A.当马特·厄普顿教授在他的实验室里发现一种来自深海海绵的微生物可以杀死致病细菌时，他意识到这可能是对抗耐抗生素超级细菌的一个突破。仅在英国，每年就有数千人死于超级细菌。进一步的测试证实了海绵细菌中的一种抗生素，这种细菌生活在大西洋东北部罗克尔海槽700多米深的海底，以前是不为科学所知的，这增加了它作为救命药物的潜力。但厄普顿和其他一些把深海及其丰富的独特物种视为新药探矿地的科学家担心，这种潜力将在开发深海同样丰富的金属和矿产资源的热潮中丧失。

A. When Professor Mat Upton found that a microbe from a deep-sea sponge was killing pathogenic bugs in his laboratory, he realised it could be a breakthrough in the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, which are responsible for thousands of deaths a year in the UK alone. Further tests confirmed that an antibiotic from the sponge bacteria, found living more than 700 metres under the sea at the Rockall trough in the north-east Atlantic, was previously unknown to science, boosting its potential as a life-saving medicine. But Upton, and other scientists who view the deep ocean and its wealth of unique and undocumented species as a prospecting ground for new medicines, fear such potential will be lost in the rush to exploit the deep sea's equally rich metal and mineral resources.

B.普利茅斯大学(University of Plymouth)的医学微生物学家厄普顿(Upton)说，我们正在研究海洋资源的生物活性潜力，看看在我们彻底摧毁它之前，那里是否还有更多的药物或药物。他是许多敦促停止深海采矿的科学家之一，他们要求有时间权衡利弊。他说，从可持续性的角度来看，这可能是开发深海经济潜力的更好方式。海洋学家使用遥控车辆发现了许多新物种。其中包括有尾巴的海参，它们可以沿着海底航行，还有一种罕见的“小飞象”章鱼，在加利福尼亚海岸外的太平洋下3000米处被发现。其中任何一种都有可能挽救生命。厄普顿估计，一种新发现的抗生素可能需要长达十年的时间才能成为一种药物，但在海洋深渊中进行商业采矿的竞赛已经开始。

B. 'We're looking at the bioactive potential of marine resources, to see if there are any more medicines or drugs down there before we destroy it for ever,' says Upton, a medical microbiologist at the University of Plymouth. He is among many scientists urging a halt to deep-sea mining, asking for time to weigh up the pros and cons. 'In sustainability terms, this could be a better way of exploiting the economic potential of the deep sea,' he argues. Oceanographers using remotely operated vehicles have spotted many new species. Among them have been sea cucumbers with tails allowing them to sail along the ocean floor, and a rare 'Dumbo' octopus, found 3,000 metres under the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. Any one of these could offer lifesaving potential. Upton estimates it could take up to a decade for a newly discovered antibiotic to become a medicine – but the race towards commercial mining in the ocean abyss has already begun.

C.根据美国地质调查局的数据，深海中含有的镍、钴和稀土金属比所有陆地储量的总和还要多。矿业公司辩称，深海勘探可能有助于实现金属供应的多样化，并指出这样一个事实:对铜、铝、用于电动汽车电池的钴，以及为科技和智能手机提供动力的其他金属等资源的需求正在飙升。他们说，深海采矿产生的矿石比陆地采矿要优质得多，而且几乎没有浪费。目前有不同的开采方法，但大多数都是使用某种形式的改造机械，以前用于陆地采矿，从海底挖掘材料，深度可达6000米，然后将含有岩石和其他固体颗粒的海水泥浆从海底抽出，输送到海面上的船只。然后将泥浆“脱水”并转移到另一艘船进行运输。抽取出来的海水被泵回海底，排放到靠近海底的地方。

C. The deep sea contains more nickel, cobalt and rare earth metals than all land reserves combined, according to the US Geological Survey. Mining corporations argue that deep- sea exploration could help diversify the supply of metals and point to the fact that demand for resources such as copper, aluminium, cobalt for electric car batteries and other metals to power technology and smartphones, is soaring. They say that deep-sea mining could yield far superior ore to land mining with little, if any, waste. Different methods of extraction exist, but most involve employing some form of converted machinery previously used in terrestrial mining to excavate materials from the sea floor, at depths of up to 6,000 metres, then drawing a seawater slurry, containing rock and other solid particles, from the sea floor to ships on the surface. The slurry is then 'de-watered' and transferred to another vessel for shipping. Extracted seawater is pumped back down and discharged close to the sea floor.

