Welcome to the plastisphere

　　歡迎來到塑料星球

　　What is pollution to some is opportunity toothers

　　對一些人意味著污染對另一些人卻意味著是機會

　　SINCE 2008 geologists have been mulling over the idea of the Anthropocene, a proposed newepoch in the history of the Earth that would encompass the years in which people have hadprofound effects on the planet s workings.

　　自2008年以來,地質學家一直在研究人類紀這一理念，人類紀是在地球歷史上提出的新紀元，其囊括了人們深刻地影響地球的運作的年代。

　　Most often, discussion of theAnthropocene revolves around how atmospheric chemistry has changed since the beginningof the industrial revolution.

　　大多數(shù)時候,人類紀的討論大多是圍繞著從工業(yè)革命開始大氣化學有何種變化進行的。

　　Sometimes the effects of new terrestrial ecosystems, in the form of fields, pastures andplantations, are also considered.

　　有時新型陸地系統(tǒng)所產(chǎn)生的影響也考慮在內。

　　To date, though, how the Anthropocene has created new ecosystems in the oceans as wellas on land has not been much examined.

　　到目前為止,然而人類紀是如何創(chuàng)造新型海洋及陸地生態(tài)系統(tǒng)并未做過多的研究。

　　Such ecosystems are, nevertheless, emergingas Tracy Mincer of the Woods HoleOceanographic Institution,

　　不過這樣的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)在《環(huán)境科技》雜志中有所描述，

　　in Massachusetts, and Linda Amaral-Zettler of the Marine Biological Laboratory, also in WoodsHole, describe in Environmental Science and Technology.

　　是由馬薩諸塞州伍茲霍爾海洋學研究所的特蕾西明瑟以及伍茲霍爾海洋學研究所海洋生物研究室的琳達阿瑪拉爾-特勒聯(lián)合提出的。

　　The malign effect of floating plastic debris on seabirds, turtles and other sea creatures iswell known.

　　眾所周知，漂浮的塑料碎片對海鳥海龜以及其他海洋生物有負面影響。

　　But, as Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler have discovered, plastic debris also provides anew habitat for organisms small enough to take advantage of it.

　　但是,正如明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)的一樣，塑料碎片還給有機體提供了一個小型足以充分利用全新的棲息地。

　　The two researchers collected pieces of plastic from various sites in the North Atlantic.

　　兩位研究員從北大西洋的不同地點收集塑料碎片。

　　They then examined each using DNA analysis, and also an electron microscope, to seewhat was living on it.

　　他們然后用DNA分析儀、電子顯微鏡檢測每一個，觀測其上生活著何種生物。

　　Lots of things were.

　　有很多生物。

　　Altogether, they discovered about 50 species of single-celled plant, animal and bacterial life.

　　總之,他們發(fā)現(xiàn)約50種單細胞植物、動物和細菌的蹤跡。

　　Each bit of debris was, in effect, a tiny ecosystem.

　　確切地說，每塊碎片是一個小型的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。

　　As with many ecosystems, the bottom of the food chain was occupied by things thatphotosynthesise.

　　正如諸多生態(tài)系統(tǒng)一樣，食物鏈的底層被光合作用的生物占據(jù)著。

　　These included unicellular algae called diatoms and dinoflagellates, and photosyntheticbacteria known as cyanobacteria.

　　這些包括名為硅藻和甲藻的單細胞藻類和藍藻的光合細菌。

　　Usually, such creatures swim freely in the ocean.

　　通常,這些生物在海洋里自由自在地游蕩。

　　They therefore have to work hard to stay near the surface, where light for photosynthesisis abundant.

　　因此他們必須努力保持在表層水域，因為那里的進行光進行光合所需的陽光是充裕的。

　　By hitching a ride on a piece of floating plastic, they can stay near the surface without effort.

　　通過搭乘漂浮塑料這一順風車,他們可以毫不費力地呆在表層。

　　Where plants abound, herbivores will not be far behind.

　　植物比比皆是的地方食草動物的出現(xiàn)也不會落后。

　　These, Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found in the form of dinoflagellates,some of whichlike to snack on smaller creatures to supplement their photosynthesis.

　　明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士以甲藻的形式發(fā)現(xiàn)了食草動物的存在,一些甲藻喜歡吃小型生物作為他們光合作用的補充。

　　They also found predators on the herbivores, in the form of ciliates and predator bacteria,which feed on other bacteria.

