英语课程计划-Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day is a great way of reminding yourself you don’t need to go shopping. In today’s world, most of us buy too much, too often. There is really no need for us to buy half the stuff¹ we purchase. In fact, make that three-quarters, or even nine-tenths. Shopping has become an addiction  for many people. Companies are experts at making us buy stuff. TV and Internet ads can even make us buy things we don’t really want. There is a well-known bumper² sticker that says: “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.” I would say only foolish people go shopping to reduce their stress. Anyway, Buy Nothing Day is a fantastic way to avoid crowded stores, save some money (for once) and spend time wisely.

Lots of ideas on how to spend this day are on the www.buynothingday.org website. Here, you learn that you actually help save our planet³ by not going shopping. You consume⁴ less and this means we use fewer of Earth’s resources. We easily run out of money when we go shopping, but we can also run out of our planet’s animals, forests, water and a lot more. The website suggests you lock your credit⁵ card away for the day and keep your cash under the bed. You will not be alone. The website says: “Buy Nothing Day is the biggest 24-hour [campaign] against consumerism. People around the world will make a pact⁶ to take a break from shopping as a personal experiment or public statement. And the best thing is, it’s free."

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 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

3 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

4 consume   

vt.花费，消费；毁灭；vi.消费掉；枯萎

参考例句：

• They generally consume more power and take up more space,too.它们通常消耗更多的能量，并且占用更多的空间。
• The British consume a vast amount of tea each year.英国人每年消费大量的茶叶。

5 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

6 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。