21 Plastic and Our Planet

Plastic and Our Planet written by Samantha Montgomerie

萨曼莎·蒙哥马利的《塑料和我们的星球

plastic in our world Plastic is made by humans. It is easy to make it into different shapes, which is why we use it for many things. We use 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago. We use plastic in many different ways. We use it to make boxes, bottles, toys and toothbrushes. It is used in computers, cellphones, cars and many other things.

塑料是人类制造的。 它很容易做成不同的形状，这就是为什么我们用它做很多事情。 我们使用的塑料是50年前的20倍。 我们以许多不同的方式使用塑料。 我们用它来做盒子、瓶子、玩具和牙刷。 它被用于电脑、手机、汽车和许多其他东西。

problems with plastic Most plastics are man made. It can take more than 500 years for plastic to decompose in the soil. This makes our land and oceans polluted. When plastic goes into our oceans, it affects many animals. They eat the plastic thinking it is food. A plastic bag in the ocean looks a lot like a jellyfish. Bits of plastic can look like fish eggs.

大多数塑料都是人造的。 塑料在土壤中分解可能需要500多年的时间。 这使我们的土地和海洋受到污染。 当塑料进入我们的海洋时，它会影响许多动物。 他们把塑料当成食物吃。 海洋中的塑料袋看起来很像水母。 塑料碎片看起来像鱼卵。

The Pacific Garbage Patch The Pacific Garbage Patch shows us the problem we are making for our planet. This is a large collection of waste in the North Pacific Ocean. It is caught in the water currents. It is like a large floating island. The plastic in the ocean can't break down. It will only break into smaller pieces.

太平洋垃圾带向我们展示了我们正在给地球造成的问题。 这是北太平洋的大量垃圾。 它被水流缠住了。 它就像一个巨大的浮岛。 海洋中的塑料无法分解。 它只会碎成更小的碎片。

reduce and reuse We need to find ways to reduce the plastic we use because this will reduce the waste we are making. We can choose to buy things that are not made of plastic. Single-use plastic is what we call plastic that can't be used again. This is used a lot with food and shopping bags. We should choose to buy food not wrapped in plastic and take shopping bags made of cloth or paper. We should reuse plastic in our homes. We should use it many times before we recycle it or throw it away. We should reuse plastic boxes and bottles. We should make sure we give plastic toys to other people when we have finished using them.

我们需要找到减少塑料使用的方法，因为这将减少我们制造的废物。 我们可以选择购买非塑料制品。 一次性塑料就是我们所说的不能再使用的塑料。 这在食品和购物袋上经常使用。 我们应该选择购买没有用塑料包装的食物，并使用布或纸制成的购物袋。 我们应该在家里重复使用塑料。 在我们回收或扔掉它之前，我们应该多次使用它。 我们应该重复使用塑料盒和塑料瓶。 当我们用完塑料玩具后，我们应该确保把它们送给别人。

recycling plastic Recycling is when you use something to make something else. If we can't reuse plastic, we should recycle it. We can use plastic items to make other things we need. If we can not recycle a plastic item in our home, we should put it in our recycling bin. This will be melted down and made into other things. We can make carpet and clothing from recycled plastic bottles.

回收是指你用某种东西来制造另一种东西。 如果我们不能重复使用塑料，我们应该回收利用它。 我们可以用塑料制品来做我们需要的其他东西。 如果我们不能在家里回收塑料制品，我们应该把它放在我们的回收箱里。 这将被熔化并制成其他东西。 我们可以用回收的塑料瓶制作地毯和衣服。