　　他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)食草動物的捕食者，如纖毛蟲以及以其他細菌為食的捕食細菌。

　　Except for top predatorsthe type that themselves prey on predatorsthe two researchersthus discovered a classic web of food chains of the sort familiar from ecology text books.

　　除了頂級捕食者外，兩位研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個與生態(tài)學課本上相似的經(jīng)典的食物網(wǎng)。

　　And they also, and perhaps most pertinently from the human point of view, found evidencefor one other part of such a food web: the decomposers.

　　或許從人類的觀點來看最為適切的他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了食物網(wǎng)的另一部分：分解者。

　　Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily.

　　塑料是能源豐富的物質,這就是為什么他們中的許多容易燃燒的原因。

　　Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene.

　　任何可以分解和使用那些能源的生物在人類紀將會取得先機。

　　Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts inthe field.

　　掌握這種技能的陸地上的細菌及真菌是這個領域的專家。

　　Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.

　　明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士在海洋塑料上也發(fā)現(xiàn)了它們的蹤跡。

　　They noticed many of their pieces of debris sported surface pits around two microns across.

　　他們發(fā)現(xiàn)很多塑料碎片的運動表面周圍有大約兩微米的凹坑。

　　Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of thesepits did, indeed, contain bacteria,

　　凹坑與細菌一般大小。進一步的研究顯示這些凹坑中的一部分確實含有細菌，

　　and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmeticof biological terminology, multiplying.

　　在部分狀況下細菌正在分裂，因此根據(jù)生物學的反常計算其數(shù)量正在遞增。

　　Though the two researchers have not yet proved the bugs in the pits are actually eating theplastic, that hypothesis seems a good bet.

　　盡管兩位研究員至今未找到凹坑中的細菌是以塑料為食的證據(jù)，那個假說就好像是一場賭博。

　　And if they are, it suggests plastic pollution in the ocean may not hang around as long ashas often been feared.

　　如果假說是正確的，這就意味著海洋塑料污染可能不如擔心的那么持久。

　　Less encouragingly, Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler also found cholera-like bacteria in theirtiny floating ecosystems.

　　令人掃興的是，明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士在漂浮的小型生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中發(fā)現(xiàn)了類似于霍亂的細菌。

　　Both fish and seabirds act as vectors for cholera,so anywhere that such creatures might pickup cholera bugs is something worth keeping an eye on.

　　魚類或者是海鳥都充當著霍亂病菌的載體，所以任何使這些生物可能攜帶霍亂病菌的地區(qū)都值得密切關注。

　　The researchers paint an intriguing picture of the adaptability of nature, and provideanother piece of the jigsaw that is the Anthropocene.

　　研究者就大自然的適應性描繪了一幅耐人尋味的畫面，并提供了人類紀的另一塊拼圖。

　　Conservationists intent on preserving charismatic megafauna have reason to lament thespread of plastics through the ocean.

　　致力于保護引人好奇的大型動物的環(huán)保人士有理由擔心海洋塑料污染的蔓延。

　　But those interested in smaller critters have been given a whole, new spheretheplastisphereto study.

　　但是卻給了那些對小型生物感興趣的環(huán)保人士一個全新的視角塑料星球。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.industrial revolution n.工業(yè)革命

　　After china s industrial revolution comes theconsumer revolution.

　　在中國的工業(yè)革命之后就會是消費者革命。

　　But 100 years later, the industrial revolution mademr. smith s vision seem quaint.

　　但一百年之后，產(chǎn)業(yè)革命的興起讓斯密的觀點看上去有些不合時宜。

　　2.in the form of 用的形式

　　Liverpool invented financial derivatives, in the form of cotton futures.

　　利物浦以棉花期貨的形式，發(fā)明了金融衍生品。

　　Financial arrangements can also be in the form of ads and free trips.

　　金錢上的回報也可以通過做廣告和免費旅行的形式來安排。

　　3.as well as 既又除之外

　　Yet they provoke fear as well as wonder.

　　然而他們也激起了恐懼以及困惑。

　　That implies criticism as well as support.

　　這句話暗示著夫妻間的相互支持以及相互批評。

　　4.provide for 為作準備

　　There are no known laws that provide for public access to government information.

　　沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)哪部法律規(guī)定了對政府信息的公開制度。

　　It takes a lot to provide for 7 billion humans.

