TED演讲:消灭铺张浪费,我们需要重新认识节俭(1)

Let's talk about thrift¹. Thrift is a concept where you reduce, reuse and recycle, but yet with an economic aspect I think has a real potential for change.

让我们说说节俭。节俭是一个关于减少使用，重复利用，回收再利用的一个概念，但在经济方面，我觉得它可以带来真正的改变。

My grandmother, she knew about thrift. This is her string jar. She never bought any string.

我的祖母，她知道怎么节俭。这是她放皮筋儿的罐子，她从来不买皮筋儿，

Basically, she would collect string. It would come from the butcher's, it would come from presents.

只是收集它们。这些皮筋儿来自于肉铺，或者是礼品包装。

She would put it in the jar and then use it when it was needed.

她会把绳子存到罐子里，当需要用时，再取出来。

When it was finished, whether it was tying up the roses or a part of my bike, once finished with that, it'd go back into the jar.

用完后，不管是用它来扎玫瑰花束，还是我的自行车部件，用完后它就会重新回到罐子中。

This is a perfect idea of thrift; you use what you need, you don't actually purchase anything, so you save money.

这是一个很棒的节约理念；你只用你需要的，不用去买太多东西，所以能省不少钱。

Kids also inherently² know this idea. When you want to throw out a cardboard³ box, the average kid will say, "Don't!

孩子们天生就知道如何节俭，当你想丢弃一个纸箱时，孩子一般会说，“别扔！

I want to use it for a robot head or for a canoe to paddle down a river."

我想用来做机器人的头，或者做成独木舟去漂流。”

They understand the value of the second life of products.

他们知道产品二次利用的价值。

So, I think thrift is a perfect counterpoint to the current age which we live in.

我认为节俭与我们当今所处的时代完美对应。

All of our current products are replaceable. When we get that bright, new, shiny toy, it's because, basically, we got rid of the old one.

目前我们所有的产品都是可替代的。当我们得到一件崭新的、闪亮的玩具，是因为我们把旧的丢掉了。

The idea of that is, of course, it's great in the moment, but the challenge is, as we keep doing this, we're going to cause a problem.

没错，当时的感觉很美好，但如果我们一直这么做，就会产生一个问题。

1 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

2 inherently   

内在的，固有的

参考例句：

• There is nothing inherently improbable in the idea. 这个想法本身没什么不可能的。
• All business activities are inherently risky. 所有的商业活动本质上都有风险。

3 cardboard   

n.硬纸板，卡纸板

参考例句：

• She brought the shopping home in a cardboard box.她将买的东西放在纸箱里带回家。
• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。