Track 6

from NPR

翻译：Roza

No Impact Man: The Year of Living Environmentally

零碳生活：极致环保的一年

Track 6

from NPR

翻译：Roza

美国作家、博客写手及环境保护论者柯林·比万（Colin Beavan）带动妻女在纽约市进行了为期一年的“零碳生活”无公害项目。他放弃了塑料，切断了家里的电源，出行只骑自行车，不制造垃圾，不往水里排放有毒物质，不使用电梯，不购买带外包装的产品，不用空调，不看电视，甚至不用厕纸！2009年，他出版了《摩登原始人：零碳生活的一年》（No Impact Man）一书，描述了他们一家有趣又感人的环保故事。同年，他推出同名纪录片，广获好评。他的网站与博客NolmpactMan.com被美国《时代》杂志选为全球十五大环保网站之一。以下片段节选自柯林·比万夫妇接受电台采访的一次节目，他们回答了听众和主持人关于“零碳生活”无公害项目的一些提问。

（Soundbite of “No Impact Man”）

Colin Beavan: One thing that’s really， really hard is for a1）consumer to figure out what’s okay to buy and what’s not okay to buy and what should be2）disposable and what’s not disposable， right？

lsabella Beavan（Colin’s two-year-old daughter）: Yeah.

Colin: So， that research is really， really hard to do. And nobody can do it all.

lsabella: Yeah.

Colin: But， if you just cut out3）consuming the things you don’t really need…

lsabella: Yeah.

Colin: …you’ve already done it.

lsabella: Yeah！

Colin: You don’t have to do the research.

lsabella: No.

Colin: So， if you discover that really you don’t need toilet paper， you can just reuse cloths…

lsabella: Yeah.

Colin: Yeah. You don’t have to buy toilet paper and you don’t have to do the research about toilet paper.

lsabella: No！

Colin: You get it？

lsabella: Yeah！

Colin: Yeah！

1） consumer ［kənˑsjuːmə］ n. 消费者

2） disposable ［dɪˑspəʊzəbəl］adj. 一次性的，用后即丢的

3） consume ［kənˑsjuːm］ v. 消费

4） impact ［ˑɪmpækt］ n. 影响力，冲击力

5） diaper ［ˑdaɪəpə］ n. 尿布

6） versus ［ˑvʒːsəs］ prep. 与……相对

7） introduce ［ɪntrəˑdjuːs］ v. 引入，采用

8） detergent ［dɪˑtʒːdʒənt］ n. 清洁剂，去垢剂

9） debate ［dɪˑbeɪt］ n. 争论

10） fund ［fʌnd］ v. 为……提供资金

11） landfill ［ˑlændfɪl］ n. 垃圾填埋场

12） industry ［ˑɪndəstrɪ］ n. 工业，企业

13） be back on the beam 回到正确方向

14） incher ［ˑɪntʃə］ n. ……英寸的东西

15） resurface ［riːˑsʒːfɪs］ v. 重新露面

16） addicted ［əˑdɪktɪd］ adj. 上了……瘾的

17） entertain ［entəˑteɪn］ v. 娱乐

18） stick ［stɪk］ v. 坚持

19） distraction ［dɪˑstrækʃən］ n. 令人分心的事物，娱乐，消遣

Conan（Host）: We want to get some callers in on the conversation.

Mary （Caller）: Hi. I have a question about the purpose or the environmental4）impact that you are seeking when eh，the...using the choice of not using toilet paper. I recently had a baby and in doing some research on disposable5）diapers6）versus cloth diapers， I found that it could just be more of an impact on the environment to use a cloth diaper because of the amount of water and then place it and cleaning them， and you know， and God，7）introduce8）detergents. So eh， what was your environmental goal？

Colin: So， Mary， with， with the...the cloth diaper versus plastic diaper9）debate， one of the things we always have to look at when we...when we do this kind of research is who is10）funding the studies. And you can believe that it wasn’t the cloth diaper people that funded those studies.

And if you think about it， you...cloth...eh， plastic diapers注make up， um， just the largest single item that goes into the11）landfills every day here in the United States. So wi...without looking at the12）industry-funded studies， we just realized that the best thing environmentally for us to do is to use cloth diapers. But more importantly，my little girl who is old enough at that stage was able to tell me that she was much more comfortable in them.

注：指一次性纸尿布，其最外层都有防漏塑料膜。

Conan: Michelle， you mentioned13）you’re back on the beam a little bit. But I wonder， is there a television back in your house？

Michelle Beavan（Colin Beavan’s wife）: No， there’s no—that 46-14）incher is gone. We gave it away. And it has not15）resurfaced. And I have to say， I thought the TV would be di...the most difficult thing ’cause I was pretty16）addicted to it， but it actually was， was…was just a lovely joy the night after we gave away the TV to be talking about childhood stuff and17）entertaining each other. And I think that was one of the best things that we did. And that has18）stuck.

Colin: I think Michelle would agree that it made us much better parents because as we gave up so many screens and so many consumer19）distractions， it taught us that we could spend a lot more time having fun with our little girl. Um， and...and that kind of just continues for us. And I think we’re both very grateful for that.

“be of+抽象名词”构成的短语相当于be+该抽象名词的同根形容词，比如be of help=be helpful。这个用法常用到的抽象名词还有use、value、help、importance和difference等。of和抽象名词之间可用little、some、any、no、great或not much 等词修饰。例：

1）This is of little significance. 这毫不重要。

2）My job is not of much value. 我的工作没有什么价值。

（纪录片《零碳生活》片段）

柯林·比万：对于消费者来说，有一件特别、特别艰难的事情，就是盘算什么该买，什么不该买，以及什么物品理应是一次性的，什么不该是一次性的，对吗？

伊莎贝拉·比万（柯林两岁的女儿）：对。