VOA常速英语:Captivating Animal Sculptures Illustrate Tragedy of Ocean Pollution

A giant parrot fish greets visitors at the main entrance to the National Zoo.A bit farther on are a tufted puffin seabird, a freedom starfish and more — all bright, beautiful and eye-catching sculptures.
一条体型庞大的鹦鹉鱼在国家动物园的正门口迎客。再往进走一些有一只簇状角嘴海鸟，一只不受约束的海星，还有许多别的动物。它们都是一些明亮美丽，引人注目的雕塑。

But take a closer look, and you will begin to notice they are assembled with plastic toys,a hair comb, bottle caps, beer cans and many other everyday objects.
但是你仔细看，会注意到这些动物雕塑都是由塑料玩具、梳子、瓶盖、啤酒罐和许多别的日常用品做成的。

"I observed visitors coming in, thinking that these sculptures are made out of recycled plastic.But, in fact, they are marine debris. And when they find out, they are shocked.”
“我看到许多游客进来，都认为这些雕塑是由可回收塑料做成的。但是事实上，它们都是用海洋垃圾做的。当游客们发现这个事实时，他们都很震惊。”

The sculptures were created by Angela Haseltine Pozzi — with the help of thousands of volunteers — to deliver a serious message.
Angela Haseltine Pozzi 在成千上万志愿者的帮助下，制作了这些雕塑。目的是向人们传递一条严肃的讯息。

The artist is executive director of Washed Ashore,a non-profit environmental group.“This is all plastic picked up off the beaches, every single bit of it.So we have processed about 18 tons of garbage off of a small area of beach in the last six years.And it could be anywhere in the world. This is a worldwide problem, the plastic pollution issue."
这名艺术家是非盈利环保组织Washed Ashore的执行主席。“这些都是在海滩上被冲上岸的塑料，我们一点一点捡起来。过去六年内，我们在一片小小的海滩上收集了大约18吨被冲上来的垃圾。世界各地的情况也许都是这样。这是一个全球性的问题，即塑料污染问题。”

So far Pozzi has created 68 such sculptures, and 17 of them are displayed throughout the National Zoo.This whale bone ribcage is made entirely with bleach bottles; the blue marlin has flip-flops inside its mouth;and hundreds of water bottles create the jellyfish.
如今，Pozzi已经制作了68个雕塑，其中有17个在国家动物园内展览。这个鲸骨胸腔完全由漂白剂瓶制成；这条蓝枪鱼的嘴里有双人字拖；这只水母是成百个塑料水瓶做成的。

"I’ve purposely chosen to represent the animals that are threatened by marine debris.The fact that plastic breaks down into microscopic pieces and (is) getting into the entire food chainmeans everything that lives in the ocean is affected by it.“
“我有意识的选择制作那些生存受到海洋垃圾威胁的动物。塑料物会降解成微小的碎片，从而进入到整个食物链中。这意味着海洋里的一切生物都会受到影响。”

A recent study estimates (that) about eight million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year,and poses a threat to a wide variety of marine animals.
最近的一项研究表明，每年大约有800万吨的塑料垃圾进入海洋，对多种海洋生物的生存造成威胁。

"Single-use plastics are probably the worst you can get.They are used for five seconds and then last forever. We don’t even think about it."
“一次性塑料也许是你所知道的最糟糕的垃圾。使用时间仅仅5秒，却永远无法降解。后果我们根本无法想象。”

The message of these powerful artworks seems to be making an impact on visitors of all ages."First we need to make sure that no trash is washed up.So instead of leaving it onto the beach, you need to pick it upand you need to put in the trash before it gets washed out and gets fed to fish. And yeah,or you can recycle it.“
各个年龄段的游客对这些强大的艺术品所传递出的信息似乎都很有感触。“首先，我们应保证所有的垃圾都不会进入水中。因此，不要把垃圾扔在海滩上，应该捡起垃圾，在它们进入海洋被鱼吃掉前把它们扔进垃圾箱。或者你还可以回收利用。”

"We have to be more careful. We have to be more attentive about what we do with the containers and things we use."
“我们一定要更加谨慎。注意自己使用的容器或者物品应该怎么处理。”

Pozzi hopes her traveling exhibit will reach as many people as possible across the United States, and overseas as well.
Pozzi希望有更多的人能够看到自己的巡回展，无论是在美国，还是全世界。