新奇事件簿 浪费食物被罚款（在线收听）

The U.S. city of Seattle is introducing a system to fine people who waste food. The city, in the USA's northwest, will begin issuing warnings on January the 1st and then start fining people six months later on July the 1st. People will get a $1 fine if more than 10 per cent of their garbage is food. Businesses will get a $50 fine. City officials want to reduce the amount of food that people and businesses waste. Americans waste around 40 per cent of the food they buy. The city hopes its new fines will bring this figure down. Seattle aims to increase the amount of waste it recycles from the current level of 56 per cent to 60 per cent. It has also become the second U.S. city to make composting compulsory.

美国西雅图市引进了一种新的系统来对浪费食物的人进行罚款。美国西北部的这个城市，将会在1月1日发布警告，然后会在6个月之后，也就是7月1日开始执行罚款。如果人们的垃圾箱内10%的垃圾是食物，那么就会受到1美元的罚款。商业会受到50美元的罚款。城市官方想要减少公民与商业浪费食物的数量。美国人买了食物之后，一般会浪费40%。城市希望新的罚款条例能够缩小这一数字。西雅图想要将垃圾回收率从现在的56%，提高到60%。西雅图已经成为美国第二个强制生产化肥的城市。

The Seattle Public Utilities department said the new garbage disposal system should make people more aware that recycling is important. City official Tim Croll told the 'Seattle Times' newspaper that the programme would not make any money. He said: "The point isn't to raise revenue. We care more about reminding people to separate their materials." He added that he thinks the fines system will be a success and said he didn't expect to collect a lot of money in fines. It will be up to garbage collectors to decide if a house or business gets a fine. The collectors will look inside garbage bins to see how much food waste they contain. They can then add $1 or $50 to the next garbage bill.

西雅图公共事业部门称，新的垃圾处理系统应该会让人们更加理解回收利用的重要性。城市官员提姆.克罗告诉《西雅图时报》记者，这一项目是非盈利性质的。他说，重点不是提高税收。我们更加重视提醒人们将物品分类。他还说，他认为罚款系统将会取得成功，他没想通过罚款聚财。[01:49.05]The collectors will look inside garbage bins to see how much food waste they contain. 垃圾清洁工将会决定家庭或者公司是否应受到罚款。清洁工将会看垃圾箱里面所包含的食物垃圾。然后他们就能够为下一次的垃圾.账单增加1美元或者50没有。