4月29日午間英語新聞：哪些食物含有最多的塑料? 如何減少攝入？

> Which foods have the most plastics? 
哪些食物含有最多的塑料? 如何減少攝入？

Ninety percent of animal and vegetable protein samples tested positive for microplastics, tiny polymer fragments that can range from less than 0.2 inches (5 millimeters) down to 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometer), according to a February 2024 study. Anything smaller than 1 micrometer is a nanoplastic that must be measured in billionths of a meter.
根據(jù) 2024 年 2 月的一項研究，90% 的動物和植物蛋白樣本中都檢測出了微塑料，微塑料是一種微小的聚合物碎片，范圍從不到0.2英寸(5毫米)到1/ 25000英寸(1微米)。任何小于1微米的東西都屬于納米塑料，必須以十億分之一米為單位進行測量。

If the plastic is small enough, fruits and vegetables can absorb microplastics through their root systems and transfer those chemical bits to the plant’s stems, leaves, seeds and fruit.
如果塑料足夠小，水果和蔬菜可以通過它們的根系吸收微塑料，并將這些化學(xué)物質(zhì)轉(zhuǎn)移到植物的莖、葉、種子和果實中。

Salt can be packed with plastic. Sugar is also “an important route of human exposure to these micropollutants,” according to a 2022 study.
鹽中可能含有塑料。根據(jù)2022年的一項研究，糖也是“人類接觸這些微污染物的重要途徑”。

Even tea bags, many of which are made of plastic, can release enormous amounts of plastic. Researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, found brewing a single plastic teabag released about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into the water.
即使是許多由塑料制成的茶包，也會釋放出大量的塑料。加拿大魁北克省麥吉爾大學(xué)的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，泡一個塑料茶包會向水中釋放約116億個微塑料和31億個納米塑料顆粒。

A University of Queensland study found that for every 100 grams (1/2 cup) of rice people eat, they consume three to four milligrams of plastic — the number jumps to 13 milligrams per serving for instant rice. (You can reduce plastic contamination by up to 40% by washing rice, researchers said. That also helps reduce arsenic, which can be high in rice.)
昆士蘭大學(xué)的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們每吃100克(1/2杯)米飯，就會攝入3到4毫克的塑料，而每份即食米飯的塑料攝入量則高達13毫克。(研究人員表示，洗米可以減少高達40%的塑料污染。這也有助于減少砷含量，因為大米中的砷含量可能很高。)

Let’s not forget bottled water. One liter of water — the equivalent of two standard-size bottled waters — contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics, including nanoplastics, according to a March 2024 study.
不要忘了還有瓶裝水。根據(jù)2024年3月的一項研究，一升水——相當(dāng)于兩瓶標(biāo)準(zhǔn)尺寸的瓶裝水——平均含有24萬個塑料顆粒，這些微粒來自包括納米塑料在內(nèi)的七種塑料。

In the February study, which was published in Environmental Research, researchers looked at over a dozen commonly consumed proteins, including beef, breaded and other types of shrimp, chicken breasts and nuggets, pork, seafood, tofu and several plant-based meat alternatives, such as nuggets, plant crumbles similar to ground beef and plant-based fish sticks.
在2月份發(fā)表在《環(huán)境研究》上的研究中，研究人員調(diào)查了十幾種常見的蛋白質(zhì)，包括牛肉、面包蝦和其他類型的蝦、雞胸肉和雞塊、豬肉、海鮮、豆腐和幾種植物性肉類替代品，如雞塊、類似于碎牛肉的植物碎塊和植物魚條。

The least contaminated proteins were chicken breasts, followed by pork loin chops and tofu.
受污染最少的蛋白質(zhì)是雞胸肉，其次是豬里脊和豆腐。

Apples and carrots were the most contaminated fruit and vegetable, respectively, with over 100,000 microplastics per gram. The smallest particles were found in carrots, while the largest pieces of plastic were found in lettuce, which was also the least contaminated vegetable.
蘋果和胡蘿卜分別是污染最嚴(yán)重的水果和蔬菜，每克含有超過10萬個微塑料。胡蘿卜中的顆粒最小，而生菜中的塑料碎片最大，生菜也是受污染最少的蔬菜。

Some ways to reduce plastic:
減少塑料的方法

· The levels of contamination found in bottled water reinforce long-held expert advice to drink tap water from glass or stainless steel containers to reduce exposure.  
瓶裝水中發(fā)現(xiàn)的污染程度強化了專家長期以來的建議，即從玻璃或不銹鋼容器中飲用自來水，以減少接觸。

· Try to avoid eating anything that has been stored in a plastic container. Look for food stored in glass, enamel or foil. 
盡量避免吃任何儲存在塑料容器里的食物。尋找用玻璃、搪瓷或鋁箔包裝的食物。

· Wear clothing made from natural fabrics and buy consumer products made from natural materials. 
穿天然面料的衣服，購買天然材料的消費品。

· Don’t microwave in plastic. Instead, heat food on the stove or by microwaving in glass. 
·不要在塑料中微波加熱。而是在爐子上加熱食物，或在玻璃里用微波爐加熱食物。

· If you can, eat as much fresh food as possible, and limit purchase of processed and ultra-processed foods wrapped in plastic. ·
如果可以，盡可能多吃新鮮食物，限制購買塑料包裝的加工食品和超加工食品。

重點詞匯：
ultra-processed
adj.超加工的：指食品經(jīng)過高度加工，含有大量添加劑、人工成分和低營養(yǎng)價值的成分。