循环经济
The circular economy
Hello. This is 6 Minute English with me, Neil.
大家好，这里是六分钟英语，我是尼尔。
And me, Sam.
我是萨姆。
Today, we're talking rubbish.
今天我们要讨论的是垃圾。
Ooh, that's a bit harsh – I thought it was going to be interesting.
哦，那有点令人不快啊——我还以为我们讨论的会很有趣呢。
I mean our topic is about rubbish, not that we are rubbish.
我的意思是我们的话题是关于垃圾的，而不是我们讨论的东西垃圾。
I see. Do go on.
明白了。继续吧。
Thank you.
谢谢。
So the amount of waste we produce around the world is huge and it's a growing problem.
所以我们在世界各地所产生的垃圾数量巨大，而且它是一个日益严重的问题。
But there are some things that we can do, like recycling.
但是我们可以做一些事情，比如回收利用。
Where I live, I can recycle a lot, and I’m always very careful to separate
在我住的地方，我可以回收很多东西，而且我总是非常小心地分类
- to split my rubbish into paper, metal, food, plastic and so on.
——把垃圾分成纸类、金属类、食物类、塑料类等等。
But is that enough, even if we all do it?
但即使我们都那样做，那就足够了吗？
We'll look a little more at this topic shortly, but first, as always, a question.
很快我们将讨论更多关于这个话题的内容，但像往常一样，首先要回答一个问题。
Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste?
哪个国家的垃圾回收率最高？
Is it: A: Sweden, B: Germany, or C: New Zealand?
是A：瑞典，B：德国，还是C：新西兰？
What do you think, Sam?
你觉得呢，萨姆？
I’m not sure, but I think it could be Germany so I’m going to go with that - Germany.
我不确定，但我认为可能是德国，所以我选德国。
OK. We’ll see if you’re right a little bit later on.
好的。我们稍后会看看你是否正确。
The BBC radio programme, Business Daily, recently tackled this topic.
BBC广播节目Business Daily最近探讨了这个话题。
They spoke to Alexandre Lemille, an expert in this area.
他们采访了这方面的专家亚历山大·莱米尔。
Does he think recycling is the answer?
他认为回收是解决方法吗？
Let's hear what he said.
让我们听听他说了什么。
Recycling is not the answer to waste from an efficient point of view,
从效率的角度来看，回收并不是解决垃圾的办法，
because we are not able to get all the waste separated properly,
因为我们无法对所有的垃圾进行适当分类，
and therefore treated in the background.
因此无法在一定背景下解决垃圾问题。
The main objective of our model is to hide waste,
我们这个模式的主要目的是隐藏垃圾，
so we don’t see as urban citizens, or rural citizens, we don’t see the waste,
这样作为市民或村民，我们就不会看到垃圾，
it is out of sight and therefore out of mind.
眼不见心不烦了。
What's his view of recycling?
他对回收利用有什么看法？
I was a bit surprised, because he said recycling wasn’t the answer.
我有点惊讶，因为他说回收不是解决方法。
One reason is that it's not always possible to separate waste you can recycle from waste you can't recycle,
一个原因是，你并不总能把可回收垃圾和不可回收垃圾分类，
and that makes treating it very difficult.
那使得垃圾处理非常困难。
Treating means handling it and using different processes, so it can be used again.
处理意味着对它进行处理并使用不同的加工过程，所以垃圾可以再次被使用。
And the result is a lot of waste, including waste that could be recycled but which is just hidden.
其结果是产生了大量的垃圾，包括那些可以回收但却被隐藏起来的垃圾。
And as long as we don’t see it, we don’t think about it.
只要我们看不到垃圾，我们就不会去考虑它。
And he uses a good phrase to describe this – out of sight, out of mind.
他用了一个不错的短语来形容这个——眼不见，心不烦。
And that’s true, at least for me.
的确如此，至少对我来说是这样。
My rubbish and recycling is collected and I don't really think about what happens to it after that.
我的垃圾和可回收利用的东西被收走，我真的不去想那之后会发生什么。
Is as much of it recycled as I think, or is it just buried, burned or even sent to other countries?
这些垃圾是像我想的那样被回收利用了，还是被掩埋、焚烧了，又或者甚至是被运往其它国家？
It's not in front of my house,
它不在我家门前，
so I don’t really think about it – out of sight, out of mind.
所以我就真的不会去想它了——眼不见，心不烦。
Let's listen again.
让我们再听一遍。
Recycling is not the answer to waste from an efficient point of view,
从效率的角度来看，回收并不是解决垃圾的办法，
because we are not able to get all the waste separated properly,
因为我们无法对所有的垃圾进行适当分类，
and therefore treated in the background.
