/'flɒtsəm; `flɑtsəm/
n [U]
1 parts of a wrecked ship or its cargo found floating in the sea （在海上漂浮的）遇难船只的残骸或货物. Cf 参看 jetsam.
2 (idm 习语) ,flotsam and `jetsam
(a) people without homes or work or those who have had to leave their houses; vagrants and tramps or refugees 流离失所的人; 无业游民; 流浪者; 难民.
(b) various unimportant objects; bits and pieces; odds and ends 无价值的东西; 零碎物品.

n[U]
[Date: 1600-1700; Language: Anglo-French;Origin: floteson, from Old French floter 'to float']
broken pieces of wood and other things from a wrecked ship, floating in the sea or scattered on the shore
　He would walk along the beach collecting the flotsam and jetsam that had been washed ashore.
things that people no longer want and so throw away
　works of art made from the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life
people who are very poor and do not have jobs or homes
　Camps were set up to shelter the flotsam and jetsam of the war.