The Paper Trail 环保议题 纸袋VS.塑料袋
- 详细资料
- 创建于 2003年6月09日
- 最后更新于 2024年5月25日
- 发布于 2011年5月29日
- 作者：Mike Lee
- 点击数：344
课文朗读
课文讲解
Felicia and her friend Johnson are about to head off to the supermarket: 菲丽夏和朋友琼森准备一道去超级市场：
F: The invention of the plastic bag was nothing but a curse.
塑料袋的发明真是一大灾难。
J: Why’s that?
怎么说？
F: Well, if we were still using paper bags, wouldn’t have to either taken my own bags to the supermarket or else pay for new plastic one there.
嗯，如果我们还是用纸袋的话，我就不用自己带袋子去超级市场，或必须另外为新塑料袋付费了。
J: Don’t be so sure. Paper may come from a natural and renewable source, but it’s not as environmentally friendly as we’d like to think.
别那么笃定。纸虽是从自然界或再生资源取得原料，但并不如我们想象中那么环保。
F: But paper is biodegradable, whereas plastic isn’t.
但是纸在自然界中可自行分解，塑料袋不行。
J: You’re right. But when paper breaks down in landfills, it does so in the absence of oxygen, producing methane and carbon dioxide, which are greenhouse gases.
你说的没错，但是纸在垃圾掩埋场进行无氧分解，会产生甲烷和二氧化碳，它们是温室效应气体。
F: Hmm. I guess plundering paper’s raw material from carbon dioxide-absorbing forests does nothing to diminish the greenhouse effect, either.
嗯，我想纸原料的取得，需要大肆砍伐能吸收二氧化碳的森林，这对于消除温室效应也毫无帮助。
J: Also, consider the fuel that logging, transportation and wood-pulping machinery use.
而且同时还得考虑伐木、运输、和纸浆机器所需耗损的油料。
F: Do plastic bags require less energy to manufacture than paper bags?
制造塑料袋所需的能源比纸袋少吗？
J: Less than half.
不到纸的一半。
F: Really? And plastic is a by-product of oil refining, so I guess we’re making efficient use of a resource that has already been extracted.
真的？而且塑料是炼油的副产品，所以严格说来，我们是把已经萃取出来的资源做有效运用。
J: Yep. It doesn’t really matter whether we use paper bags or plastic bags: if we don’t reuse and recycle, the environment suffers either way.
是啊，所以倘若我们不做资源回收和再生，无论我们用纸袋或塑料袋，其实都对环境有害。
Vocabulary
单词发音
head off 动身去……
nothing but 仅仅; 只有；只不过 only; no more than
curse [kɝs] n. 祸害；祸根
else [ɛls] adv. 另外
renewable [rɪˋnjuəb!] adj.〔由于自然循环或管理有方〕可再生的
biodegradable [ˋbaɪodɪˋgredəb!] adj. 生物所能分解的
methane [ˋmɛθen] n.【化】甲烷，沼气
plunder [ˋplʌndɚ] n. 掠夺，劫掠
pulp [pʌlp] v. 把……制成纸浆
extract [ɪkˋstrækt] v. 采掘；提取，提炼
Sentence of the Day
We need to clean up our act.
我们必须改正不好的行为。
clean up one’s act 改变生活方式；改头换面，重新做人
课文讲解
Felicia and Johnson are walking to the supermarket: 菲丽夏和琼森两人步行前往超级市场：
F: Well, I guess plastic bags are easier to scrunch up and fit in your pocket than paper bags are.
我想塑料袋比纸袋更容易揉成小体积，方便放进口袋里。
J: No doubt about that. A plastic bag takes up about one-seventh the space of its paper counterpart.
没错，塑料袋所占的空间仅有纸袋的七分之一。
F: So that saves on trucking and landfill space, as well as pocket space. Still plastic bags seem to end up everywhere.
因此可以节省运输容量、也节省在垃圾掩埋场和口袋所占的空间。不过结果塑料袋好像到处都是。
J: They do tend to get blown far and wide.
他们被吹得到处都是。
F: Some marine animals die because they mistake plastic bags for food. Paper bags don’t kill.
有些海洋动物错把塑料袋当成食物，误食塑料袋而死，纸袋就不会致命。
J: True, but it probably matters little what type of bag we use; what matters is what we do with our so-called disposable receptacles once we’ve finished with them.
确实，不过我们究竟使用何种袋子或许并不是最重要的，真正重要的是，我们用完这些所谓的可回收容器后如何处置。
F: I agree. The problem lies with human behavior, not with the bags themselves. I wonder how many of the sixteen million plastic bags that used to be given away free daily in Taiwan ended up as litter?
我很同意。问题的根源在于人类的行为，不是袋子本身。我怀疑台湾地区每天使用那一千六百万个随物附赠的塑料袋，其中有多少是变成了垃圾？
J: Plenty, probably. In Ireland, where they’ve introduced a charge for plastic bags, one supermarket has reported a ninety-five percent drop in the number of plastic bags it distributes.
大概满多的吧。爱尔兰就已经采用了塑料袋使用付费办法，据报导施行以后有某家超级市场的塑料袋用量，立即锐减百分之九十五。
F: Because people bring their own? Impressive. I hope a similar pattern occurs here.
因为顾客自备购物袋吗？效果真惊人，我希望在这儿也一样有效。
J: I’m optimistic. So far, the results look promising on the ground.
我持乐观看法，目前看来初期的效果还不错。
－by Colin Gread
Vocabulary
单词发音
scrunch [skrʌntʃ] up 揉皱 [（+up）] make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in
counterpart [ˋkaʊntɚ͵pɑrt] n. 对应的人（或物）
far and wide 四处地; 各处
receptacle [rɪˋsɛptək!] n.【正式】容器
litter [ˋlɪtɚ] n. 废弃物，零乱之物
optimistic [͵ɑptəˋmɪstɪk] adj. 乐观的
on the ground 当场
Sentence of the Day
Waste not, want not.
不浪费就不会匮乏。