原文標題 :

In praise of plastics

Don’t overlook the many benefits of plastics

If they are a problem, it is because they are badly managed

贊美塑料

不要忽視塑料的諸多益處

如果塑料是個問題，那是因為管理不善

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FEW PEOPLE are more synonymous with wonder at the natural world than Sir David Attenborough, a nonagenarian television presenter.

在愛護自然世界方面，幾乎沒有人能比九十多歲的電視主持人大衛(wèi)·愛登堡爵士更具代表性了。

In recent years, Sir David has been campaigning fervently for an end to the plastic that his film crews find scattered across the planet.

他的拍攝團隊發(fā)現(xiàn)了遍布全球的塑料，近年來，大衛(wèi)爵士一直積極奔走，強烈呼吁停止使用塑料。

“The plastic in our oceans ought never to have got there in the first place,” he said in one interview. “Much of it perhaps ought not to have even been manufactured at all.”

他在一次訪談中說道：“我們海洋里的塑料壓根就不該出現(xiàn)在那里。其中很多塑料或許根本就不應(yīng)該被生產(chǎn)出來。”

The first statement is reasonable, but the second is not—for it disregards the extraordinary benefits that plastics, and the industry which produces them, have provided both to humans and to the environment.

第一句觀點還算合理，然而第二句卻不盡然——因為它忽視了塑料以及生產(chǎn)塑料的產(chǎn)業(yè)給人類和環(huán)境所帶來的巨大益處。

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Although the drawbacks of the world’s reliance on plastics are all too apparent, the benefits they provide, in the form of reducing waste and cost, are all too easily overlooked.

盡管全球?qū)λ芰系囊蕾囁鶐淼谋锥孙@而易見，但塑料所帶來的好處，比如減少浪費和降低成本方面，卻很容易被人們忽略。

Plastics have made possible a bewildering range of new materials that can replicate the properties of existing ones, and can do things they cannot, while being lighter, more durable, and cheaper and easier to manufacture.

塑料催生了一系列紛繁復(fù)雜的新材料，這些新材料可以復(fù)制現(xiàn)有材料的特性，還能實現(xiàn)現(xiàn)有材料無法達成的功能，而且更輕便、更耐用，生產(chǎn)成本更低，制作起來也更為簡便。

These materials have become vital in everything from building to carmaking to consumer electronics.

從建筑行業(yè)到汽車制造，再到消費電子產(chǎn)品，這些材料在各個領(lǐng)域都變得至關(guān)重要。

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Take food as an example. Plastic packaging prevents perishable foodstuffs from spoiling, making possible global trade in meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.

以食品為例。塑料包裝可以防止易腐食品變質(zhì)，使肉類、魚類、水果和蔬菜的全球貿(mào)易成為可能。

It enables essentials like rice, cooking oil and powdered milk to be stored and distributed safely and cheaply.

塑料包裝使大米、食用油和奶粉等必需品得以安全、廉價地儲存和分銷。

A one-litre plastic bottle weighs 5% as much as a glass one; plastic packaging thus reduces shipping costs and emissions.

一個1升的塑料瓶重量僅為玻璃瓶的5%；因此，塑料包裝降低了運輸成本和排放量。

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Plastics have also eased the world’s reliance on older materials, and on the living beings from which many of them came.

塑料還減輕了世界對舊材料的依賴，也減輕了對生物的依賴。

There are perhaps 10m pianos in the world. If all their white keys were made of ivory, how many elephants would remain?

世界上大約有1000萬架鋼琴。如果所有的白鍵都用象牙制成，那么還能剩下多少頭大象呢？

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Just as the benefits of plastics are often unseen, however, so are some potential harms.

然而，就像塑料所帶來的益處常常被忽視一樣，塑料的潛在危害也同樣不為人所察覺。

The visible blight of discarded waste strewn across otherwise lovely landscapes, often to the detriment of wildlife, used to be one of the principal charges against plastics.

那些被丟棄的塑料垃圾散落在原本秀美的風(fēng)景之地，這種明顯令人不悅的景象，往往會對野生動物造成傷害，過去這曾是針對塑料的主要詬病之一。

Now there is growing concern about what happens when they break up into microscopic fragments invisible to the naked eye.

塑料分解后會變成肉眼看不見的微小碎片，現(xiàn)在，人們越來越擔(dān)心微小碎片的危害。

In the past decade such “microplastics” have been found in food chains, in human brains and even in the apparently pristine snow of Antarctica.

在過去10年里，這種“微塑料”被發(fā)現(xiàn)存在于食物鏈、人類大腦，甚至在看似原始純凈的南極雪地中也有微塑料的蹤跡。

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Being detectable does not make something dangerous. It can be mere testimony to the acuity of the instruments in use.

能夠被檢測到并不意味著某樣?xùn)|西就具有危險性。它僅僅證明了所用儀器的敏銳度。

But history shows that ubiquitous industrial materials can do unintended, unexpected and widespread harm that is recognised much too late: think of lead-based paint and leaded petrol, which cause health and developmental problems.

