Scientists are preparing to launch the world's first machine to clean up the planet's largest mass of ocean plastic.

科学家计划发布全球第一台清理大规模海洋塑料的机器。

The system, originally dreamed up by a teenager, will be shipped out this summer to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California, and which contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. It will be the first ever attempt to tackle the patch since it was discovered in 1997.

这台机器的设计初衷来自一名少年，今年夏天，它就将运往介于夏威夷和加利福尼亚的太平洋垃圾带，太平洋垃圾带的塑料约有18000亿。自1997年垃圾带被发现以来，这是人类第一次尝试解决问题。

The experts believe the machine should be able to collect half of the detritus in the patch – about 40,000 metric tons – within five years.

科学家认为这台机器能在五年内收集一半的垃圾，大约4万吨。

In the past few weeks they have been busy welding together giant tubes that will sit on the surface of the sea and form the skeleton of the machine, creating the largest floating barrier ever made.

过去几周，科学家们忙于焊接大型管道，这些管道将被安置在海面，构成机器的骨架，也是有史以来最大的浮动屏障。

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) spans 617,763 sq miles - more than twice the size of France, and contains at least 79,000 tons of plastic, research found last month.

太平洋垃圾带横跨617763平方英里，是法国国土面积的两倍，考察队上月发现垃圾带的塑料至少有79000吨。

Most of it is made up of “ghost gear” – parts of abandoned and lost fishing gear, such as nets and ropes – often from illegal fishing vessels.

大部分塑料垃圾都是“废旧用具”，废弃丢失的捕鱼工具、渔网渔线之类，通常是非法捕鱼船留下的。

Ghost gear kills more than 100,000 whales, dolphins and seals each year, according to scientific surveys. Seabirds and other marine life are increasingly being found dead with stomachs full of small pieces of plastic.

调查表明，废旧工具每年杀死十万多只鲸、海豚和海豹。海鸟和其他海洋生物胃里都是塑料，越来越多的生物死后被发现具有这样的症状。

Creatures eat plastic discarded in the sea thinking it’s food but then starve to death because they are not feeding properly.

食用塑料的海洋生物认为塑料就是食物，却因为吃的东西有问题饿死了。

Others are trapped and die of starvation or are strangled or suffocated by ghost gear.

还有很多生物要么饿死，要么被废弃工具困住窒息纠缠而死。

（翻译：阿忙）