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Plastic pollution

 

Marine life is facing "irreparable damage" from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the oceans each year, the United Nations has warned. "This is a planetary crisis... we are ruining the ecosystem of the ocean," UN oceans chief Lisa Svensson told the BBC this week.

 

marine 海洋的 (adjecitve 形容詞) 

 

例子有：

marine life 海洋生物
marine environment 海洋生態
marine biologists [=scientists who study life in the sea] 海洋生物學家

 

又或者跟海洋經濟活動有關的：

a marine chart 航海圖
marine law 海事法

 

marine 海軍陸戰隊士兵 (noun 名詞)

 

例子：He is a U.S. Marine.
例子：The marines have just landed.

 

irreparable 不可彌補的; 無法挽回的  (adjecitve 形容詞) 

 

例子：The oil spill from the tank did irreparable harm to the ocean.
例子：The damage to the relationship between father and son was irreparable.

 

planetary 行星的 (adjecitve 形容詞) 

 

China was top of the list of countries mismanaging plastic waste, but the US also featured in the top 20 and contributed a higher rate of waste per person. Plastic waste accumulates in areas of the ocean where winds create swirling circular currents, known as gyres, which suck in any floating debris.

 

accumulate 累積 (verb 動詞) 

例子：You can accumulate [=earn] bonus points by joining as member.
例子：A large amount of waste has accumulated [=collected] at the construction site.
例子：The police have accumulated [=collected] evidence of her guilt.

 

► accumulation (noun 名詞)

例子：The disease is caused by accumulations of fat in the livers.

 

swirl  打轉，旋轉 (verb 動詞)

 

例子：He swirled the wine (around) in his glass.

例子：The water swirled around/down the drain in the kitchen.

例子：Rumors are swirling about/around the company. [=there are a lot of rumors about the company]

 

swirl 縷，圈 (noun 名詞)

 

例子：A swirl of smoke rise from the chimney of the house.
例子：Ice cream with chocolate swirls is very attractive to kids.

 

debris 垃圾／殘骸 (noun 名詞) 

 

例子：After the earthquake there was a lot of debris in the country. 地震之後，到處都是破瓦殘礫。
例子：The debris of the plane are floating on the sea surface. 失事飛機的殘骸漂浮在海面上
 

Listening test 

 

Q1: How does plastic hurt marine animals?

Ans: They may get entangled, or mistake them for food which they can’t digest.

 

Q2: How might marine debris harm us?

Ans: Fish eat plastic, we eat fish. There is a possibility of chemical-poisoning.

 

How does marine debris impact the ocean, animals, and me? Would you want to swim in a beach littered with trash? Of course not. And the animals living in the ocean don’t either. The differences? They don’t have a choice. Marine species often get entangled in debris, from fishing nets to six-pack rings. If they get caught, they could get injured, or even die. Even if they don’t get entangled, many marine animals mistake plastic debris for food and eat it. This fills their stomach with junk that they can’t digest. Debris can also damage important habitats, like coral reefs. They break it by smothering them… Plus, plastics have harmful chemicals in them. Fish eat plastic, we eat fish. The question is, can that chemical harm us?

 

entangle （用網、繩等）纏住，套住 (verb 動詞) 

 

例子：The dolphin had become entangled in/with the fishing nets. 海豚被漁網纏住了。

 

> entangled in/with sth/sb 捲入；陷入；與…發生糾葛

 

例子：He went to the shop to buy bread, and got entangled in/with a carnival parade.  他去商店買麵包，卻被捲進嘉年華遊行隊伍裡去了。

例子：The mayor and the city council are anxious to avoid getting entangled in the controversy.  市長和市議會迫切希望能避免捲入這場爭議。

例子：She seems to be romantically entangled with some artist in Rome.

她似乎和一位羅馬藝術家陷入了感情糾葛。

 

A Song For You -  "Save the Planet" by Michael Droste and Jeffrey Walker

 

   
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