Glass Beaches
在佛罗里达州的罗德岱堡，当你欣赏美丽的海岸景色时，试想一下，你脚底下踩着的沙子在阳光下闪闪发光会是什么景象。如今，面对佛罗里达海岸遭到持续侵蚀的情况，布劳沃德县官员正在开发一种新方法，那就是利用玻璃来帮助弥补沙滩的缺口。 如果该项目得到实施，布劳沃德县将成为美国第一个拥有玻璃海滩的地方。在佛罗里达州，沙子是一种很值钱的东西，和海滩有关的经济活动每年为佛罗里达创造10亿美元以上的价值。传统上，补充沙滩侵蚀的方式是从海床挖沙。自从1970年以来，仅在布劳沃德县,就已经挖掉1300万吨的海沙，这些海沙可以将美国纽约的帝国大厦塞满整整12次。现在布劳沃德县每年只能造出1.56万吨玻璃，还不足以解决沙滩的侵蚀问题，但却能够减少沙滩流失的速度。
All over the country, beach managers have tried to make beaches safer by discouraging the use of glass bottles on the sand.
Florida, however, has actually begun using glass as sand at the beach as a way to keep its shores friendly to both tourists and wildlife.
A stable beach is important for human use and for many wildlife populations. Each year, the ocean surf causes substantial erosion of these beaches as it carries tons of sand with it back into the ocean. The most common way to restore the sand lost to erosion is to pipe it from the ocean floor back up to the beach. This method, though, is expensive and does damage to the fragile ecosystems on the ocean floor.
In the search for an alternative to this costly and destructive piping method, scientists turned to crushed glass. The glass was made into pieces roughly two-hundredth-of-an-inch (.02) in size that were similar in shape and texture to ordinary sand. The glass sand was then tested to make sure that it would not only look like sand, but would also behave like sand in the natural environment.
Researchers found that the glass sand was very similar to ordinary sand in terms of heat, moisture and oxygen levels. They also determined that the glass sand was suitable for those who inhabit the beach, from microorganisms to crabs and turtles. Thanks to these scientists, today you can visit one of these lovely, sparkling beaches and even build a glass castle in the sand.
译文：
在全国范围内，为了安全起见，主管沙滩的经理们都不鼓励把玻璃洒用于沙滩。
然而佛罗里达州，开始用玻璃来代替沙撒在海滩上，以此来保护游客和野生动植物。
一个稳定的沙滩对于人们的使用和许多野生动物种群来说是非常重要的。每年，海洋冲浪都会引起海滩的严重侵蚀，因为它会带着好几吨的沙重回大海。储存沙最常见的方法就是用管子把它从海底重新运回海岸。这种方法不仅花费昂贵，而且也容易破坏海底脆弱的生态系统。
在寻找可以代替这种昂贵的和破坏性的管道方法的过程中，科学家们转向了粗碎玻璃。这种玻璃被做成0.0127厘米大小的类似于普通沙子的质地和形状的样子。他们对玻璃沙子进行测试，确保它不仅看起来像沙子，而且在自然环境中也能像自然沙子那样发挥作用。
研究人员发现，玻璃沙子在热量，湿度和含氧量方面都非常类似于普通的沙子。他们还发现玻璃沙子对于在海边居住的生物也同样适合，从微生物到螃蟹，再到海龟。多亏了这些科学家，今天你可以参观到这些可爱的，闪闪发亮的海滩，甚至于矗立于海滩中一座玻璃城堡。 |