《经济学人》双语：英国泰晤士河”湿纸巾岛“有2个网球场那么大？

原文标题：
Sewage
Wipe out
Britain’s newest islets are made of wet wipes
污物
清理
英国最新出现的湿巾小岛

They clog sewers, leach microplastics and change the course of rivers
它们会堵塞下水道，渗出微塑料颗粒，改变河流走向

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THE BRITISH ISLES is acquiring some new additions.
英国群岛又添加了新成员。

These nascent islets are not made of granite or limestone, but of agglomerations of wet wipes and mud.

这些新生岛不是花岗岩或石灰岩结构，而是湿纸巾和泥浆的混合物结构。

The largest is a metre deep, spans the width of two tennis courts and sits at a bend in the Thames by Hammersmith Bridge in London.

最大的湿纸巾岛位于伦敦汉默史密斯桥旁的泰晤士河弯道处，厚1米，宽度可以横跨2个网球场。

It was measured last summer by volunteers from Thames21, a charity, which has been tracing the formation of such monstrosities for seven years.

去年夏天，慈善机构Thames21的志愿者对这个岛进行了测量。该机构七年来一直在追踪这种奇怪地貌的形成。

It reckons that there are at least nine wet-wipe islets in the Thames, and that smaller ones may be forming in the bends of other rivers.
据估计，泰晤士河上至少有9个湿纸巾小岛，其他河流的弯道上也可能有类似更小的小岛。

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Britons dispose of 11bn wet wipes a year.
英国人每年扔掉110亿块湿纸巾。

They clean the nation’s babies and homes, but they also block sewers when they are flushed: a report in 2017 by Water UK, an industry body, found that wipes made up 93% of the material obstructing sewers.

湿纸巾可以用来给家里的婴儿擦拭身体，但被冲进马桶后会堵塞下水道：英国水协2017年的一份报告发现，湿纸巾占下水道堵塞物的93%。

Even those claiming to be “biodegradable” may not decompose fast enough to avoid clogging waterways.

甚至是所谓的“可生物降解”湿纸巾，由于它们的分解速度不够快，导致堵塞水道。

Some 90% of them contain microplastics, which leach into water and digestive systems (Britons ingest enough plastic each week to make a credit card, reckons the World Wildlife Fund, a charity).
约90%的湿纸巾含有微塑料，这些微塑料颗粒会渗入饮水系统和消化系统（据慈善机构“世界野生动物基金会”估计，英国人每周摄入的塑料足以制成一张信用卡）。

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A few retailers, such as Tesco and Boots, have put a stop to the sale of all wipes that contain plastic. Alternatives are emerging.

乐购和博姿等一些零售企业已停止售卖所有含塑料的湿巾。替代产品正在出现。

Wype, a natural gel that is applied to toilet paper, is the invention of Giorgia Granata, an Italian expat mourning Britain’s lack of bidets. FlushAway is a dissolvable wipe.
意大利侨民乔治·格拉纳塔在英国苦于没有坐浴盆，于是发明了Wype（一种用于卫生纸的天然凝胶）。FlushAway是一种可溶解的纸巾。

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But wet wipes are hard to get rid of. They are not included in the government’s list of single-use plastics that are due to be banned from October.

但摆脱湿纸巾也很难。从10月起，政府将禁用一批一次性塑料，湿纸巾不在禁用清单之列。

Although wipes are plastered with words like “flushable” and “biodegradable”, the use of these terms is largely unregulated.

尽管湿纸巾上贴着“可冲散”和“可生物降解”等字样，但这些术语的使用很大程度上不受监管。

The study by Water UK found that “flushable” wipes were still 88 times more likely than toilet paper to block sewers.

英国水协的研究发现，“可冲散”湿巾堵塞下水道的可能性仍然是卫生纸的88倍。

The technical standard “fine to flush”, which was introduced by Water UK in 2019, tests wipes under lab conditions that do not reflect the state of Britain’s sewers.
2019年英国水协出的技术标准“可冲散”（fine to flush），是在实验室条件下进行的纸巾测试，但实验室情况不能反应全英国下水道状况。

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According to the Water Industry Act of 1991, it is illegal to flush anything that is “likely to injure the sewer or drain” or “interfere with the free flow of its contents”.

根据1991年《水工业法》，往马桶冲任何“可能损坏下水道或排水管”或“干扰管道自由流动”的东西都是违法的。

But Britons don’t seem able to stop. In a survey carried out in 2022 by Thames Water, a utility, just over one in five people admitted to flushing the things away.

但英国人似乎停不下来。泰晤士水务公司2022年进行的一项调查表明，1/5以上的英国人承认曾把这些东西冲进马桶。

The emergence of wet-wipe archipelagoes suggests that others may have been economical with the truth.
湿纸巾群岛的出现表明，有人可能隐瞒了真相。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量440左右）
原文出自：2023年2月4日《The Economist》Britain版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
英国《独立报》报导，废弃的湿纸巾在伦敦西边泰晤士河畔堆出了一座「岛」，面积有两个网球场那么大，有湿纸巾的地方厚达1公尺。这些湿纸巾主要来自家庭，据泰晤士水务公司的调查，2/5的人承认曾将湿纸巾冲进马桶。湿纸巾大都有塑胶成分，即使标榜「可丢马桶」，也不代表可分解。英国环保慈善机构Thames21去年发表的雷射影像显示，泰晤士河流经哈默史密斯的附近，出现巨大「油脂块」（fatberg）。油脂块由大量的家庭垃圾、油脂和塑胶集结成而成，其中湿纸巾约占90%。

巨大湿纸巾堵塞日益严重，议员们呼吁民众不要再将湿纸巾冲进马桶。工党议员安德森去年在下议院提案，呼吁禁止制造并销售含塑胶成分的湿纸巾。安德森在新闻稿中指出，英国每年使用110 亿条湿巾，相当于每人每年需要使用 163 条湿纸巾。90%的湿纸巾含有某种形式的塑胶成分。这些塑胶会停留很长时间，最后分解成塑胶微粒，被海洋或河流中的生物吃下，进入我们的食物链跟用水来源。

Glatfelter公司宣布其用于可冲散湿巾和湿厕纸的非织造布基材获得了英国水协（Water UK）发布的Fine to Flush可冲散认证。该产品经过英国水研究中心技术人员的独立检测。可分散湿巾基材被冲入下水道后，能立即分解，不会伤害下水系统，或堵塞水处理泵。此外，该产品不添加化学品或粘合剂，100%可生物降解。除了Fine to Flush可冲散湿巾基材外，还生产一系列个人护理和家用湿巾基材，包括婴儿湿巾、湿厕纸、家用表面清洁湿巾、工业清洁湿巾等。

 
【重点句子】（3 个）
These nascent islets are not made of granite or limestone, but of agglomerations of wet wipes and mud.
这些新生岛不是花岗岩或石灰岩结构，而是湿巾和泥浆的混合物结构。

Even those claiming to be “biodegradable” may not decompose fast enough to avoid clogging waterways.
甚至是所谓的“可生物降解”湿纸巾，由于它们的分解速度不够快，导致堵塞水道。

Although wipes are plastered with words like “flushable” and “biodegradable”, the use of these terms is largely unregulated.
尽管湿纸巾上贴着“可冲散”和“可生物降解”等字样，但这些术语的使用很大程度上不受监管。