Explain the meaning of the words in bold in Ex. 2A.

Explain the meaning of the words in bold in Ex. 2A. SLICK TO DEATH Oil pollution is like a recurring nightmare. Sea birds like gulls are always the most common victims. Covered in a thick black coating of oil, such birds are unable to fly or feed themselves. Cleaning them is a painstaking business and volunteers sometimes have to spend 40 minutes or more cleaning one bird. Last Saturday, the tanker Sea Queen was wrecked near the coast of Wales. Over 70,000 tonnes of oil escaped into the sea. As soon as they heard that the Sea Queen was in trouble, local volunteers and members of environmental groups rushed to the area to see what they could do to help. According to Chris Mead, Britains leading ornithologist, it is not cost-effective to clean the birds and release them. He told reporters, I can understand the desperate feelings of the rescuers that they should do something to help the birds, but realistically it may be kinder to put them to sleep immediately.quot; Surely the best way to solve the problem is to prevent accidents from happening in the first place. Pressure groups are still calling for changes to safety regulations. They also want oil tankers to be made much smaller. Since cleaning up the mess after such disasters is so expensive, perhaps the oil companies should start listening.