VOA标准英语2010年-Message in a Boat Made of Plastic Soda

A British adventurer is spreading his own message in a bottle by crossing the Pacific Ocean aboard an 18-meter catamaran made of thousands of plastic soda¹ bottles.

David de Rothschild's unusual boat is his way of drawing attention to the plastic polluting the world's oceans while also showcasing a solution. The 31 year old hopes to inspire followers² with the boat he calls the "Plastiki."

Global mission

"We're on a mission to beat waste," says de Rothschild. "The Plastiki project is really trying to showcase that waste is inefficient³ design and that we can reuse everyday materials and rather than them ending up in landfill, or in our oceans, or being incinerated and ending up in our atmosphere, we can repurpose and build items that can be reused so we can close the loop."

Courtesy Adventure Ecology
The Plastiki is the brainchild of 31-year-old British banking⁴ heir David de Rothschild.
After reading a United Nations report about the huge swirls⁵ of plastic trash in the oceans, the British banking heir thought up the expedition to draw attention to the problem. 

The name Plastiki echoes the Kon-Tiki, the raft that Norwegian anthropologist⁶ and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl built to cross the Pacific in 1947.

His grandson, Olaf Heyerdahl, was one of six crew members on the first leg of the Plastiki voyage, from San Francisco to Christmas Island.

The design

It took three years to design and build the unique vessel⁷. De Rothschild says they learned a lot during the process.

"One of the breakthroughs of the project; we actually had to reenergize every bottle with a little bit of CO2," he says. "So imagine if you had a soda bottle and you were to shake it up before you opened it up. It becomes very, very hard. That's the carbon dioxide inside fizzy drinks that allows a bottle to stay so rigid⁸. So we just put the powder inside and that basically allows each bottle to act as an individual buoyancy chamber⁹."

Courtesy Adventure Ecology
The Plastiki's expedition is designed to draw attention to the problem of plastic trash in the oceans.

De Rothschild, founder¹⁰ of Adventure Ecology — a London-based environmental education group — brought ecology-minded features to all aspects of the expedition, starting with the Plastiki's design and construction.

"That meant inventing an unlikely but effective glue made of sugar and the husks of cashew nuts to hold the plastic parts together. It also meant installing sophisticated solar cells and a human-powered bicycle on board to power communications equipment as well as provisioning the crew of six with fresh vegetables from a hydroponic garden."

The provisions were designed to last 110 days, and in mid-June with one month left before reaching Sydney, the crew was still eating fresh, organic food from San Francisco. But when water ran low, the crew chose to drink it rather than water the garden, which wilted¹¹.

"It provided us quite a lot on the first leg with an amazing fresh supply of chard and rainbow kales and dark leafy greens which are great nutrients¹² and great for the mind," says de Rothschild.

Adapting

The Plastiki had to prove its seaworthiness on the planet's biggest body of water.

It hasn't always been smooth sailing. During the vessel's first 8,000 kilometers, the catamaran moved somewhat sideways, a little bit like a land crab¹³, because it was built without a keel. That made it difficult to steer¹⁴. When the Plastiki reached its second port of call, Samoa, de Rothschild made needed repairs and adaptations to the boat, including adding a  rudimentary retractable¹⁵ keel.

The voyage, combined with intense tropical heat, caused some material to shift and soften¹⁶. Workers changed all of the rigging from stainless¹⁷ steel wire to lightweight rope and reinforced the two hulls¹⁸, putting a layer of aluminum¹⁹ over the original recycled plastic material. It was a reluctant bow to the realities of an experimental vessel that needs to be ready in time to face the Australian winter ahead.

The boat also traveled more slowly than de Rothschild had hoped, leading to discomforts²⁰ beyond the relentless²¹ exposure to sun and salt and lack of bathing facilities.

"There are days when the boat is barely moving, like right now, when we've been sailing almost on the same spot for the last 24 hours," he says by satellite phone in the South Pacific, en route from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia.
"That becomes a little bit of a challenge mentally. When you start to think about the enormity of how far we've got to go — another 2,800 miles at least to Australia — that does become slightly wearing and tearing."

Spreading the message

The crew lives on a six-by-18 meter covered platform suspended between the two hulls. When not sailing the vessel, the crew members blog on the Plastiki website, post photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube, and take questions from followers on the boat's Facebook page. All the while, they send a message about plastic pollution in the ocean.

The feedback comes in almost instantaneously. Like from a conversation via skype with 150 children at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Texas. They had just walked through a tunnel built from 8,000 plastic bottles called, "Sea 'n' Recycle: In Honor of Plastiki."

The feedback has made a difference in de Rothschild's plans for the Plastiki itself after the journey is finished in July.

He originally planned to recycle the boat in Australia. But an international outpouring of interest in its use for educational purposes convinced him to keep it afloat, at least for a few more years. Its first stop will be the Australian Maritime²² Museum at Darling Harbor.
 

1 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

2 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

3 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。

4 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

5 swirls   

n.旋转( swirl的名词复数 )；卷状物；漩涡；尘旋v.旋转，打旋( swirl的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Swirls of smoke rose through the trees. 树林中升起盘旋的青烟。 来自辞典例句
• On reaching the southeast corner of Himalaya-Tibet, It'swirls cyclonically across the Yunnan Plateau. 在到达喜马拉雅--西藏高原东南角处，它作气旋性转向越过云南高原。 来自辞典例句

6 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

7 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

8 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

9 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 wilted   

（使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The flowers wilted in the hot sun. 花在烈日下枯萎了。
• The romance blossomed for six or seven months, and then wilted. 那罗曼史持续六七个月之后就告吹了。

12 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

14 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

15 retractable   

adj.可收回的；可撤消的；可缩回的；可缩进的

参考例句：

• a knife with a retractable blade 弹簧刀
• So, any thoughts of what you want for the retractable bed kid? 那么想为那个睡折叠床的小子做什么？ 来自电影对白

16 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

17 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

18 hulls   

船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚

参考例句：

• Hulls may be removed by aspiration on screens. 脱下的种皮，可由筛子上的气吸装置吸除。
• When their object is attained they fall off like empty hulls from the kernel. 当他们的目的达到以后，他们便凋谢零落，就象脱却果实的空壳一样。

19 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

20 discomforts   

n.不舒适( discomfort的名词复数 )；不愉快，苦恼

参考例句：

• Travellers in space have to endure many discomforts in their rockets. 宇宙旅行家不得不在火箭中忍受许多不舒适的东西 来自《用法词典》
• On that particular morning even these discomforts added to my pleasure. 在那样一个特定的早晨，即使是这种种的不舒适也仿佛给我增添了满足感。 来自辞典例句

21 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

22 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。