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There are now at least five major garbage patches in the world's oceans, and much of that trash is plastic.
全世界的大洋中現在至少有五大主要垃圾區域，而且其中絕大多數是塑料垃圾。
But last month researchers said they can only account for one percent of the plastic they'd expect to find in the oceans.
但是上個月研究人員稱他們只能找到海洋中百分之一的塑料。
So, where'd the rest of it go?
那剩下的都去哪了呢?
Well, animals eat some of it.
好吧，動物們會吃掉一些。
Plastic has been found in turtles, seabirds, fish, plankton, shellfish, even bottom-feeding invertebrates.
我們可以在烏龜，海鳥，魚類，浮游生物，貝類，甚至無脊椎動物身體里發現塑料。
But there's another way sea creatures might be accumulating plastic:
但是也有另外一種方法，
by sucking up tiny plastic particles with their siphons and gills.
那就是海洋生物可以利用其虹管和魚鰓吸收微小的塑料顆粒來積累塑料。
Researchers added common shore crabs—Carcinus maenas—to tanks of seawater containing millions of tiny plastic particles, just 10 microns in diameter.
研究人員還表示常見的食草蟹—青蟹身體里所儲備的海水中含有成千上萬的塑料粒子，直徑只有10微米。
After 16 hours, all the crabs had plastic lodged in their gills.
16個小時后，在它們的腮部都會留存有塑料微粒。
And the particles stuck around for up to three weeks, too.
而且這些微粒會停留3周。
The results are in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
這項研究結果已經在《科學與技術》雜志上發表。
The longer plastic sits in an animal, researchers say, the better the chances it will travel up the food chain.
塑料在動物身體內時間越長，就越有可能回到食物鏈中。
Meaning all our plastic waste could come back to bite us—or rather be bitten by us.
這就意味著，我們所扔掉的塑料垃圾可能會反咬我們一口，或者說會被我們食用。
"Of course we eat mussels whole, without the shells.
“當然我們可以吃貽貝只吃肉，不食殼。
But we're potentially eating plastic, if they're from a site where there's plastic present."
但如果它們是來自一個塑料垃圾堆積的海域，我們很可能就會進食塑料?！?/div>
Lead researcher Andrew Watts, of the University of Exeter.
?？巳卮髮W的首席研究員安德魯瓦特說道。
"We don't know how much plastic we have in our stomachs… chances are we do have some."
“我不知道自己胃里會存多少塑料…我們確實可能吃進去一些?！?/div>
| 重點單詞 | 查看全部解釋 | |||
| substantial | [səb'stænʃəl] |
想一想再看 adj. 實質的，可觀的，大量的，堅固的 |
聯想記憶 | |
| social | ['səuʃəl] |
想一想再看 adj. 社會的，社交的 |
||
| plastic | ['plæstik, plɑ:stik] |
想一想再看 adj. 塑料的，可塑的，造型的，整形的，易受影響的 |
||
| diameter | [dai'æmitə] |
想一想再看 n. 直徑 |
聯想記憶 | |
| potentially | [pə'tenʃəli] |
想一想再看 adv. 潛在地 |
