美国国家公共电台 NPR An Engineering Wunderkind's Ocean Plastics Cleanup Device Hits A Setback

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We've been checking in every so often with Boyan Slat. He's the CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. That's an environmental organization he founded to develop technology to clean up plastic in the ocean. Now, we spoke¹ with Mr. Slat back in September, just after his team launched a floating device designed to clean up that Great Pacific garbage patch. You'll remember that's a small island of trash between California and Hawaii. This is what he told us then.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

BOYAN SLAT: Now the real test starts. And we're now, you know, in the next days few - and weeks will really decide whether we can prove the technology because that's really what's required to scale up and rid the oceans of plastic boy.

MARTIN: Boyan Slat is with us now via Skype. Welcome back. Thanks so much for talking to us once again.

SLAT: My pleasure. Thanks.

MARTIN: Could you just remind us of what the goal is here?

SLAT: Yes. So halfway² between Hawaii in California is this area that's about twice the size of Texas, contains 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. And we hope to clean it up, removing about half of this patch every five years. We just launched this first system really to prove the technology, and if that works well, we hope to scale.

MARTIN: So could you just describe the device itself for people who haven't had the opportunity to see it yet? It's like, what is it? It's like a boom, like a big rope or what is it?

SLAT: So the device is a 2,000-feet-long floating barrier that's in a U-shape. And underneath³ there is a 10-feet-deep screen that's designed to capture the plastic that's not exactly at the surface. The plastic gets drawn⁴ towards the center like a funnel⁵. And that way we first concentrate the plastic before we take it out.

MARTIN: So we've been hearing there have been some troubles. What's been going on the past couple of weeks?

SLAT: The pulmonary results have been that, on one hand, we have been able to see that the system is indeed propelled by the wind, that it can catch and concentrate plastic. But so far, we've seen two main issues that we hope to resolve in the coming months. The plastic occasionally drifts out of the system. And just last week, we noticed that a 60-feet-long end section of the cleanup system has separated from the rest of the system. So therefore we decided⁶ to bring back the system. It's on its way to Hawaii now for both repairs and upgrades.

MARTIN: Do you have any sense of what is working as you hoped, and do you have any sense of what the problem is?

SLAT: I think we are relatively⁷ close to getting it working. We have been able to already catch and concentrate plastic with the system. It's just that it's - sometimes the plastic is also escaping again. So likely what we have to do is we have to speed up the system so that it constantly moves faster than the plastic. And with regards to this material failure, likely we have to locally reinforce the system a bit. But I'm confident that the team will be able to design the appropriate solutions for this, and they'll have the system back in the patch in a few months from now.

MARTIN: All right. Well, we'll check back in with you then. That's Boyan Slat, founder⁸ and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. Thank you so much for talking to us once again.

SLAT: My pleasure. Thank you.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

3 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。