VOA常速英语:COVID-Related Plastic Trash Causing Environmental Headaches

Amara Wijithong carefully examines every inch of the bay near a thigh resort town of Pattaya.
Amara Wijithong仔细检查着芭堤雅度假胜地附近的每一寸海湾。
Together with her dad she cleans the water from the plastic trash.
她和爸爸一起清理水中的塑料垃圾。
Im afraid that after Covid the sea will be filled with trash.
我担心，疫情过后，海洋将填满垃圾。
Local environmentalists say the plastic trash levels rose by 50 percent in April.
当地环保人士说，塑料垃圾在4月份多了50%。
80 percent of that trash are plastic food containers, water bottles and cups and disposable packages.
80%的垃圾是塑料食品容器、水瓶、杯子和一次性包装。
When the pandemic hit the U.S. in mid-March,
当3月中旬疫情袭击美国时，
the number of online purchases rose by 240 percent.
网上购物数量增长了240%。
Millions of plastic bags wraps aerosols gloves and face masks,
数以百万计的塑料袋包裹着气溶胶手套和口罩，
were being sent to homes across the country daily.
每天都被送到全国各地的家庭。
As a result, the amount of plastic trash filled the cities.
结果，城市里充斥着大量的塑料垃圾。
Just in March and April of 2020 in the heart of this pandemic,
就在2020年3月和4月疫情期间，
at just one waste water pumping station,
在一个废水抽水站，
weve seen an increase of 17 tons of wipes compared to March in April of last year,
我们就看到与去年3月和4月相比，抹布增加了17吨，
when we were not in a pandemic.
去年3月和4月也就是没有疫情的时候。
Plastic bag use increased dramatically as well.
塑料袋的使用也急剧增加。
Some states delayed implementation of bans on plastic bags due to the pandemic,
一些州由于疫情推迟实施塑料袋禁令，
and some grocery stores stopped allowing the use of reusable bags to avoid spread of the virus.
一些杂货店也不再允许使用可重复使用的袋子来避免病毒的传播。
Some environmentalists say the moves arent helping.
一些环保人士说，这些举措没有帮助。
There was a study that came out of John Hopkins,
约翰·霍普金斯做了一项研究，
that says actually all the materials could last Covid-19 as long as on plastic.
也就是说，实际上所有材料的耐新冠病毒的时间和塑料材料一样长。
And so its actually contradictory to what they were even citing.
所以这和他们所说的内容是矛盾的。
Recycling companies are also struggling due to the drop in oil prices.
由于油价下跌，回收公司也在苦苦挣扎。
The recycler has costs of collecting waste and processing it,
回收商有收集和处理废物的成本，
and then it sells that recycled material and that is being that price is set according to the price of oil.
然后它出售回收材料，也就是价格是根据石油的价格来确定的。
So when oil goes down, many recyclers cant be competitive.
所以当石油下降时，许多回收商不可能有竞争力。
Environmentalists say every year about 8 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean.
环保主义者说，每年大约有800万吨塑料流入海洋。
Specialists say plastic production can increase by 40% in the next 10 years already,
专家说，塑料生产在未来10年内将增长40%，
and since only a fraction of that can be recycled, the scenario looks pretty grim.
由于只有一小部分可以回收利用，形势看起来相当严峻。
Where are we seeing plastics ,I think there were a lot of folks that were alarmed with.
我想，我们在哪里看到塑料，哪里就有很多人对此感到担忧。
Once they started looking for smaller pieces, how could you find it in so many places?
他们曾经寻找较小的垃圾，可是你怎么能在那么多地方找到呢?
According to the Pew Research Center,
据皮尤研究中心称，
more than 64 percent of Americans say protecting the environment should be a congressional priority.
超过64%的美国人认为保护环境应该是国会的首要任务。
But experts worry the pandemic and its economic impact may push environmental and pollution issues off the agenda.
但专家担心，疫情及其对经济的影响可能会使环境和污染问题在议程中推迟。
For Daidadi Watson, Washington, Anna Rice, VOA news
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