A particular advantage of picking bottles to investigate is that they are often stamped with their country of manufacture.
选择瓶子进行调查的一种独特优势是它们通常都会贴上生产国标识。
That enabled Dr Ryan to analyse the history of oceanic littering.
这让瑞恩博士能够分析海洋垃圾的历史。
As the chart shows, he picked three recording points, corresponding to field trips to the island,
如果表格所示,他选择了三个记录点,分别对应在岛上的三次实地考察,
and analysed the proportions of bottles from various geographical sources.
并且他分析了来自不同地方的瓶子的比例。
In 1989 the preponderance of them (67%) was South American. Twenty years later, in 2009,
1989年,它们中的绝大多数(67%)都来自南美。20年后的2009年,
bottles made in Asia contributed more or less equally (44%) with South American ones (41%).
产自亚洲的瓶子(44%)和来自南美的瓶子(41%)相差无几。
By 2018 the overwhelming majority (74%) were Asian.
但截至2018年,绝大部分都产自亚洲。
This geographical shift speaks volumes. The first sample suggests most litter arriving on Inaccessible
这种地理上的转变意义重大。第一个样本表明,伊纳克塞瑟布尔岛上的大多数垃圾
had been washed off the land or dropped from coastal shipping—South America being a relatively nearby continent.
都是从陆地上冲刷而来,或者是从沿海船只上被丢弃的—南美洲是一个相对较近的大陆。
The other two, with their rising proportions of trash from Asia, which is too far from the island for it to have floated there,
另外两个样本显示来自亚洲的垃圾比重增加,亚洲离这个岛太远了,它不可能漂浮在那里,
strongly suggest it was crews' empties being flung from ocean-going vessels.
这强烈表明是船员从远洋轮船将空瓶子抛了下来。
Such littering is banned by Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships—
这种抛垃圾的行为是被《国际防止船舶污染公约》附录五所禁止的—
which, ironically, came into force in 1989, the year of Dr Ryan's first survey.
讽刺的是,该公约于1989年生效,同年瑞恩博士进行了首次调查。
But evidently a lot of ships' captains do not care. They permit the dumping of rubbish over the side, regardless.
但显然很多船长并不在意。不管怎样,他们允许将垃圾倒在船舷的行为。
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