　　地球為了供養(yǎng)70億人口付出了很多代價。

　　Welcome to the plastisphere

　　歡迎來到塑料星球

　　What is pollution to some is opportunity toothers

　　對一些人意味著污染對另一些人卻意味著是機會

　　SINCE 2008 geologists have been mulling over the idea of the Anthropocene, a proposed newepoch in the history of the Earth that would encompass the years in which people have hadprofound effects on the planet s workings.

　　自2008年以來,地質學家一直在研究人類紀這一理念，人類紀是在地球歷史上提出的新紀元，其囊括了人們深刻地影響地球的運作的年代。

　　Most often, discussion of theAnthropocene revolves around how atmospheric chemistry has changed since the beginningof the industrial revolution.

　　大多數(shù)時候,人類紀的討論大多是圍繞著從工業(yè)革命開始大氣化學有何種變化進行的。

　　Sometimes the effects of new terrestrial ecosystems, in the form of fields, pastures andplantations, are also considered.

　　有時新型陸地系統(tǒng)所產(chǎn)生的影響也考慮在內。

　　To date, though, how the Anthropocene has created new ecosystems in the oceans as wellas on land has not been much examined.

　　到目前為止,然而人類紀是如何創(chuàng)造新型海洋及陸地生態(tài)系統(tǒng)并未做過多的研究。

　　Such ecosystems are, nevertheless, emergingas Tracy Mincer of the Woods HoleOceanographic Institution,

　　不過這樣的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)在《環(huán)境科技》雜志中有所描述，

　　in Massachusetts, and Linda Amaral-Zettler of the Marine Biological Laboratory, also in WoodsHole, describe in Environmental Science and Technology.

　　是由馬薩諸塞州伍茲霍爾海洋學研究所的特蕾西明瑟以及伍茲霍爾海洋學研究所海洋生物研究室的琳達阿瑪拉爾-特勒聯(lián)合提出的。

　　The malign effect of floating plastic debris on seabirds, turtles and other sea creatures iswell known.

　　眾所周知，漂浮的塑料碎片對海鳥海龜以及其他海洋生物有負面影響。

　　But, as Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler have discovered, plastic debris also provides anew habitat for organisms small enough to take advantage of it.

　　但是,正如明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)的一樣，塑料碎片還給有機體提供了一個小型足以充分利用全新的棲息地。

　　The two researchers collected pieces of plastic from various sites in the North Atlantic.

　　兩位研究員從北大西洋的不同地點收集塑料碎片。

　　They then examined each using DNA analysis, and also an electron microscope, to seewhat was living on it.

　　他們然后用DNA分析儀、電子顯微鏡檢測每一個，觀測其上生活著何種生物。

　　Lots of things were.

　　有很多生物。

　　Altogether, they discovered about 50 species of single-celled plant, animal and bacterial life.

　　總之,他們發(fā)現(xiàn)約50種單細胞植物、動物和細菌的蹤跡。

　　Each bit of debris was, in effect, a tiny ecosystem.

　　確切地說，每塊碎片是一個小型的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。

　　As with many ecosystems, the bottom of the food chain was occupied by things thatphotosynthesise.

　　正如諸多生態(tài)系統(tǒng)一樣，食物鏈的底層被光合作用的生物占據(jù)著。

　　These included unicellular algae called diatoms and dinoflagellates, and photosyntheticbacteria known as cyanobacteria.

　　這些包括名為硅藻和甲藻的單細胞藻類和藍藻的光合細菌。

　　Usually, such creatures swim freely in the ocean.

　　通常,這些生物在海洋里自由自在地游蕩。

　　They therefore have to work hard to stay near the surface, where light for photosynthesisis abundant.

　　因此他們必須努力保持在表層水域，因為那里的進行光進行光合所需的陽光是充裕的。

　　By hitching a ride on a piece of floating plastic, they can stay near the surface without effort.

　　通過搭乘漂浮塑料這一順風車,他們可以毫不費力地呆在表層。

　　Where plants abound, herbivores will not be far behind.

　　植物比比皆是的地方食草動物的出現(xiàn)也不會落后。

　　These, Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found in the form of dinoflagellates,some of whichlike to snack on smaller creatures to supplement their photosynthesis.

　　明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士以甲藻的形式發(fā)現(xiàn)了食草動物的存在,一些甲藻喜歡吃小型生物作為他們光合作用的補充。

　　They also found predators on the herbivores, in the form of ciliates and predator bacteria,which feed on other bacteria.

