VOA慢速英语20116 外交官在佛罗里达海滩捡垃圾（在线收听）

Foreign Diplomats and U.S. Officials Clean a Florida Beach 外交官在佛罗里达海滩捡垃圾

Last Friday was an unusual day for several diplomats in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Department of State gathered consular officers from Africa, Europe and Latin America to pick garbage off the beach in Key Biscayne.

Their efforts supported a program called the International Coastal Cleanup of Beaches. This program aims to clean garbage out of oceans and off beaches.

The International Coastal Cleanup also tries to bring attention to the issue of pollution in the world's oceans.

U.S. Department of State official Clifton Seagroves said protecting the world's oceans is very important.

"We want to bring attention to ... pollution, microbeads, plastics ... which causes problems for the whole world."

A 2015 Reuters news service report stated scientists believe more than nine million tons of garbage are in the world's oceans.

Uruguay's consul, Lourdes Bonet, said she felt it was her duty to help with the efforts.

"A person continues to live in the place where he or she lives," she said. "And they must return all that hospitality that has been received."

Ecuador's consul, Eduardo Rivadeneira, praised the efforts to clean the beach.

"I had never come to this park and I think it's spectacular," he said. "Everyone is from all over the world sharing this great moment."

The group was able to remove almost 550 kilograms of garbage from the Key Biscayne beach by the end of the day. This same amount usually takes a week to remove.

对于美国佛罗里达州的几名外交官来说，上周五是个不寻常的日子。美国国务院聚集了非洲、欧洲和拉丁美洲的领事人员，他们在比斯坎海滩拣垃圾。

此举是为了支持“国际海岸清理海滩”项目。该项目旨在清除海洋和海滩上垃圾。

国际海岸清理工作也试图引起人们对世界海洋污染问题的关注。

美国国务院人员克里夫顿·西葛洛弗（Clifton Seagroves）表示，保护世界海洋至关重要。

“我们想让人们关注…污染、微珠、塑料…这些会引发全球性难题。”

2015年路透社的一份报告称，科学家们相信，全球海洋中的垃圾超过900万吨。

乌拉圭领事卢尔德·博尼特（Lourdes Bonet）称，为保护海洋出一份力是她的责任。

她表示，“人类若想继续生活在其所生活的地方，就必须反馈自己得到的所有恩惠。”

厄瓜多尔领事爱德华多·里瓦德内拉（Eduardo Rivadeneira）高度赞扬了人们在清理沙滩上所做的努力。

他说，“之前我从未来过这个地方，这里很壮观，全球的人都在分享这一伟大的时刻。”

当天临近尾声时，该团队已将比斯坎湾海滩近550公斤垃圾清理干净。通常清理这么多垃圾需要一周的时间。