D.但环境和法律团体敦促谨慎行事，认为这可能对环境和附近社区造成巨大的未知后果，而且全球监管框架尚未起草。蓝海法律事务所的朱莉·亨特和朱利安·阿古翁以及不来梅海洋环境科学中心的普拉迪普·辛格在一篇论文中指出:“尽管在过去的半个世纪中兴起，深海采矿的‘新的全球淘金热’与过去的资源争夺有许多共同之处——包括普遍忽视环境和社会影响，以及土著人民及其权利的边缘化。”作者说，对深海海底的了解仍然非常有限。“月球、火星甚至金星的表面都已经被绘制出来，并进行了更详细的研究，这使得海洋科学家们普遍认为，就深海而言，‘我们还不知道我们需要知道的东西’。”

D. But environmental and legal groups have urged caution, arguing there are potentially massive and unknown ramifications for the environment and for nearby communities, and that the global regulatory framework is not yet drafted. 'Despite arising in the last half century, the “new global gold rush” of deep-sea mining shares many features with past resource scrambles – including a general disregard for environmental and social impacts, and the marginalisation of indigenous peoples and their rights,' a paper, written by Julie Hunter and Julian Aguon, from Blue Ocean Law, and Pradeep Singh, from the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen, argues. The authors say that knowledge of the deep seabed remains extremely limited. 'The surface of the Moon, Mars and even Venus have all been mapped and studied in much greater detail, leading marine scientists to commonly remark that, with respect to the deep sea, “We don't yet know what we need to know”.'

E.科学研究——包括最近发表在《海洋政策》杂志上的一篇论文——表明，深海海底和由海水与火山岩浆相遇而形成的热液喷口对生物多样性和全球气候有着至关重要的影响。富含矿物质的火山口及其周围也是许多知名动物的家园，包括甲壳类动物、管虫、蛤、蛞蝓、海葵和鱼类。报告称，“越来越明显的是，深海采矿对这些重要的海底功能构成了严重威胁。”“提取方法会产生大量的沉积物羽流，并将废物排放回海洋，严重扰乱海底环境，”论文继续说道。南安普顿国家海洋学中心的Jon Copley博士说:“在深海喷口，科学家们很清楚，我们不希望在那里采矿。”

E. Scientific research – including a recent paper in Marine Policy journal – has suggested the deep seabed, and hydrothermal vents, which are created when seawater meets volcanic magma, have crucial impacts upon biodiversity and the global climate. The mineral-rich vents and their surrounds are also home to many well-known animals including crustaceans, tubeworms, clams, slugs, anemones and fish. 'It is becoming increasingly clear that deep-sea mining poses a grave threat to these vital seabed functions,' the paper says. 'Extraction methods would produce large sediment plumes and involve the discharge of waste back into the ocean, significantly disturbing seafloor environments,' the paper continues. 'On deep sea vents, scientists are clear,' says Dr Jon Copley of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton: 'we don't want mining on them.'

F.加拿大水下勘探公司鹦鹉螺(Nautilus)的首席执行长约翰斯顿(Mike Johnston)说，海洋占地球面积的70%左右，相对来说尚未开发。“以一种环境可持续的方式探索这一尚未开发的潜力是有意义的，而不是为了满足社会不断增长的需求而不断地看着地球上快速消耗的陆地资源。”那些在全球范围内率先将巨型采矿机器放置在海面以下数千米的人表示，其对环境的影响将远远小于在陆地上。但批评人士表示，深海中外来的和鲜为人知的生态系统可能会遭到破坏，必须加以保护。加拿大维多利亚大学(University of Victoria)热液喷口专家图尼克利夫(Verena Tunnicliffe)说，采矿将是人类有史以来对深海生态系统造成的最大攻击。她认为，活火山喷口必须禁止采矿，以保护它们可以带来的新知识和生物技术副产品，而且其他地方必须实施严格的控制。

F. The oceans occupy around 70% of the planet and are relatively unexplored, says Mike Johnston, chief executive of Nautilus, a Canadian underwater exploration company: 'It makes sense to explore this untapped potential in an environmentally sustainable way, instead of continually looking at the fast depleting land resources of the planet to meet society's rising needs.' Those leading the global rush to place giant mining machines thousands of metres below the sea surface say the environmental impacts will be far lower than on land. But critics say exotic and little-known ecosystems in the deep oceans could be destroyed and must be protected. 'Mining will be the greatest assault on deep-sea ecosystems ever inflicted by humans,' according to hydrothermal vent expert Verena Tunnicliffe, at the University of Victoria in Canada. She argues that active vents must be off-limits for mining to protect the new knowledge and biotechnology spin-offs they can deliver, and that strict controls must be in place elsewhere.