塑料為人類帶來了很多便利，我們現(xiàn)在早已習(xí)慣了用塑料，穿塑料，玩塑料，吃塑料。沒錯，我們幾乎每天都在吃塑料。

Microplastics are “one of the greatest man-made disasters of our time”， according to theNatural History Museum. That's bad news， giventhey are also everywhere; in tap water， the foodyou buy， the clothes you wear and the air youbreathe.

The largest microplastics can be seen by thenaked? eye? and? are? anything? under? half acentimeter in size. But many of them are smallenough to act like specks of dust which we caninadvertently breathe in or eat in food . Thesmallest particles are called nanoplastics andthey are small enough to get their way deep intothe human body.

Although research is in its infancy ， therisks of these plastics could be serious—somestudies have linked high exposure to cancer riskand disrupting our hormones. In animal studies，the? particles? have? been? shown? to? affectmetabolism，? gut? bacteria? and the? immunesystem， among other things.

As? microplastics? are? everywhere，? it'simpossible for us to stop using plastics， but wecan still take steps to reduce microplasticsgetting into your body.

倫敦自然歷史博物館認(rèn)為，微塑料是“這個時代最大的人造災(zāi)難之一”。這是個壞消息，因為微塑料無處不在；它們存在于自來水、你買的食物、你穿的衣服和你呼吸的空氣中。

最大的微塑料肉眼可見，大小不足0.5厘米。但許多微塑料都很小，小到像灰塵一樣可以在不經(jīng)意間被我們吸入或和食物一起吃下去。最小的塑料顆粒被稱為納米塑料，它們小到可以深入人體。

盡管研究還處于起步階段，但微塑料的危害可能很大——一些研究表明，微塑料與高患癌風(fēng)險和擾亂人體激素有關(guān)。在動物研究中，微塑料已被證明會影響新陳代謝、腸道細(xì)菌和免疫系統(tǒng)等。

由于微塑料幾乎無處不在，不使用塑料是不可能的，但我們?nèi)匀豢梢圆扇∫恍┐胧﹣肀M量減少微塑料的攝入。

Word Study

speck /spek/ n. 小點(diǎn)；微粒

infancy /'?nf?nsi/ n. 初期；初創(chuàng)期

decant /d?'k?nt/ v. 倒入

imbibe /?m'ba?b/ v. 喝；飲

They were used to imbibing quantities of alcohol.

Avoiding using cling film on hot food

避免在熱食物上包裹保鮮膜

Cling film is bad. Never microwave it or put it on hot food.

保鮮膜不健康。千萬不要用微波爐加熱保鮮膜或?qū)⒈ｕr膜放在熱的食物上。

Using metal or glass coffee cups

使用金屬或玻璃咖啡杯

The heat of the coffee will encourage the plastic toleach into your drink. So you can bring a reusable metalor glass cup for takeaway or consider drinking yourcoffee in a cafe.

咖啡的熱度會讓塑料滲入你的飲料中。所以需打包咖啡時，你可以帶一個可重復(fù)使用的金屬杯或玻璃杯，或者考慮在咖啡館喝咖啡。

Avoiding reheating takeaway food in plastic boxes

避免將外賣裝在塑料盒中重新加熱

Any time plastic containers are heated， chemical changes in the material mean it can leach microparticles into your food. If you can't avoid the takeaway boxes， try not to reheat food in them when having leftovers. Instead， decant them to a plate.

每當(dāng)塑料容器被加熱時，材料發(fā)生的化學(xué)變化意味著會有微粒子滲入到食物中。如果你無法避免使用外賣盒，那么吃剩下的外賣時盡量不要用外賣盒加熱，而應(yīng)該把它們倒進(jìn)盤子里加熱。

Using a glass water bottle instead of a plastic one

用玻璃水瓶代替塑料水瓶

A Canadian research found that bottled water contains 22 times more microplastics than tap water， meaning someone who exclusively drinks bottled water would imbibe 130，000 more particles a year， compared to about 4，000 from tap water.

Using a glass bottle when you're on the go， and filling it with water that has gone through a reverse osmosis filter， which can help to remove the microplastics in tap water.

加拿大的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，瓶裝水中的微塑料含量是自來水的22倍，這意味著只飲用瓶裝水的人每年會喝下超過13萬個微塑料粒子，而飲用自來水的人喝下的微塑料粒子數(shù)量約為4000個。

外出時攜帶玻璃瓶，并裝入經(jīng)過反滲透過濾器的水，這有助于去除自來水中的微塑料。