VOA慢速英语20116 外交官在佛罗里达海滩捡垃圾

Foreign Diplomats¹ and U.S. Officials Clean a Florida Beach 外交官在佛罗里达海滩捡垃圾

Last Friday was an unusual day for several diplomats in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Department of State gathered consular³ officers from Africa, Europe and Latin⁴ America to pick garbage off the beach in Key Biscayne.

Their efforts supported a program called the International Coastal⁵ Cleanup of Beaches. This program aims to clean garbage out of oceans and off beaches.

The International Coastal Cleanup also tries to bring attention to the issue⁶ of pollution in the world's oceans.

U.S. Department of State official Clifton Seagroves said protecting the world's oceans is very important.

"We want to bring attention to ... pollution, microbeads, plastics ... which causes problems for the whole world."

A 2015 Reuters news service report stated scientists believe more than nine million tons of garbage are in the world's oceans.

Uruguay's consul², Lourdes Bonet, said she felt it was her duty to help with the efforts.

"A person continues to live in the place where he or she lives," she said. "And they must return all that hospitality⁷ that has been received."

Ecuador's consul, Eduardo Rivadeneira, praised the efforts to clean the beach.

"I had never come to this park and I think it's spectacular," he said. "Everyone is from all over the world sharing this great moment."

 

The group was able to remove almost 550 kilograms⁸ of garbage from the Key Biscayne beach by the end of the day. This same amount usually takes a week to remove.

对于美国佛罗里达州的几名外交官来说，上周五是个不寻常的日子。美国国务院聚集了非洲、欧洲和拉丁美洲的领事人员，他们在比斯坎海滩拣垃圾。

此举是为了支持“国际海岸清理海滩”项目。该项目旨在清除海洋和海滩上垃圾。

国际海岸清理工作也试图引起人们对世界海洋污染问题的关注。

美国国务院人员克里夫顿·西葛洛弗（Clifton Seagroves）表示，保护世界海洋至关重要。

“我们想让人们关注…污染、微珠、塑料…这些会引发全球性难题。”

2015年路透社的一份报告称，科学家们相信，全球海洋中的垃圾超过900万吨。

乌拉圭领事卢尔德·博尼特（Lourdes Bonet）称，为保护海洋出一份力是她的责任。

她表示，“人类若想继续生活在其所生活的地方，就必须反馈自己得到的所有恩惠。”

厄瓜多尔领事爱德华多·里瓦德内拉（Eduardo Rivadeneira）高度赞扬了人们在清理沙滩上所做的努力。

他说，“之前我从未来过这个地方，这里很壮观，全球的人都在分享这一伟大的时刻。”

当天临近尾声时，该团队已将比斯坎湾海滩近550公斤垃圾清理干净。通常清理这么多垃圾需要一周的时间。

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 consul   

n.领事；执政官

参考例句：

• A consul's duty is to help his own nationals.领事的职责是帮助自己的同胞。
• He'll hold the post of consul general for the United States at Shanghai.他将就任美国驻上海总领事(的职务)。

3 consular   

a.领事的

参考例句：

• He has rounded out twenty years in the consular service. 他在领事馆工作已整整20年了。
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。

4 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

5 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。

6 issue   

n.出版，发行，（报刊等）期、号，论点，问题，结果， （水，血等的）流出；vt.使流出，放出，发行（钞票等），发布（命令），出版（书等）发给；vi.发行，流出，造成...结果，进行辩护，传下

参考例句：

• I bought the book the day after its issue.这书出版后的第一天，我就去买了它。
• I'll support her down the line on that issue.在那个问题上我将全力支持她。

7 hospitality   

n.好客，殷勤；adj.（气候等）宜人，适宜

参考例句：

• He welcomed you to enjoy his hospitality.他欢迎你去做客。
• Thank you for your kind hospitality.谢谢你的盛情款待。

8 kilograms   

n.千克( kilogram的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 2 kilograms of rice 2公斤大米
• Every tonne of coal contains,on average,30 kilograms of nitrogen. 每吨煤平均含30公斤氮。 来自《简明英汉词典》