中文导读

一次撞船事故，让数亿颗比小扁豆还小的塑料颗粒散落到河流和海岸。据 BBC 10 月 26 日报道，7 月 19 日英格兰东北部泰恩港两船相撞，起重机倒塌，约 18 吨用于制造塑料制品的颗粒泄漏进泰恩河，被认为是欧洲有记录以来最严重的同类事件。文章先交代事故经过和塑料颗粒是什么，再介绍纽卡斯尔大学团队如何用平均重量估算出约 7.68 亿颗；接着说明三个多月后的情况：只回收约 28%，颗粒已出现在英格兰多段海岸，甚至很可能漂到丹麦。随后谈到秋季河水可能把留在河口的颗粒冲向下游，以及科学家对野生动物影响的担忧——这些影响可能要数月甚至数年才能弄清。阅读时可留意文章如何按“问题—应对—局限”展开，以及 but、though、because 等词如何区分已知事实与仍不确定的部分。

正文

On 19 July, two ships crashed at the Port of Tyne in north-east England. A vessel used to build wind farms hit a container ship, and a large crane fell across it. Two containers on the ship were full of nurdles, and about 18 tonnes of them poured into the River Tyne. It is believed to be the worst spill of its kind ever recorded in Europe.

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7 月 19 日，英格兰东北部的泰恩港发生两船相撞事故。一艘用于建造风电场的船撞上了一艘集装箱船，一台大型起重机倒在了船上。船上有两个集装箱装满了塑料颗粒（nurdles），约 18 吨颗粒倾泻进泰恩河。这被认为是欧洲有记录以来同类泄漏中最严重的一次。

Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets, each about the size of a lentil. Factories melt them down to make nearly all of the plastic goods we use every day. Because they are so small, one tonne holds a huge number of them. Dr Matthew Perks of Newcastle University says nobody can count them exactly. Using the average weight of a pellet, his team estimates that about 768 million were spilled, though the real number could be anywhere from 639 million to 1.2 billion.

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塑料颗粒是一种很小的塑料粒子，每颗大约像一粒小扁豆那么大。工厂把它们熔化，用来制造我们日常使用的几乎所有塑料制品。由于颗粒非常小，一吨里就有数量巨大的颗粒。纽卡斯尔大学的马修·珀克斯博士说，没有人能准确数清它们。根据单颗颗粒的平均重量，他的团队估计约有 7.68 亿颗泄漏，不过真实数量可能在 6.39 亿到 12 亿颗之间。

More than three months later, the BBC reported on 26 October, many questions remain. By the end of September, scientists said only about 28% of the pellets had been recovered. Officials say the number washing up on beaches has fallen a lot, but they also admit that collecting all 18 tonnes is not possible. Pellets have been found along the English coast from Northumberland to North Yorkshire, and Danish officials said last week that pellets on Denmark’s west coast had likely come from the Tyne as well.

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据 BBC 10 月 26 日报道，三个多月过去了，许多问题仍未解决。科学家称，截至 9 月底，只有约 28% 的颗粒被回收。官方表示，冲上海滩的颗粒数量已大幅减少，但他们也承认不可能把 18 吨全部收回。从诺森伯兰到北约克郡的英格兰海岸都发现了这些颗粒；丹麦官方上周表示，丹麦西海岸发现的颗粒很可能也来自泰恩河。

The team in Newcastle is now following where the pellets go. Its models suggest that about one in eight of them are still in the river’s mouth, and high river levels this autumn could carry them downstream. Dr Perks sees this as an important chance to collect more, but he warns that the longer they travel, the harder they are to find.

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纽卡斯尔的团队目前正在追踪颗粒的去向。其模型显示，约八分之一的颗粒仍留在河口，而今年秋天较高的河水水位可能把它们冲向下游。珀克斯博士认为这是回收更多颗粒的重要机会，但他也提醒，颗粒漂得越久，就越难找到。

Nobody knows yet how much harm the spill will cause. Professor Bhavani Narayanaswamy, a marine scientist, says it could take months or even years to understand. Animals may swallow the pellets, which can also pick up harmful chemicals. A local bird survey group has collected dead seabirds and plans to test them next month. Birds may have mistaken the plastic for fish eggs.

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这次泄漏会造成多大危害，目前还没人知道。海洋科学家巴瓦尼·纳拉亚纳斯瓦米教授说，可能需要几个月甚至几年才能弄清楚。动物可能会吞下这些颗粒，而颗粒还可能吸附有害化学物质。当地一个鸟类调查小组收集了一些死去的海鸟，计划下个月对它们进行检测。鸟类可能把塑料误认成了鱼卵。

The clean-up has now moved from large beach operations to smaller, targeted work. Police and accident investigators are still looking into the crash. Meanwhile, a small group of volunteers still gives up their free time to search local beaches. One of them, Lou Shackleton, says they need all the help they can get.

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清理工作现在已从大规模的海滩作业转向规模较小、更有针对性的工作。警方和事故调查人员仍在调查这起撞船事故。与此同时，一小群志愿者仍在利用空闲时间搜寻当地海滩。其中一位志愿者卢·沙克尔顿说，他们需要尽可能多的帮助。

新闻来源

• BBC News · What do we still need to know about the Tyne nurdle spill? (26 Oct 2026)

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