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While the Soviet Union dumped more nuclear waste on the sea floor than any other country, it was certainly not alone.[qh]
虽然苏联在海底倾倒的核废料比其他任何国家都多，但它肯定不是唯一一个。[qh]
Between 1948 and 1982, the British government consigned almost 70,000 tonnes of nuclear waste to the ocean's depths, and the US, Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands are just a few of the nations that have used the ocean to dispose of radioactive material, albeit in much smaller quantities.[qh]
1948年至1982年间，英国政府向海洋深处倾倒了近7万吨核废料，而美国、瑞士、日本和荷兰同样是利用海洋处理放射性物质的少数国家，尽管量小得多。[qh]
And while international treaties now prohibit the dumping of radioactive material at sea, the British government is exploring plans to dispose of up to 750,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste, including more than 100 tonnes of plutonium, beneath the sea floor off Cumbria.[qh]
虽然目前国际条约禁止在海上倾倒放射性物质，但英国政府正在探索在坎布里亚郡海底处理多达75万立方米核废料的计划，其中包括100多吨钚。[qh]
British officials argue this sort of geological disposal offers a way of keeping waste stable and secure over hundreds of thousands of years,[qh]
英国官员认为，这种地质处理提供了一种在数十万年内保持核废物稳定和安全的方法，[qh]
although incidents such as the 2014 leak of radioactive material at a waste disposal facility half a kilometre beneath salt beds in New Mexico suggests that like many of the assurances offered by the nuclear industry, this claim should be approached with great caution.[qh]
尽管2014年在新墨西哥州盐层下半公里处的废物处理设施发生放射性物质泄漏等事件表明，与核工业提供的许多保证一样，这种说法应该非常谨慎。[qh]
The dumping of nuclear waste in the ocean is only one part of a far larger story of carelessness and greed.[qh]
向海洋倾倒核废料只是一个更大的粗心和贪婪故事的一部分。[qh]
Human waste in the form of plastics and other objects is everywhere in the deep ocean, a fact that is made brutally apparent by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology's Deep-sea Debris Database,[qh]
以塑料和其他物体形式存在的人类垃圾在深海中无处不在，日本海洋地球科学技术机构的深海垃圾数据库残酷地揭示了这一事实，[qh]
which documents the presence of tyres, fishing nets, sports bags, mannequins, beach balls and baby's bottles spread across the sea floor at depths of many thousands of metres.[qh]
该数据库记录了轮胎、渔网、运动包、人体模型、沙滩球和婴儿瓶子散布在数千米深处的海底。[qh]
In some regions, the number of such objects exceeds 300/sq km.[qh]
在某些地区，这类物体的数量超过每平方公里300个。[qh]
This tide of garbage has even reached the deepest and most remote parts of the ocean: when the explorer Victor Vescovo arrived at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2019,[qh]
这股垃圾潮甚至到达了海洋最深、最偏远的地方：当探险家维克多·韦斯科沃于2019年抵达马里亚纳海沟底部时，[qh]
he didn't just encounter previously unknown species of amphipods, he also found a plastic bag and sweet wrappers.[qh]
他不仅遇到了以前未知的片脚类动物物种，还发现了一个塑料袋和糖纸。[qh]
Another expedition to the Mariana by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2016 observed a tin of Spam at a depth of 4,947 metres.[qh]
2016年，美国国家海洋和大气管理局对马里亚纳的另一次考察发现，在4947米深的地方发现了一罐午餐肉。[qh]
Possibly more disturbing, though, is the growing accumulation of microplastics in the ocean depths.[qh]
然而，可能更令人不安的是，海洋深处微塑料的积累越来越多。[qh]
Some microplastics are the result of larger plastic objects breaking down in the water.[qh]
一些微塑料是较大的塑料物体在水中分解的结果。[qh]
Others, such as the tiny plastic beads used in face scrubs and other products, are deliberately engineered. Increasing amounts are also a result of the growing use of artificial fibres such as polar fleece, many of which shed huge quantities of tiny filaments every time they are washed.[qh]
其他的，如面部磨砂膏和其他产品中使用的微小塑料珠，则是经过精心设计的。越来越多的人造纤维，如极地羊毛的使用也导致了数量的增加，其中许多人造纤维每次洗涤都会脱落大量的细丝。[qh]
