科学家称塑料污染已威胁南极海域
Antarctica's plastic threat
This is the most remote continent on Earth.
这是地球上最偏远的大陆。
It looks pristine, but today there's new evidence that microplastics are now reaching even these waters and perhaps more disturbingly there is also pollution from airborne chemicals in freshly fallen snow.
它虽然看起来一尘不染，但现在新证据显示，微塑料已蔓延到了这片海域，也许令人更加不安的是，在刚落下的雪片中也含有弥漫在空气中化学污染物。
We were with scientists on board a Greenpeace ship in January as they began testing waters off the Antarctic Peninsula.
今年一月，我们和一组着手测试南极半岛周边水质的科学家一起登上了绿色和平组织的一艘船。
Very little data exists.
相关数据微乎其微。
It's a question of picking a tiny bit of the Southern Ocean and lowering in a manta, a trawling device.
问题的关键是选南冰洋中很小的一部分，把形似蝠鲼的拖网装置放入水里。
Any microplastics should find their way into the net.
这样，任何微塑料成分都会被收入网中。
The team searched some of the most isolated places on the planet.
该科研小组在地球最孤僻的地区开展过搜索活动。
They also hunted for pollution on land, gathering samples of freshly fallen snow.
他们还曾通过采集新雪样本的方式来搜寻陆地上的污染物。
We didn't know it at the time, but even here, deposited either as a gas or in dust, were molecules of man-made chemicals.
那时我们并不知道，即使在南极，人造化学品分子也会以气体或尘埃的状态积存起来。
The samples of the three-month-long expedition were brought to this laboratory in Exeter; the majority were found to be contaminated.
在这次历时三个月的考察中所收集到的样本被带到了这间位于英国埃克斯特的实验室中。科学家们发现，大多数样本已被污染。
What we're finding is that in almost all of the samples of water we collected, we find tiny pieces of microplastics.
“我们发现，几乎所有被采集的海水样本中都含有少量的微塑料碎片。
Maybe only a few fragments of fibres in every litre of water, but given that this is really the end of the Earth, it's remarkable once again that we are finding microplastics almost wherever we look.
虽然每升水中可能只有微量的纤维碎屑，但考虑到南极是地球的尽头，所以在所有样本中几乎都找到了微塑料这一事实非常惊人。”
This will only add to the growing calls for something to be done about plastic before more of it reaches the end of the Earth.
该发现只会使这一日益增高的呼声愈演愈烈：那就是我们应该在更多塑料污染蔓延至世界尽头之前有所作为。