　　他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)食草動物的捕食者，如纖毛蟲以及以其他細菌為食的捕食細菌。

　　Except for top predatorsthe type that themselves prey on predatorsthe two researchersthus discovered a classic web of food chains of the sort familiar from ecology text books.

　　除了頂級捕食者外，兩位研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個與生態(tài)學課本上相似的經(jīng)典的食物網(wǎng)。

　　And they also, and perhaps most pertinently from the human point of view, found evidencefor one other part of such a food web: the decomposers.

　　或許從人類的觀點來看最為適切的他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了食物網(wǎng)的另一部分：分解者。

　　Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily.

　　塑料是能源豐富的物質,這就是為什么他們中的許多容易燃燒的原因。

　　Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene.

　　任何可以分解和使用那些能源的生物在人類紀將會取得先機。

　　Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts inthe field.

　　掌握這種技能的陸地上的細菌及真菌是這個領域的專家。

　　Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.

　　明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士在海洋塑料上也發(fā)現(xiàn)了它們的蹤跡。

　　They noticed many of their pieces of debris sported surface pits around two microns across.

　　他們發(fā)現(xiàn)很多塑料碎片的運動表面周圍有大約兩微米的凹坑。

　　Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of thesepits did, indeed, contain bacteria,

　　凹坑與細菌一般大小。進一步的研究顯示這些凹坑中的一部分確實含有細菌，

　　and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmeticof biological terminology, multiplying.

　　在部分狀況下細菌正在分裂，因此根據(jù)生物學的反常計算其數(shù)量正在遞增。

　　Though the two researchers have not yet proved the bugs in the pits are actually eating theplastic, that hypothesis seems a good bet.

　　盡管兩位研究員至今未找到凹坑中的細菌是以塑料為食的證據(jù)，那個假說就好像是一場賭博。

　　And if they are, it suggests plastic pollution in the ocean may not hang around as long ashas often been feared.

　　如果假說是正確的，這就意味著海洋塑料污染可能不如擔心的那么持久。

　　Less encouragingly, Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler also found cholera-like bacteria in theirtiny floating ecosystems.

　　令人掃興的是，明瑟及阿瑪拉爾-特勒兩位博士在漂浮的小型生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中發(fā)現(xiàn)了類似于霍亂的細菌。

　　Both fish and seabirds act as vectors for cholera,so anywhere that such creatures might pickup cholera bugs is something worth keeping an eye on.

　　魚類或者是海鳥都充當著霍亂病菌的載體，所以任何使這些生物可能攜帶霍亂病菌的地區(qū)都值得密切關注。

　　The researchers paint an intriguing picture of the adaptability of nature, and provideanother piece of the jigsaw that is the Anthropocene.

　　研究者就大自然的適應性描繪了一幅耐人尋味的畫面，并提供了人類紀的另一塊拼圖。

　　Conservationists intent on preserving charismatic megafauna have reason to lament thespread of plastics through the ocean.

　　致力于保護引人好奇的大型動物的環(huán)保人士有理由擔心海洋塑料污染的蔓延。

　　But those interested in smaller critters have been given a whole, new spheretheplastisphereto study.

　　但是卻給了那些對小型生物感興趣的環(huán)保人士一個全新的視角塑料星球。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.industrial revolution n.工業(yè)革命

　　After china s industrial revolution comes theconsumer revolution.

　　在中國的工業(yè)革命之后就會是消費者革命。

　　But 100 years later, the industrial revolution mademr. smith s vision seem quaint.

　　但一百年之后，產(chǎn)業(yè)革命的興起讓斯密的觀點看上去有些不合時宜。

　　2.in the form of 用的形式

　　Liverpool invented financial derivatives, in the form of cotton futures.

　　利物浦以棉花期貨的形式，發(fā)明了金融衍生品。

　　Financial arrangements can also be in the form of ads and free trips.

　　金錢上的回報也可以通過做廣告和免費旅行的形式來安排。

　　3.as well as 既又除之外

　　Yet they provoke fear as well as wonder.

　　然而他們也激起了恐懼以及困惑。

　　That implies criticism as well as support.

　　這句話暗示著夫妻間的相互支持以及相互批評。

　　4.provide for 為作準備

　　There are no known laws that provide for public access to government information.

　　沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)哪部法律規(guī)定了對政府信息的公開制度。

　　It takes a lot to provide for 7 billion humans.

　　地球為了供養(yǎng)70億人口付出了很多代價。