VOA常速英语2018-变废为宝需要手巧

Anything and everything is being recycled at the Canberra Environment Center, and in the war on waste, these soldiers are on the front lines, repairing anything from clothing to bikes to doorbells.

堪培拉环境中心回收着各式各样的东西。在与废品作战的过程中，堪培拉环境中心这样的战士一直站在前线，修复着各种东西，从衣服到自行车再到门铃，不一而足。

So they don’t end up in the trash. There’s so much stuff¹ that goes to landfill totally unnecessarily. We’re constantly buying new things, again, a bit unnecessarily.

所以成为垃圾并非它们的终点站。有太多进了垃圾填埋场的东西本不必有这样的命运。我们一直在买新东西，买了又买，但买的并非都是有必要的。

Using skills from his day job, Tate Leaney spent about an hour fixing the set of headphones. Anything that we can repair is one less thing that we’ve thrown out, especially when a lot of the problems are very simple.

在全职工作技巧的帮助下，塔特·林利用了大概一小时就修好了耳机。多修一件东西，就少扔一件东西，尤其是废弃品很容易修理的时候更是如此。

And after a visit to the repair cafe, this once broken doorbell alerts² Pearl³ when someone’s at the front door.

在到访维修咖啡馆后，这个曾经坏了的门铃在每当有人站在前门的时候，都会提醒珀尔。

I would have probably thrown this away if I couldn’t have got it fixed⁴.

如果我没把它修好，大概早就已经把它扔了。

And it’s not just about reducing waste, it’s also about gaining skills.

这不只是减少废弃品，也是在获得技能。

My mother was a child of the depression in World War II, so she had all those skills that people used to have, but we’re losing them and I think it’s really important for those of us who still have those skills to pass them on.

我母亲曾经历过二战期间的大萧条，所以她有以前人都有的技能，但我们这一代人却失去了这些技能。我觉得很重要的一点是——我们这辈人如果还有技能的话，就要传下去。

We focus on clothing and textile⁵ fee, mainly because that funny thing I really know how to repay⁶, proving that one man’s trash can be another as treasure.

我们专注于衣服和纺织品的费用，这主要是因为我知道怎样让这些有意思的东西变成值钱的东西，证明甲之蜜糖，乙之砒霜。

1 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

2 alerts   

n.警戒( alert的名词复数 )；警报期间；警戒状态；报警信号v.使（某人）保持警觉( alert的第三人称单数 )；使意识到；提醒（某人）注意（某事）；使（部队）处于待命状态

参考例句：

• Folder level alerts are not available on this server. 此服务器上不支持文件夹级的通知。 来自互联网
• Monitor daily customer FTP site for Compatibility Matrix & Quality Alerts. 实时注意客户FTP上的兼容性列表和质量警报。 来自互联网

3 pearl   

n.珍珠，珍珠母

参考例句：

• He bought his girlfriend a pearl necklace.他给他女朋友买了一条珍珠项链。
• The crane and the mother-of-pearl fight to death.鹬蚌相争。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 textile   

n.纺织品；adj.纺织的

参考例句：

• Japan imports textile materials from Britain.日本从英国进口纺织材料。
• He haunted textile mills, and learned all he could.他常到纺织厂去，尽可能多学点东西。

6 repay   

v.偿还，报答，还钱给

参考例句：

• I feel honor bound to repay the money I borrowed.我觉得有责任归还我借的钱。
• I must repay her for her kindness.我必须报答她的恩惠。