¹ of plastic garbage, at an estimated 38 million pieces.

2017年，另一项研究显示，南太平洋亨德森岛的海滩上塑料垃圾的密度是世界最高的，估计有3800万件。

Lavers said: "Unlike Henderson Island, where most identifiable debris² was fishing-related, the plastic on Cocos (Keeling) was largely single-use consumer items such as bottle caps and straws, as well as a large number of shoes and thongs³."

拉弗斯说:“与亨德森岛不同的是，基林岛上的塑料垃圾大多是一次性消费品，比如瓶盖和吸管，以及大量的鞋子和丁字裤。亨德森岛的垃圾大多与捕鱼有关。”

Annett Finger, a researcher with Victoria University in Australia who co-authored the study, expressed concern that, despite such findings, the amount of plastic being produced worldwide was climbing. "Plastic pollution is a well-documented threat to wildlife and its potential impact on humans is a growing area of medical research," she said.

澳大利亚维多利亚大学的研究人员Annett Finger是这项研究的合著者，他担心尽管有这些发现，但全球塑料产量仍正在攀升。她说:“塑料污染是对野生动物的一种有根有据的威胁，它对人类的潜在影响正在成为医学研究的一个日益增长的领域。”

"The scale of the problem means cleaning up our oceans is currently not possible, and cleaning beaches once they are polluted with plastic is time consuming, costly⁴, and needs to be regularly repeated as thousands of new pieces of plastic wash up each day.

“这个问题的规模意味着，目前清理海洋是不可能的，而一旦海滩被塑料污染，清理海滩是费时、昂贵的，需要定期重复，因为每天都有成千上万的新塑料被冲上来。”

"The only viable⁵ solution is to reduce plastic production and consumption while improving waste management to stop this material entering our oceans in the first place."

“唯一可行的解决方案是减少塑料的生产和消费，同时改善废物管理，从一开始就阻止这种材料进入我们的海洋。”

The team are among the latest scientists to warn of the threat posed to the environment by plastic pollution. Last month, the authors of separate research published in the journal Nature Geoscience studied pollution in a remote area in the mountains of France and concluded tiny pieces of plastic can travel up to 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, through the air.

该团队是最新警告塑料污染对环境构成威胁的科学家之一。上个月，发表在《自然地球科学》杂志上的另一项研究的作者研究了法国山区一个偏远地区的污染情况，得出的结论是，微小的塑料碎片可以在空气中传播100公里(合62英里)。

1 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

2 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

3 thongs   

的东西

参考例句：

• Things ain't what they used to be. 现在情况不比从前了。
• Things have been going badly . 事情进展得不顺利。

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。