世界首個海洋垃圾清掃機下海！環境保護槓槓的
Scientists are preparing to launch the world's first machine to clean up the planet's largest mass of ocean plastic.
科學家計劃發佈全球第一臺清理大規模海洋塑料的機器。
The system, originally dreamed up by a teenager, will be shipped out this summer to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California, and which contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. It will be the first ever attempt to tackle the patch since it was discovered in 1997.
這臺機器的設計初衷來自一名少年，今年夏天，它就將運往介於夏威夷和加利福尼亞的太平洋垃圾帶，太平洋垃圾帶的塑料約有18000億。自1997年垃圾帶被發現以來，這是人類第一次嘗試解決問題。
The experts believe the machine should be able to collect half of the detritus in the patch – about 40,000 metric tons – within five years.
科學家認爲這臺機器能在五年內收集一半的垃圾，大約4萬噸。
In the past few weeks they have been busy welding together giant tubes that will sit on the surface of the sea and form the skeleton of the machine, creating the largest floating barrier ever made.
過去幾周，科學家們忙於焊接大型管道，這些管道將被安置在海面，構成機器的骨架，也是有史以來最大的浮動屏障。
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) spans 617,763 sq miles - more than twice the size of France, and contains at least 79,000 tons of plastic, research found last month.
太平洋垃圾帶橫跨617763平方英里，是法國國土面積的兩倍，考察隊上月發現垃圾帶的塑料至少有79000噸。
Most of it is made up of “ghost gear” – parts of abandoned and lost fishing gear, such as nets and ropes – often from illegal fishing vessels.
大部分塑料垃圾都是“廢舊用具”，廢棄丟失的捕魚工具、漁網漁線之類，通常是非法捕魚船留下的。
Ghost gear kills more than 100,000 whales, dolphins and seals each year, according to scientific surveys. Seabirds and other marine life are increasingly being found dead with stomachs full of small pieces of plastic.
調查表明，廢舊工具每年殺死十萬多隻鯨、海豚和海豹。海鳥和其他海洋生物胃裏都是塑料，越來越多的生物死後被發現具有這樣的症狀。
Creatures eat plastic discarded in the sea thinking it’s food but then starve to death because they are not feeding properly.
食用塑料的海洋生物認爲塑料就是食物，卻因爲吃的東西有問題餓死了。
Others are trapped and die of starvation or are strangled or suffocated by ghost gear.
還有很多生物要麼餓死，要麼被廢棄工具困住窒息糾纏而死。
（翻譯：阿忙）
