2022年11月12日VOA慢速英語(yǔ)：尋找礦物增加了人們對(duì)深海采礦的興趣

 


The mining industry is pushing to explore more of the world's deep oceans to find metals and minerals used for electric vehicles and other technologies.
采礦業(yè)正在推動(dòng)探索世界上更多的深海，以尋找用于電動(dòng)汽車(chē)和其他技術(shù)的金屬和礦物。
 
But some scientists are worried that deep sea mining will damage the environment and the biological systems important to the atmosphere.
/>但一些科學(xué)家擔(dān)心深海采礦會(huì)破壞環(huán)境和對(duì)大氣重要的生物系統(tǒng)。
 
Scientists, lawyers and government officials are meeting until November 11 in Jamaica to discuss the issue. The International Seabed Authority, (ISA), an independent group created by a United Nations treaty, organized the meeting.
科學(xué)家、律師和政府官員將于 11 月 11 日在牙買(mǎi)加開(kāi)會(huì)討論這個(gè)問(wèn)題。國(guó)際海底管理局 (ISA) 是根據(jù)聯(lián)合國(guó)條約成立的一個(gè)獨(dú)立組織，組織了這次會(huì)議。
 
The ISA has given 31 exploration licenses for deep ocean waters outside of any country's territory. While it has not given any licenses to begin mining, some experts worry it will do so soon before rules are in place.
ISA 已授予 31 個(gè)在任何國(guó)家領(lǐng)土以外的深海水域的勘探許可證。雖然它沒(méi)有頒發(fā)任何開(kāi)始采礦的許可證，但一些專(zhuān)家擔(dān)心它會(huì)在規(guī)則到位之前很快這樣做。
 
Experts say the mining would create dirty water, noise, and light that could harm the ecosystem in the deep sea. They also note that scientists do not know a lot about the deep sea and need to learn more before making decisions about mining.
專(zhuān)家表示，采礦會(huì)產(chǎn)生臟水、噪音和光線(xiàn)，可能會(huì)損害采礦業(yè)深海的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。他們還指出，科學(xué)家對(duì)深海了解不多，需要在做出采礦決定之前了解更多。
 
Less than one percent of the world's deep ocean waters have been explored. Most of the current exploration activity is in a large region between Hawaii and Mexico.
世界上只有不到百分之一的深海水域被探索過(guò)。目前的大部分勘探活動(dòng)都在夏威夷和墨西哥之間的大片地區(qū)。
 
Mining companies argue that deep sea mining is less costly and causes less damage than mining on land.
礦業(yè)公司認(rèn)為，深海采礦比陸地采礦成本更低，造成的損害也更小。
 
The International Energy Agency estimated that demand for minerals will increase six times by 2050. A report from Fitch Ratings that was released in October said demand will increase because electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies need minerals found in the sea.
國(guó)際能源署估計(jì)，到 2050 年，對(duì)礦物的需求將增加六倍。惠譽(yù)評(píng)級(jí)在 10 月發(fā)布的一份報(bào)告稱(chēng)，由于電動(dòng)汽車(chē)和可再生能源技術(shù)需要在海洋中發(fā)現(xiàn)礦物，因此需求將會(huì)增加。
 
 
Nauru, a small island northeast of Australia, is leading the push for mining. It hopes to financially gain from the mining for minerals that are used in technologies such as electric car batteries.
瑙魯是澳大利亞?wèn)|北部的一個(gè)小島，正在引領(lǐng)采礦業(yè)。它希望從開(kāi)采用于電動(dòng)汽車(chē)電池等技術(shù)的礦物中獲得經(jīng)濟(jì)收益。
 
Need for study and rules
需要研究和規(guī)則
 
But officials in other countries are worried about the effects of mining and are pushing for new rules.
但其他國(guó)家的官員擔(dān)心采礦的影響，并正在推動(dòng)新的規(guī)則。
 
 
"We are still very concerned about the consequences," said Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, Brazil's representative at the meeting.
出席會(huì)議的巴西代表埃爾扎·莫雷拉·馬塞利諾·德卡斯特羅說(shuō)：“我們?nèi)匀环浅?dān)心后果。”
 
French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year that he supports a ban on deep sea mining. Germany, which has two exploration contracts, announced on Wednesday that it would not sponsor such mining at this time.
法國(guó)總統(tǒng)埃馬紐埃爾·馬克龍今年早些時(shí)候表示，他支持禁止深海采礦。擁有兩項(xiàng)勘探合同的德國(guó)周三宣布，目前不會(huì)贊助此類(lèi)采礦。
 
New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa want a ban on the mining until more is known about its possible effects, a move supported by some scientists and legal experts.
新西蘭、斐濟(jì)和薩摩亞希望在了解更多關(guān)于其可能影響的信息之前禁止采礦，此舉得到了一些科學(xué)家和法律專(zhuān)家的支持。
 
The ocean holds more carbon than the Earth's atmosphere, plants and soil, and scientists are finding new kinds of plant and animal life during exploration trips.
海洋中的碳含量比地球的大氣層、植物和土壤還多，科學(xué)家們?cè)谔剿髦弥胁粩喟l(fā)現(xiàn)新的植物和動(dòng)物生命種類(lèi)。
 
Diva Amon is a marine biologist. She said studies take months or even years to complete.
Diva Amon 是一名海洋生物學(xué)家。她說(shuō)，研究需要數(shù)月甚至數(shù)年才能完成。
 
"We do not understand what lives there, how they live there, the global function that this ecosystem plays," she said. She added that because minerals grow only one to 10 millimeters every million years, the deep sea is slow to recover from damage.
“我們不了解那里生活著什么，它們?nèi)绾紊?，以及這個(gè)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)發(fā)揮的全球功能，”她說(shuō)。她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，由于礦物每百萬(wàn)年僅增長(zhǎng) 1 到 10 毫米，因此深海從破壞中恢復(fù)的速度很慢。
 
Other concerns over deep sea mining include how money would be divided and how mining companies would be supervised.
其他關(guān)于深海采礦的擔(dān)憂(yōu)包括如何分配資金以及采礦公司將如何分配受到監(jiān)督。
 
Countries who have signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea can sponsor private companies seeking exploration licenses. The United States is one of several countries that is not party to the convention.
已簽署《聯(lián)合國(guó)海洋法公約》的國(guó)家可以贊助尋求勘探許可證的私營(yíng)公司。美國(guó)是未加入該公約的幾個(gè)國(guó)家之一。
 
Pradeep Singh is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. He said there are worries that private mining companies might look for a sponsor country based on reduced tax deals, weak environmental laws and other influences.
Pradeep Singh 是德國(guó)波茨坦高級(jí)可持續(xù)發(fā)展研究所的研究員。他說(shuō)，人們擔(dān)心私營(yíng)礦業(yè)公司可能會(huì)基于減稅協(xié)議、薄弱的環(huán)境法和其他影響尋找贊助國(guó)。
 
Michael Lodge is the secretary general of the ISA. He said at the meeting in Jamaica that the agency wants to ensure protection of the marine environment while member countries work on proposed rules.
Michael Lodge 是 ISA 的秘書(shū)長(zhǎng)。他在牙買(mǎi)加的會(huì)議上說(shuō)，該機(jī)構(gòu)希望確保在成員國(guó)制定擬議規(guī)則的同時(shí)保護(hù)海洋環(huán)境。