美国国家公共电台 NPR One Child's Outsized Influence On The Debate Over Plastic Straws

 

KORVA COLEMAN, HOST:

Impressive statistics can spread quickly. The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN and Time magazine have all reported that Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws every day. The National Park Service and numerous environmental groups have cited the figure. So has NPR. That figure is suspect. Polls about straws conducted by market researchers range from 170-390 million. Milo Cress came up with that 500 million tally². He was 9 years old at the time. Now he's just turned 17. I asked him how he calculated the number.

MILO CRESS: Well, it was some time ago when I was 9. And at the time, I was curious how many straws we used and threw away. And so I looked around online, but I couldn't find any statistics on what our daily straw use was. And so I decided³ to contact the people that I thought would know, if anyone would know, who were the United States straw manufacturers. And so I contacted three straw manufacturers, and I asked them what they estimated to be the size of the United States straw market per day, how many straws we use and threw away in the United States. And the average estimate they gave me was 500 million straws.

COLEMAN: Does the use of the number bother you in any way? Are you troubled?

CRESS: Not at all. I hesitate to claim that's it's a definitive⁴ fact because, as I said, it is just an estimate. And people who want to pass it off as a definitive fact are missing the spirit in which I came up with the number, which is that we use too many straws.

COLEMAN: How big of a pollution problem are straws compared to other types of plastic in the environment? Are people just looking at the 500 million straws as a shocking statistic¹?

CRESS: I don't believe so. As a matter of fact, Jesse Mechling from the Center for Coastal⁵ Studies in Massachusetts has told me that straws are one of the most common items that wash up on beaches.

COLEMAN: What about something like disposable plastic bags?

CRESS: The reason that I focused on straws in particular is because, for me, it was one step that I could take as a kid. Often, for kids, it's hard to get your parents involved in an environmental issue, where ordering a drink without a straw is something that kids can do already. It's something that anyone can do because anyone who can order a drink can ask for one without a straw whenever they don't want to or need to use one. And it was something that I could encourage my friends to do. When my friends started doing it, I think they felt really empowered, not only to use fewer plastic straws, but to approach plastics throughout their lives with a different viewpoint.

COLEMAN: Environmentalist Milo Cress will soon start his senior year of high school in Shelburne, Vt. He joined us on Skype. Milo, thanks for talking to us.

CRESS: Thank you.

1 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

2 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。