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Plastics are a mix of different chemicals.
塑料是不同化学物质的混合物。
These chemicals make plastic very useful to us.
这些化学物质使塑料对我们非常有用。
They let plastic bend and move easily.
它们让塑料容易折叠和移动。
They help plastic products resist heat or oil.
它们帮助塑料制品抗热或者抗油。
Chemicals make plastic everything people want it to be.
化学物质使塑料满足人们所有的期待。
But, could these chemicals can also be harmful to people?
但是，这些化学物质也会对人有害吗？
Some food containers are made of plastic.
有些食品容器是塑料做的。
The plastic contains chemicals.
塑料中含有化学物质。
Scientists have tested these chemicals.
科学家们已经对这些化学物质进行了测试。
Some of the chemicals cause liver problems and memory loss in animals.
有些化学物质会导致动物肝脏问题和记忆丧失。
They also cause reproductive problems - they make the animals unable to have babies.
它们还会导致生殖问题——它们使动物无法生育。
If these chemicals from plastic cause this much damage in animals, what about people?
如果塑料制品中的这些化学物质会对动物造成如此大的伤害，那么对人类又会怎样呢？
Could enough of a chemical escape from a plastic container into the food to harm a person?
塑料容器中的化学物质会泄漏到食物中，从而对人体造成伤害吗？
Marc Goldstein, a doctor in the United States has bad news.
马克·戈德斯坦，美国的一名医生，有个坏消息。
He says fertility rates are getting lower and lower.
他表示，生育率正变得越来越低。
He says plastic may be the reason.
他称塑料可能是原因。
He says unborn babies can even suffer the effects.
他表示未出生的婴儿甚至会受到影响。
Mothers pass on the chemicals through the food they eat and liquid they drink.
母亲通过吃的食物和喝的液体将化学物质传递给孩子。
This is especially bad because unborn babies are still forming.
这尤其糟糕，因为未出生的婴儿仍在发育。
Other doctors blame chemicals in plastic for increased prostate cancer and breast cancer.
其他医生指责塑料中的化学物质会增加前列腺癌和乳腺癌的发病率。
Every year people produce sixty billion [60,000,000,000] tonnes of plastic products.
每年，人们生产600亿吨的塑料制品。
People use many of these plastic products only once.
许多塑料产品人们只使用一次。
How do people get rid of the plastic after they use it?
人们用完塑料后，是如何处理它的呢？
Recycling is a way to re-use already made plastic.
回收是一种塑料再利用的方法。
But only a few kinds of plastic can be recycled.
但是，只有少数几种塑料可以回收利用。
Some people may try to burn plastic to get rid of it.
有些人可能会尝试焚烧塑料来摧毁它。
But this releases harmful gases.
但是这释放出有害气体。
This is not a good answer to the problem.
这不是解决此问题的好方法。
Some of this plastic waste ends up in rivers and in the sea.
一些塑料垃圾最终进入河流和大海。
After a time, much of it goes to areas like the North Pacific gyre.
过了一段时间，其中大部分都会流向像北太平洋环流这样的地区。
Because this plastic cannot biodegrade, it lasts for hundreds of years.
因为这种塑料不能生物降解，所以它可以持续数百年。