因此无法在一定背景下解决垃圾问题。
The main objective of our model is to hide waste,
我们这个模式的主要目的是隐藏垃圾，
so we don’t see as urban citizens, or rural citizens, we don’t see the waste,
这样作为市民或村民，我们就不会看到垃圾，
it is out of sight and therefore out of mind.
眼不见心不烦了。
One possible solution to this problem is to develop what is called a circular economy.
这个问题的一个可能解决办法就是发展所谓的循环经济。
Here’s the presenter of Business Daily, Manuela Saragosa, explaining what that means.
在这里Business Daily的主持人曼纽拉· 萨拉戈萨解释了那指的是什么。
The idea then at the core of a circular economic and business model is that a product,
循环经济商业模式的核心思想是，一个产品，
like say a washing machine or even a broom,
比如一台洗衣机，甚至是一把扫帚，
can always be returned to the manufacturer to be reused or repaired before then sold on again.
总是可以返给制造商重新利用或修理，然后再卖出去。
The point is the manufacturer retains responsibility for the lifecycle of the product it produces,
问题的关键是，制造商要对其所产产品的生命周期负责，
rather than the consumer assuming that responsibility when he or she buys it.
而不是消费者在购买产品时承担责任。
So it seems like a simple idea – though maybe very difficult to do.
所以这似乎是一个简单的想法——尽管可能很难做到。
Yes, the idea is that the company that makes a product, the manufacturer, is responsible for the product,
是的，这个观点是，制造产品的公司——制造商——对产品负责，
not the person who bought it, the consumer.
而不是购买产品的人——消费者——对此负责。
So, if the product breaks or reaches the end of its useful life, its lifecycle,
因此，如果产品损坏或达到其使用寿命、生命周期的终点，
then the manufacturer has to take it back and fix, refurbish or have it recycled.
那么制造商必须把它拿回来修理、翻新或回收。
I guess this would make manufacturers try to make their products last longer!
我想这会使制造商努力令其产品使用寿命更长！
It certainly would.
肯定会。
Let's listen again.
让我们再听一遍。
The idea then at the core of a circular economic and business model is that a product,
循环经济商业模式的核心思想是，一个产品，
like say a washing machine or even a broom,
比如一台洗衣机，甚至是一把扫帚，
can always be returned to the manufacturer to be reused or repaired before then sold on again.
总是可以返给制造商重新利用或修理，然后再卖出去。
The point is the manufacturer retains responsibility for the lifecycle of the product it produces,
问题的关键是，制造商要对其所产产品的生命周期负责，
rather than the consumer assuming that responsibility when he or she buys it.
而不是消费者在购买产品时承担责任。
That’s just about all we have time for in this programme.
以上就是本期节目的全部内容。
Before we recycle the vocabulary …
在我们重复使用这些词汇之前……
Oh very good Neil!
哦，不错呦，尼尔！
Before we - thank you Sam - before we recycle the vocabulary,
在我们——谢谢你，萨姆——在我们重复使用这些词汇之前，
we need to get the answer to today’s question.
我们需要揭晓今天问题的答案。
Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste?
哪个国家的垃圾回收率最高？
Is it: A: Sweden, B: Germany, or C: New Zealand?
是A：瑞典，B：德国，还是C：新西兰？
Sam, what did you say?
萨姆，你说是什么？
And I said I think it's Germany.
我说我觉得是德国。
Well I would like to offer you congratulations,
好的，我想向你表示祝贺，
because Germany is the correct answer.
因为德国是正确答案。
Now let's go over the vocabulary.
现在让我们复习一下词汇吧。
Of course.
当然。
To separate means to divide or split different things,
分类指的是把不同的东西分开或者区分开，
for example, separate your plastic from your paper for recycling.
例如，将塑料和纸区分开进行回收。
Treating is the word for dealing with, for example, recycled waste.
“处理”这个词是指解决，例如，回收垃圾。
The phrase out of sight, out of mind, means ignoring something or a situation you can’t see.
“眼不见，心不烦”这个短语的意思是忽视你看不到的东西或情况。
A manufacturer is the person or company that makes something,
制造商是生产某种产品的人或公司，
and the consumer is the person who buys that thing.
而消费者是购买那种产品的人。
And the length of time you can expect a product to work for is known as its lifecycle.
你预期一个产品可能运转的时间长度被称为它的生命周期。
Well the lifecycle of this programme is 6 minutes,
好了，本期节目的生命周期是6分钟，
and as we are there, or thereabouts, it’s time for us to head off.
差不多就到时间了，我们是时候结束节目了。
Thanks for your company and hope you can join us again soon.
感谢你的参与，希望你能很快再次加入我们。
Until then, there is plenty more to enjoy from BBC Learning English online, on social media and on our app.
在那之前，BBC网上教学英语、社交媒体和我们的应用程序上还有更多有趣的内容。
Bye for now.
再见了。
Bye!
拜！