（转载）科幻小说--The monster microbe that devoured plastics

讲塑料、化纤和橡胶的科幻小说。25年来，看过这篇科幻小说的人，每天都记得至少穿一件全棉内衣。作家的想象力对生物可降解塑料的研究有一定的启发。
（转载）
The monster microbe that devoured plastics
by ARTHUR HOPPE
By 1981, genetic engineers had created two new strains of microbes to deal with environmental disasters: one devoured oil spills and the other gobbled up chemical wastes.

It was by crossbreeding the two that the eminent scientist Dr. Mark Hawkins gave birth to an even more astounding microorganism which attacked an even more horrendous environmental problem: plastics.
At the time, experts estimated that within 10 years the land surface of the planet would be covered 3 feet deep in rust-proof, rot-proof, castoff plastic. bottles, cartons, toys and old Naugahyde love seats.
"My little plastivores (as he called them) will take care of all that," said Dr. Hawkins happily. And delighted environmentalists set up Decycling Centers across the country, where countless plastivores bred in huge stainless steel vats. Indeed, a family-sized Clorox bottle, tossed into one of these vats, would vanish as if by magic in 1.3 seconds.
It appeared that technology had once again solved a problem that technology had created.
Then, one dark and stormy night, disaster struck.
A DULL-WITTED plainclothes security guard, leaving his shift at the Schenectady Center just before dawn, noted a bottle of Vat 69 bobbing on the surface of, coincidentally, Vat 96. He surreptitiously grabbed it and stuffed it in his pocket.
Before he had reached the parking lot, he heard an ominous munching sound. He looked down to see his plaid polyester trousers slowly disappearing, along with all his major credit cards.
As he watched in horror, his white vinyl shoes, orange orlon socks, blue dacron undershorts and drip-dry aloha shirt followed suit. Naked, but for his .38 special in its leather shoulder holster, he screamed for help. But it was too late. The plastivores had escaped!
Blessed with an incredibly, abundant food supply, the virulent strain thrived. Within a week, it had spread from coast to coast, leaving in its wake supermarkets awash in seas of bleach, soda pop, milk, eggs and assorted noodles. So voracious were the little creatures that they could even open potato chip bags and childproof medicine bottles.
At times, they seemed almost capricious. A football fan would pick up a packet to season his hot dog only to find himself with a puddle of mustard in his palm. And no attractive young lady in acrylics, Lycra-Spandex and nylons was safe from serious public disclosure.
Telephones disappeared. All communications and transportation ground to a halt as the plastivores devoured the plastic insulation on electric wiring and all plastic piping. Anything plastic whetted their appetite. In fact, the first to go was the entire television industry, including 16 network executives. And with no Tupperware lettuce spinners, there wasn't a dry salad to be had in the country.
SO MOST Americans were reduced to naked savagery, forced to live on nude beaches where they existed on a diet of wheat germ and alfalfa sprouts.
There was but one glimmer of hope - one surviving group that might yet carry the torch of civilization: the Preppies.
Holed up in Brooks Brothers stores across the land, the Preppies managed to stay warm and decent in their wool argyles, their leather penny loafers and their long-staple cotton button-down shirts. They could communicate, with their Cross pens on bond paper and even trot about on their saddle horses.
Thus it was that they met at the Bulldog Pub in Peabody, Conn., equidistant from Harvard and Bryn Mawr, to make plans for building a new nation.
Naturally, they built it out of pure wool, genuine leather and 100 percent cotton. And America lived preppily ever after.
Chronicle Publishing Co. 1981