但歷史表明，無處不在的工業(yè)材料可能會造成意想不到的廣泛危害，而人們往往認識得太晚：想想含鉛油漆和含鉛汽油，它們會造成健康和發(fā)育問題。

The ubiquity of microplastics means the harm they might do deserves serious, well-supported and co-ordinated research; some worrying findings make that a matter of urgency.

微塑料無處不在，這意味著需要對它可能造成的危害進行認真、有力支持且協(xié)調(diào)一致的研究。一些令人擔(dān)憂的發(fā)現(xiàn)使得相關(guān)研究成為當務(wù)之急。

If there are harms, swift action will be needed on diagnosis and remediation.

如果存在危害，就需要迅速采取行動進行診斷和補救。

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To deal with the scourge of pollution the best approach is not to ban plastics, but to manage them more carefully.

若想處理污染這一嚴重問題，最好的方式不是禁止塑料的使用，而是更加妥善地管理塑料。

Better recycling technologies, now under development, are one part of the answer.

當下正在研制的更完善的回收技術(shù)是解決方案之一。

The proportion of plastics which end up being recycled has doubled in the past two decades, but it is still only 9%.

在過去的20年里，最終被回收利用的塑料比例已經(jīng)增長了一倍，但仍然只有9%。

This is not because people do not care about the planet. It is because recycling is harder and more costly than most people realise.

這并不是因為人們不關(guān)心地球，而是因為塑料回收工作的難度和成本遠超大多數(shù)人的認知。

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Technical difficulties and the onerous sorting required mean that recycled plastic is almost always more expensive than the virgin stuff, which makes it hard to set up a virtuously circular market.

技術(shù)難題以及必要的繁重分揀工作表明，回收塑料幾乎總是比原生塑料更貴，這使得創(chuàng)建一個良性的循環(huán)市場困難重重。

One result is that many rich countries export their waste for “recycling” in poorer countries which are not equipped to deal with their own often voluminous plastic-waste problems, let alone anyone else’s.

其中一個后果是，眾多發(fā)達國家把本國的垃圾出口到較為貧窮的國家去“回收”，然而這些貧窮國家連自身大量的塑料垃圾問題都難以應(yīng)付，更不要說處理其他國家的垃圾了。

The UN estimates that 59% of all plastic waste ends up being sorted by roughly 20m informal workers worldwide, frequently in terrible conditions.

據(jù)聯(lián)合國估算，全球所有塑料垃圾中，約有59%最終是由全球2000萬左右非正規(guī)工人進行分揀的，而這些工人的工作條件常常十分惡劣。

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Greater use should therefore be made of landfill. When properly managed and well monitored, this is far less environmentally ruinous than often portrayed, and can be simpler and more effective than poorly executed recycling.

因此，應(yīng)當更充分地利用垃圾填埋的方式。如果管理得當、監(jiān)督得力，垃圾填埋對環(huán)境造成的破壞遠沒有人們常說的那么嚴重，并且相較于效果不佳的回收處理方式，它可能更為簡便且有效。

It also sidesteps the risk that plastics sent across the world for recycling will be dumped or burned.

它還避免了送往世界各地回收的塑料被傾倒或焚燒的風(fēng)險。

Incinerators, which can both produce energy and allow the resulting carbon to be captured, are a useful option too, though they are also unpopular.

焚燒爐既能發(fā)電，又能捕獲燃燒產(chǎn)生的碳，這也是一個有用的選擇，盡管這種方式也不受歡迎。

Fortnum, a Finnish company, has found a way to turn the hydrocarbons released from waste incineration back into plastic feedstock.Such innovation should be built on.

芬蘭的一家名為Fortnum的公司已經(jīng)找到了一種方法，能把垃圾焚燒時釋放的碳氫化合物重新轉(zhuǎn)化為塑料原料。這種創(chuàng)新應(yīng)該發(fā)揚光大。

When it comes to plastics, the benefits are very much greater than most people will allow—and so is the potential for managing the costs.

說到塑料，它帶來的好處比大多數(shù)人所認可的多得多，而在管理成本方面的潛力也是一樣巨大。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯778左右）

原文出自：2025年4月19日《TE》Leaders版塊

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本文翻譯整理: Irene
本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【重點句子】（3個）

Plastics have made possible a bewildering range of new materials that can replicate the properties of existing ones, and can do things they cannot, while being lighter, more durable, and cheaper and easier to manufacture.

塑料催生了一系列紛繁復(fù)雜的新材料，這些新材料可以復(fù)制現(xiàn)有材料的特性，還能實現(xiàn)現(xiàn)有材料無法達成的功能，而且更輕便、更耐用，生產(chǎn)成本更低，制作起來也更為簡便。

A one-litre plastic bottle weighs 5% as much as a glass one; plastic packaging thus reduces shipping costs and emissions.

一個1升的塑料瓶重量僅為玻璃瓶的5%；因此，塑料包裝降低了運輸成本和排放量。

To deal with the scourge of pollution the best approach is not to ban plastics, but to manage them more carefully.

若想處理污染這一嚴重問題，最好的方式不是禁止塑料的使用，而是更加妥善地管理塑料。

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