2006年NPR美国国家公共电台八月-Freecycle: A Web of Free, Unwanted Things

Now, what may be the ultimate Internet service, one that helps you clean out the garage? NPR's Ted¹ Robbins explains.

Deron Beal is really proud of his home office in Tucson. More to the point he's proud of how he got what's in the office - a computer, two desks, bookshelves, and filing cabinets.

Pretty much everything you look at, aside from the chair I'm sitting on, I had to get an extra tall chair, it's reuse. And ah, that's pretty cool in my book.

The extra tall chair is for Deron Beal's lanky² six-foot-four body. He spends most of his day in the chair running Freecycle.org. The website is pretty simple, just members in local groups posting things to give away or requesting things they want. Unlike eBay or Craigslist, on Freecycle nothing is for sale.

Our main rule worldwide is keep it free, legal, and appropriate for all ages. So legal means no drugs. Appropriate for all ages means no alcohol, tobacco, or firearms, which children shouldn’t have, that kind of thing, and free means free.

Freecycle began three years ago when Beal emailed friends offering a bed that he didn't want and didn't want to send to the landfill. Today, Freecycle has about two and a half million members in more than three thousand local groups in seventy countries, all shuffling³ stuff from non-use to reuse.

After all we are all gonna pass away someday and you don't wanna leave a shed full of junk to your, your kids, you wanna give it out there where people who need it and want it, er, can use it.

Beal even has a mandate⁴ from his wife Jennifer, no more acquiring until he gives away what he already has.

Like a huge old coin collection and a hu… boxes and boxes of comics that he couldn't get rid of.

But he's learning. He got an Abdominizer off Freecycle, kept it for six months without using it, and finally got rid of it again on Freecycle. There's a lot of exercise equipment posted, but the biggest category of giveaway, says Beal, is not one particular thing, it's inconvenient⁵ things.

You see a lot of heavy items that you’d otherwise have to lug⁶ to the landfill, right? And you'd rather give it away than lug it somewhere.

And it doesn't get much heavier than a piano. On a warm summer evening, Sean Cramer and his friend Jay Langdon push a battered⁷ hundred-year-old upright into a trailer hitched⁹ to Langdon's pickup¹⁰ truck. Sandy and Scott Lockby watch, they are giving the piano away.

I really like the piano, would have liked to spend the money to have it restored. Un, but started having kids and there are just other priorities for the money and…

I'm glad it's out of the house.

And Jay Cramer can't wait to get it into his. Cramer's kids wanted to learn the piano, but he couldn’t afford to keep renting, so the family will make a project out of restoring the barely playable instrument. Before he leaves, Cramer learns the piano's history, always a nice thing to know and he figures it just became a little richer.

Now this is gonna be the piano that was on NPR. (Laughs)

It just increases in value. (Laugh)

Value of course is in the eye of the beholder¹¹. A teacher planning a class project once asked for a dryer-lint. Deron Beal says she got gobs of it. But for all, it's apparent altruism¹², Freecycle is not without detractors. They criticize Beal for taking a salary from a corporate¹³ sponsor and the organization is fighting a lawsuit¹⁴ challenging its trademark¹⁵ of the name. Critics say freecycle is a generic¹⁶ and widespread term. Beal says he welcomes anyone who wants to keep things out of landfills as long as they use another name.

Ted Robbins, NPR News, Tucson.
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lanky
someone who is lanky is tall and thin, and moves awkwardly
synonym gangling
a lanky young man
shuffle¹⁷
[transitive] to move something such as papers into a different order or into different positions
Jack sat nervously¹⁸ shuffling the papers around on his desk.
shuffle through
Frances shuffled¹⁹ through a pile of magazines.
comic
also comic book
a magazine for children that tells a story using comic strips
Abdominizer
一种锻炼腹部肌肉的健身器材
battered
1
old and in bad condition
a battered old suitcase
2
battered woman/wife/husband/baby etc
someone who has been violently attacked by their husband, wife, father etc
hitch⁸
a) [transitive always + adverb/preposition] to fasten something to something else, using a rope, chain etc
hitch something to something
He hitched our pickup to his trailer. a goat hitched to a rickety fence
 [transitive] also hitch up
to fasten an animal to something with wheels so that the animal can pull it forwards
I hitched up the horse and drove out into the fields.
lint
（敷伤口用的）软麻布
gobs
American English a large amount of something
gobs of
gobs of money

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

3 shuffling   

adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Don't go shuffling along as if you were dead. 别像个死人似地拖着脚走。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some one was shuffling by on the sidewalk. 外面的人行道上有人拖着脚走过。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

5 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

6 lug   

n.柄，突出部，螺帽；(英）耳朵；（俚）笨蛋；vt.拖，拉，用力拖动

参考例句：

• Nobody wants to lug around huge suitcases full of clothes.谁都不想拖着个装满衣服的大箱子到处走。
• Do I have to lug those suitcases all the way to the station?难道非要我把那些手提箱一直拉到车站去吗？

7 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

8 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

9 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

10 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

11 beholder   

n.观看者，旁观者

参考例句：

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 看起来觉得美就是美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. 有人说艺术是一种幽会，因为艺术家和欣赏者可在幽会的乐趣中相遇在一起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 altruism   

n.利他主义，不自私

参考例句：

• An important feature of moral behaviour is altruism.道德行为一个重要特点就是利他主义。
• Altruism is crucial for social cohesion.利他主义对社会的凝聚是至关重要的。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

14 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

15 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

16 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

17 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

18 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

19 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》