据统计,在美国人们每天丢掉5亿根吸管,这些吸管连起来可以绕地球两圈半。人们开始行动起来,他们告诉餐厅服务员,不要再提供吸管了。麦当劳也积极响应了此次号召。在全英的1300多家分店中,麦当劳都把塑料吸管换成了可生物降解的纸质吸管,并且只有在客人要求之时,才会在出售饮料时一并提供吸管。这样也看看人们对纸吸管的态度究竟如何,一旦麦当劳在英国取得成功,接下来也会在全世界范围内进行推广。下面是今天的日常英语新鲜资讯。
一、世界各地开始控制塑料吸管的使用Starting this
summer, Seattle will ban plastic straws and utensils in all businesses that sell food and drinks. In California, there's a bill being considered that would require restaurants to only give straws when customers request them. Scotland plans to be plastic straw free by the end of 2019.从今年夏天开始, 西雅图将禁止所有企业出售带有塑料的食品和饮料,吸管当然也不例外;加利福尼亚也有一项法案正处于酝酿之中,该法案要求餐馆只在顾客主动要求的时候才提供吸管;苏格兰计划到2019年底,实现全面消除塑料吸管。
二、塑胶吸管的危害Although straws can be recycled, they rarely are. Instead, the petroleum-based straws end up in landfills, along the side of roads, and where they do the most harm, in our oceans.
虽然吸管是可以回收的,但真正回收的实在少之又少。我们一般都是随手将吸管扔在路边,随后它们就会被送到垃圾填埋场处理。而它们对海洋的威胁最大。
They aren't the biggest polluter of our waterways, but they can be some of the most hazardous to fish and birds. Their size makes them easy for marine life to eat, and plastic items like straws and forks have become embedded in the noses of sea turtles — as you can see in the disturbing video above.
虽然它们不是我们水道中最大的污染源, 但鱼类和鸟类就有的受了。吸管不大,所以海洋生物容易吞食。像吸管和叉子这样的塑料物品,甚至还会卡在海龟的鼻子里。
It's estimated that 71 percent of seabirds and 30 percent of turtles are found with plastic in their stomachs-all ingested from avoidable waste created by humans, according to Strawless Ocean. When these animals ingest the plastic, they have a 50 percent mortality rate.
据《Strawless Ocean》报道,我们在71%的海鸟和30% 的海龟的胃里都发现了塑料。这些都是人类制造的,而我们本来是可以避免的——当这些动物摄入塑料后, 它们的死亡率达到了50% 。
三、塑料吸管的代替品McDonald's is opting for a paper alternative. That's not the only option, but it's certainly a good solution is situations where straws will be tossed. However, if you like to use straws, you can avoid the one-time-use versions with a little planning.