(单词翻译:单击)
The rubber ducks lost in the ocean.
遗失在海洋里的橡皮鸭。
In 1992, a cargo ship on its way from Hong Kong to the United States lost a crate in the Pacific Ocean.
1992年，一艘从香港开往美国的货轮在太平洋上丢失了一个板条箱。
That crate contained over 28,000 rubber ducks, most of which are still in the ocean today.
那个板条箱里装着超过28000只橡皮鸭，其中大部分至今仍在海洋中。
At first, this was simply seen as a small financial loss.
起初，这仅仅被视为一小笔财务损失。
However, a few of these ducks made their way to the coast of Alaska, where they were found by scavengers.
然而，其中一些橡皮鸭漂到了阿拉斯加海岸，在那里它们被拾荒者发现。
After this discovery, a team of oceanographers decided to track the ducks as they moved around the world.
在这一发现之后，一组海洋学家决定追踪这些橡皮鸭在世界各地移动的情况。
The oceanographers offered $100 rewards to anyone who found one of these ducks, so that they could make a map of the ducks’ journey.
海洋学家们悬赏100美元给任何发现其中一只橡皮鸭的人，这样他们就可以绘制橡皮鸭的旅行地图。
Rubber ducks began to appear in Japan and Australia.
橡皮鸭开始在日本和澳大利亚出现。
Some even travelled across the Arctic Ocean, ending up on the coasts of North America and Europe.
有些橡皮鸭甚至穿越北冰洋，最终到达北美和欧洲的海岸。
The oceanographers used the information they’d gathered from studying the ducks to confirm their predictions about the paths of major ocean currents.
海洋学家使用他们从研究鸭子中收集的信息，来证实他们对主要洋流路径的预测。
The story of the ducks was also used to raise awareness about the dangers of dumping plastic in the ocean.
橡皮鸭的故事也被用来提高人们对向海洋中倾倒塑料的危险的认识。
Today, these rubber ducks are still being found on shores.
如今，这些橡皮鸭仍然会出现在海岸上。
They have even become highly valued collectibles—often being sold for up to $1000.
它们甚至已经成为非常有价值的收藏品——通常售价高达1000美元。
