Scientists are preparing to launch the worlds first machine to clean up the planets largest mass of ocean plastic.科学家计划公布全球第一台清扫大规模海洋塑料的机器。The system, originally dreamed up by a teenager, will be shipped out this summer to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California, and which contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. It will be the first ever attempt to tackle the patch since it was discovered in 1997.这台机器的设计想法来自一名少年，今年夏天，它就将运往介于夏威夷和加利福尼亚的太平洋垃圾带上，太平洋垃圾带上的塑料大约有18000亿。

自1997年垃圾带上被找到以来，这是人类第一次尝试解决问题。The experts believe the machine should be able to collect half of the detritus in the patch – about 40,000 metric tons – within five years.科学家指出这台机器能在五年内搜集一半的垃圾，约4万吨。In the past few weeks they have been busy welding together giant tubes that will sit on the surface of the sea and form the skeleton of the machine, creating the largest floating barrier ever made.过去几周，科学家们无暇焊大型管道，这些管道将被移往在海面，包含机器的骨架，也是有史以来仅次于的浮动屏障。

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) spans 617,763 sq miles - more than twice the size of France, and contains at least 79,000 tons of plastic, research found last month.太平洋垃圾带上跨越617763平方英里，是法国国土面积的两倍，考察队上月找到垃圾带上的塑料最少有79000吨。Most of it is made up of “ghost gear” – parts of abandoned and lost fishing gear, such as nets and ropes – often from illegal fishing vessels.大部分塑料垃圾都是“废旧用具”，荒废遗失的捕捞工具、渔网渔线之类，一般来说是非法捕鱼船留给的。Ghost gear kills more than 100,000 whales, dolphins and seals each year, according to scientific surveys. Seabirds and other marine life are increasingly being found dead with stomachs full of small pieces of plastic.调查指出，废旧工具每年杀掉十万多只鲸、海豚和海豹。海鸟和其他海洋生物胃里都是塑料，更加多的生物死后被找到具备这样的症状。

Creatures eat plastic discarded in the sea thinking it’s food but then starve to death because they are not feeding properly.食用塑料的海洋生物指出塑料就是食物，却因为不吃的东西有问题冻死了。Others are trapped and die of starvation or are strangled or suffocated by ghost gear.还有很多生物要么冻死，要么被荒废工具吞噬窒息而死纠结而杀。

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