VOA常速英语:Could Plants be the Last Straw for Plastic?

Ocean plastics according to the UN kill an estimated 100,000 marine mammals every year and straws are part of the problem. They are in everything from smoothies to water to sodas.But this time when he starts up, he is trying to change that.
据联合国统计，海洋中的塑料每年会造成大约10万只海洋哺乳动物死亡，而吸管是造成这个现象的部分原因。不管是喝冰沙、水，或者是苏打水，到处都有塑料吸管的身影。但这一次，他开始研发这个项目，试图改变这种状况。

When we started to design this straw made from plant fibers,it was because we had noticed the problems of plastic waste and especially marine pollution.This straw contains a lot of plant fibers, so when those natural fibers reach the oceans by accident,the many species that live in the ocean and eat algae are able to eat and digest those fibers.
我们开始设计这种由植物纤维制成的吸管，是因为我们注意到塑料垃圾的问题，尤其是海洋污染问题。这种吸管含有大量的植物纤维，所以当这些天然纤维偶然深入海洋中时，许多生活在海洋中并以藻类为食的物种都能够食用和消化这些纤维。

These developers say their straws can withstand temperatures raising from minus 20 to 55 degrees Celsius, but they also admit making straws out of plant fibers is challenging. There is no way the molecular chains can be as uniform as normal plastic. That is why they are more prone to breaking during the production process. Then the whole production line has to be stopped, so we have to cope with this sort of precondition. The stability is not as strong as in normal plastic. The company is ramping up production even though the straws are five times more expensive than their plastic counterparts. Businesses are going to have to absorb some higher costs at least in Taiwan (of China) because Taipei is on track to ban plastic straws by 2019, so is the US state of California. Coffee giant Starbucks is also phasing out plastic straws.
这些开发人员说，他们的吸管可以承受从零下20摄氏度到55摄氏度的温度，但他们也承认，用植物纤维制造吸管是一项艰巨的任务。这种材料的分子链不可能像普通塑料一样均匀，这也就是为什么它们在生产过程中更容易被破坏掉的原因。然后整个生产线都要停工，所以我们要提前准备好应对这种状况的措施。这种材料的稳定性不像普通塑料那样强，尽管这种新型吸管比塑料吸管在价格上贵了五倍，但该公司仍在增加其产量。至少在中国台湾，企业将不得不承担这种高费用，因为台北有望在2019年禁止使用塑料吸管，美国加州也是如此。咖啡业巨头星巴克目前也在逐步淘汰塑料吸管。

Kevin Inix VOA news
美国之音凯文·依尼克斯报道。