没想到，塑料垃圾正在吞噬年幼海龟的生命

没想到，塑料垃圾正在吞噬年幼海龟的生命

上海图书馆每天为头条号的读者提供优质的英语阅读

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澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织发布的一项最新研究显示，海龟吞食塑料的数量越多，死亡风险越高，海洋塑料污染正在威胁海龟的生存。

先前研究发现，全球７种海龟都有吞食塑料的现象，估算显示全球有５２％的海龟已经吞食了塑料。但科学家尚不清楚吞食塑料是否就是导致海龟死亡的主要原因。

澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织研究人员解剖了１０００只被冲到澳大利亚海滩上的死亡海龟，对海龟死亡与吞食塑料之间的关系进行了量化分析。结果显示，一旦海龟吞食１４块塑料，其死亡风险可达５０％。

#More than half of the world's sea turtles have eaten plastic#

#海龟遭遇塑料污染#

More than half of the world's sea turtles have eaten plastic, an Australian study has found.

澳大利亚的一项研究发现，世界上一半以上的海龟都吃过塑料制品。

The analysis of 1,000 sea turtles by Australia's peak scientific body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), found that 52 percent of the reptiles have eaten plastic.

澳大利亚最高科学机构联邦科学与工业研究组织（CSIRO）对1000只海龟进行了分析，发现这种爬行动物里52%都吃过塑料。

Researchers found that a sea turtle that had eaten only one piece of plastic had a 22 percent chance of dying as a result.

研究人员发现，哪怕只吃过一块塑料，也因此会导致海龟有22%的死亡几率。

Once a turtle had consumed 14 pieces of plastic, there was a 50 percent chance it would die as a result.

一旦乌龟吃了14块塑料，就有50%的可能性会因此而死亡。

"We knew that turtles were consuming a lot of plastic, but we didn't know for certain whether that plastic actually caused the turtles' deaths, or whether the turtles just happened to have plastic in them when they died," CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Principal Research Scientist Chris Wilcox said in a media release.

CSIRO海洋与气候首席研究科学家克里斯·威尔考克斯在一份媒体报告中表示：“我们知道海龟吃进了大量的塑料，但我们不确定这种塑料是否真的导致了海龟的死亡，或者海龟死亡时是否碰巧有塑料。”

"Millions of tonnes of plastic debris is entering our world's oceans on a yearly basis," and "the better we understand the issue, the better equipped we are to address the problem, and work towards viable, scalable solutions."

“每年有数百万吨的塑料碎片进入我们的海洋，”并且“我们对这个问题了解得更多，我们就更能解决这个问题，并努力寻找可行的、可扩展的解决方案。”

Unsurprisingly, the team found that the chances of a turtle dying increased with every piece of plastic they ate.

不出所料，该团队发现，随着他们每多吃一块塑料，死亡的几率都会增加。

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the amount of plastic in the world's oceans has doubled in the last 20 years.

根据世界经济论坛（WEF）的数据显示，过去20年来，世界海洋中的塑料数量翻了一番。

The WEF found that oceans would contain more plastic than fish by 2050 if pollution continues at the current rate.

世界经济论坛发现，如果污染以目前的速度继续下去，到2050年海洋中的塑料将比鱼还要多。

"Even a single piece of plastic can kill a turtle," Kathy Townsend, an animal ecology lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said. "Some of the turtles we studied had eaten only one piece of plastic, which was enough to kill it. In one case, the gut was punctured, and in the other, the soft plastic clogged the gut."

阳光海岸大学动物生态学讲师凯西·汤森表示：“即便是一块塑料也可以杀死一只乌龟，我们研究过的一些海龟只吃了一块塑料，这足以杀死它。一种情况是肠道被刺破了，还有一种可能是软塑料堵塞了肠道。”