华盛顿邮报 捐赠的旧衣物最后到哪去了？(1)

 

    Spring is hopefully just around the corner, and that means it's time to clean out my closet.

    春天如愿即将来临，这意味着是时候清理我的衣柜了。

    And I love doing that. It feels like a fresh start.

    我喜欢清理衣柜。这让我觉得是一个全新的开始。

    I also feel like I'm doing something good because the clothes that don't fit me anymore or aren't my style or, let's face it, I never should have bought in the first place, I donate them,我觉得我也在做一件善事，因为那些不再适合我或不符合我风格的衣服，面对现实吧，那些我一开始就不应该买的衣服，我会把它们捐了，and I've always assumed that they went to people who could really use them or who would look a lot better in them.

    我一直认为这些衣服捐给了真正需要的人，或者那些穿起来会更好看的人。

    But I didn't really know what happened to the clothes once they left my closet.

    但我真的不知道这些衣服离开我的衣柜后去了哪里。

    So the question about, well, then what happens to your clothes when you donate them, it's actually kind of tricky¹ and it's pretty complicated.

    那么，当你捐赠衣物时，你的衣服会发生什么，这个问题有点难回答，也很复杂。

    That's Allyson Chiu. She reports on climate solutions for The Post and she says, yeah, it does happen the way I imagined it, sometimes.

    这是艾莉森·邱，她为《华盛顿邮报》报道气候解决方案，她表示，衣物捐赠确实会按照我想象的方式进行，但只是有时。

    But actually far less of the clothing that you donate ends up in that new home or, you know, goes to someone who really will use it and need it and want it.

    实际上，你捐赠的衣物很少会被送到新家，或者送到真正需要它的人手中。

    Today, Allyson talks with Elahe Izadi about where our clothing donations really go, the best times of year to donate, and how to make sure clothing actually gets reused.

    今天，艾莉森和埃拉赫·伊扎迪会讨论我们捐赠衣物的去向，一年中捐赠的最佳时间，以及确保衣物被重复使用的方式。

    Where do most people donate their clothes, and then what happens to those clothes once they are donated to those places?

    大多数人都把衣服捐到哪里了，这些衣服被捐到那些地方后会发生什么?

    Right. So, you know, it can go to Goodwill², it can go to any organization similar to Goodwill.

    对。衣物可以捐给Goodwill，可以捐给任何类似于Goodwill的组织。

    A lot of people will also donate to maybe some more local organizations. So maybe like a local thrift³ store or even like a church or a --很多人也会向一些地方组织捐赠衣物。比如当地的二手店或者教堂--Like a community organization or something. I've done that before, yeah.

    比如社区组织之类的。我以前捐过。

    Right, exactly. You know, there are some places that will take only specific types of items.

    对, 没错。有些地方只收特定类型的物品。

    So, like, there are clothing drives for people who need prom dresses or people who need workwear or suits.

    比如，为那些需要舞会礼服、工作服或西装的人举办服装募捐活动。

    So those are all sort of different options that are available.

    这些都是可获得的不同选择。

    If we're talking about sort of large-scale donation places, you know, for many people, Goodwill comes to mind.

    如果我们谈论大规模的捐赠地，对许多人来说，出现在脑海中的是Goodwill。

    And with their system, you know, the clothes come in, they're sorted, and they can basically go either into what's deemed as suitable for retail⁴ basically, and that means that it either ends up in the Goodwill brick and mortar⁵ thrift stores or on their e-commerce platforms.

    在Goodwill的系统下，衣服送进来，然后会被分类，它们基本上可以进入被认为适合零售的地方，这意味着它们最终要么出现在Goodwill的实体二手店，要么出现在他们的电子商务平台上。

    And then that's about half of the clothing donations that come in that they can be deemed suitable for retail.

    收到的大约一半的捐赠服装被认为适合做零售。

    And the other half, you know, they'll either go to sort of a, you know, bulk retailer⁶ basically. So that's where you can buy these items at a much lower cost.

    另一半服装，它们基本上会到零售批发商手上。你可以在那里以更低的价格买到这些东西。

    And then the other option is these salvage⁷ dealers⁸, and that's basically like the rag trade. So not for wear anymore.

    另一个选择是破烂交易商，这基本上就像破布贸易。因为这些衣物不再能穿着了。

    So, like, the clothes are sort of ripped up and used for other purposes?

    也就是说，衣服被撕碎做其他事了?

    Exactly. Yeah. Repurposed. They're basically reused and most commonly turned into rags basically.

    正是如此。没错。衣物用途改变了。它们基本上被重复利用，通常会变成破布。

    Clothes can also end up, unfortunately, shipped overseas where they could create a problem for the local communities in the countries that are there,不幸的是，这些衣服也可能被运到海外，给当地社区带来麻烦，either economically because sales of this cheaper bulk clothing might compete with local merchants or textile industries or become a solid-waste problem, meaning it ends up in landfills or incinerated.

    要么是经济上的问题，因为出售大批廉价衣物可能会与当地商人或纺织业竞争，要么是固体废物问题，这意味着这些衣物最终会被填埋或焚毁。

1 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

2 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

3 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

6 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

7 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

8 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。