本集内容

Britain’s lost Lego 被冲上海滩的乐高积木

学习要点

有关 “the beach and the ocean（海滩与海洋）” 的词汇

边看边答

How long can plastic last in the ocean?

文字稿

Tracey Williams can spot a piece of Lego where others just see seaweed and sand. The pieces that wash up here tell a story that’s been unfolding in wave after wave for the past 25 years.

一般人在这里只看到海草和沙子，但特蕾西·威廉姆斯却可以找到乐高积木。被冲上这片海滩的一块块积木讲述了一个故事，这个故事在过去25年里渐渐浮出水面。

One piece became thousands. Flippers, boats, even sea rocks that were then colonised before washing ashore.

一块积木变成了几千块。有潜水脚板、船，甚至还有被冲上岸之前长满了海洋生物的海岩款式。

Some are common. This is the rarest. Tracey has seen just two green dragons in 25 years.

有些积木很常见。这种最罕见。特蕾西25年来只见过两个绿龙积木。

Tracey Williams, beachcomber
So, there were over 33,000 dragons on this ship.

特蕾西·威廉姆斯     海滩拾荒者
“这艘船上有超过3万3千个龙款积木。”

Andrew Plant, BBC correspondent
And presumably, along, you found most of the pieces along, along the shoreline yourself, but you've never found one of these.

安德鲁·普兰特     BBC通讯员
“想必这里的大部分积木都是你自己沿着海岸线发现的，但你从没找到过这种。”

Tracey Williams, beachcomber
I've never found a green dragon.

特蕾西·威廉姆斯     海滩拾荒者
“我从来没找到过绿色的龙。”

Andrew Plant, BBC correspondent
Tell me about the green dragon.

安德鲁·普兰特     BBC通讯员
“给我讲讲绿龙的故事。”

Tracey Williams, beachcomber
So, back in '97 our next-door neighbour found one of the green dragons, and then this week a beach cleaner here in North Cornwall [England] found one, so, and that's it – so, the green dragon.

特蕾西·威廉姆斯     海滩拾荒者
“那是1997年，住我们隔壁的邻居发现了一个绿龙积木，然后就在这周，英格兰北康沃尔的一位海滩清洁工也发现了一个，就是它——绿色的龙。”

25 years ago, this ship lost 62 containers 20 miles off the coast. One was full of five million pieces of Lego.

25年前，这艘船在离海岸20英里处掉落了62个集装箱。其中一个集装箱里装满了500万块乐高积木。

Where it washes up now has told scientists much about the ocean currents, but also about how plastic in our oceans can last not just for decades, but hundreds of years.

积木现在被冲上岸的地方为科学家提供了很多关于洋流的信息，也表明我们海洋中的塑料不仅会持续存在几十年，甚至是数百年。

Claire Giner, The 2 Minute Foundation
So, all of these bits here that are less than half a centimetre are considered a microplastic, and eventually these will break up into smaller and smaller pieces and become nanoplastic. We have no way of measuring how much is out there in the oceans and how much is coming in on every single tide. But if you ask anyone that looks at the beaches and looks at the microplastics, they will tell you just how many thousands of bits there are.

克莱尔·杰纳     两分钟基金会（The 2 Minute Foundation）
“这里装的所有小于0.5厘米的碎片都被视为微塑料，最终它们会分解成越来越小的碎片，变成纳米塑料。我们无法测量海洋中存在多少，也无从得知每次潮汐会冲来多少。但如果你问任何一个观察研究海滩和微塑料的人，他们都会告诉你有成千上万个碎片。”

There is now a worldwide community using social media to map new finds.

现在，一批来自世界各地志同道合的人正在利用社交媒体绘制发现积木位置的地图。

Tracey has even written a book of what's been washed up.

特蕾西甚至写了一本书，介绍各类被冲上岸的积木。

Finding that first Lego brick, the start of her piecing together how plastic stays in our seas, and always hoping in the seaweed, somewhere, a green dragon will finally surface.

从找到第一块乐高积木起，特蕾西慢慢弄清了塑料是如何留存在海洋中的。她还一直盼望着终能在某簇海草中发现一条绿色的龙。

词汇

wash up 被冲上岸

shoreline 海岸线

off the coast 距离海岸

ocean currents 洋流

tide 潮起潮落，潮汐

问题答案

Plastic can last in the ocean for hundreds of years.