国家地理 没有垃圾的世界可能存在吗(9)

Jorik Boer makes a living rescuing some of them as head of the Boer Group, a Dutch family business that began a century ago on the streets of Rotterdam with his great-grandfather collecting rags, metal, and paper in a cart. Today, from his base in Dordrecht, Boer runs five plants in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany. Together they collect and sort -- and resell for reuse or recycling -- up to 460 tons of discarded clothing a day.

博尔集团的总裁约里克·博尔依靠回收这些衣物赚钱。他的荷兰家族生意始于百年前的鹿特丹，从博尔的曾祖父用手推车收集废布、金属、纸头开始。今天，他坐镇多德雷赫特的总部，经营着设在荷兰、比利时、法国和德国的五家工厂。他们每天收集、分类、卖给回收站或二手市场的丢弃衣物总量可达460吨。

People have the wrong idea about what happens when they drop clothes into a donation bin¹, Boer said; they think the clothes are given directly to needy² people. What usually happens instead is that companies like Boer buy donated clothing, sort it, and resell it -- all over the world.

博尔说，人们对自己将旧衣服投入捐赠箱后发生的一切有所误解；他们以为那些衣服会直接被送给有需要的人。事实是，通常由类似博尔集团的公司收购捐赠的衣物，经过分类转卖到世界各地。

"You need a lot of experience to know where you can sell and reuse a piece of clothing," Boer said. Through the window behind him, I could see the rapid but practiced movements of women pulling clothes from conveyors, examining each item briefly³, then pivoting⁴ and tossing⁵ it into one of 60 or so bags. Each woman sorts about three tons a day, Boer said. Sorters must have an eye for fashion -- especially for the best stuff, just 5 or 10 percent of the total, which makes most of Boer's profit. In Russia and eastern Europe, prized items such as women's underwear⁶ can fetch up to five euros a kilogram ($2.50 a pound). Most lower quality material gets shipped in 55-kilogram bales to Africa, where it's sold for as little as 50 cents a kilo.

“你需要丰富的经验，才能确知一件衣物能够销往哪里、重新利用。”博尔说。通过他身后的窗子，可以看到女工们快速而熟练地从传送带拉下衣服，逐件稍作检视，然后转身丢进约60个分拣袋中的一个。博尔说，每名女工每天约分拣3吨衣物，做这事必须有时尚眼光--尤其是对于仅占总量5%-10%的优等品，它们是博尔的主要收入来源。在俄罗斯和东欧，女性内衣这类热门货可卖出每公斤5欧元的好价钱。大部分次品被打成每个55公斤的大捆，运往非洲，售价可低廉到每公斤0.5美元。

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 pivoting   

n.绕轴旋转，绕公共法线旋转v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的现在分词 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开

参考例句：

• Here is a neat YouTube video showing the Gyro's pivoting mechanism. 这里是一个整洁的YouTube视频显示陀螺仪的旋转机制。 来自互联网
• Dart pivoting is widely used in the gannent pattern design. 省道转移的原理在服装纸样设计中应用十分广泛。 来自互联网

5 tossing   

v.（轻轻或漫不经心地）扔( toss的现在分词 )；（使）摇荡；摇匀；（为…）掷硬币决定

参考例句：

• Poor Joan has been tossing around all night with that fever. 可怜的琼因发烧而一整夜辗转不能入睡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The two boys agreed to decide the matter by tossing a coin. 这两个孩子同意用掷硬币的方法来决定这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 underwear   

n.衫衣，内衣，贴身衣

参考例句：

• He had removed his underwear.他已脱去了内衣。
• They left off their woollen underwear when the weather got warm.天气转暖的时候，他们不再穿羊毛内衣。