2007年VOA标准英语-Environmentalists in US Target Plastic Bags

By Ted¹ Landphair
Washington
09 August 2007
 

Every day, American consumers are offered a simple choice when they are by a store's cashier: "paper or plastic?"  But as VOA's Ted Landphair explains in today's searching for solutions report, some communities are starting to take away that option.

San Francisco, California, has ordered big grocery and drugstore chains to stop passing out the strong, sheer plastic bags, made from petrochemicals.

And the city council in Maryland's quaint² capital plans to vote on an even stronger measure come October.

Sam Shropshire

Alderman Sam Shropshire introduced it. "We're talking about 100 billion plastic checkout³ bags distributed annually⁴ in the United States by retailers⁵. And greater than 95 percent, according to the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, are going in landfills, or they're blowing around in the air.  Or washing into storm drains, making it into our creeks⁶ and rivers, and out into the Chesapeake Bay."

There, fish and waterfowl sometimes mistake the bags for jellyfish.

Plastics are harmful to fish and waterfowl

Shropshire's measure would force even small Annapolis shopkeepers to switch entirely⁷ to 100 percent recycled shopping bags that guarantee that no trees have been cut.

Grocery store clerk: "Hi. Would you like paper or plastic?"
Tousaan Jones, customer: "Plastic."

These days, nine out of 10 American shoppers prefer plastic over paper.

San Francisco concluded that plastic bags take hundreds of years to degrade in a landfill.  But in the here and now, Tousaan Jones likes how they stretch, are easy to carry, and do not fall apart in the rain. "I think that the older people prefer to use the paper bags, because it was what they were used to."

Older people, like Seymour Alloy⁸. "To me, it's an absolute.  A store that doesn't give the option of paper bags is not a store that I would go to, except in extremism."

Barry Scher is a vice⁹ president of the big Giant Foods grocery chain.

Barry Scher

Scher says it would cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars to give up plastic bags.  Consider, he says, how much truck and storage space paper bags take up. "Plastic bags is [are] about that high [reaches to eye level].  We did that demonstration¹⁰ before the city council in Annapolis.  And a thousand paper bags is [are] about that high [reaches far over his head]."

On one thing, grocer Scher and Alderman Shropshire agree:  The ideal choice would be re-usable totes like shoppers around the world take back and forth¹¹ to market.

So, there's a lot more at stake than the simple question of "paper or plastic."

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 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

3 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

4 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

5 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

6 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 alloy   

n.合金，(金属的)成色

参考例句：

• The company produces titanium alloy.该公司生产钛合金。
• Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.青铜是铜和锡的合金。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。