英语PK台 第707期:一年一个好习惯,过环保极简新生活

 Make everyday Earth day

极简生活

Dialogue 1

Jingjing: What's happening, Mark? Did you do anything special for Earth Day?

京晶：你怎么样，马克？有为世界地球日做点什么特别的事吗？

Mark: You mean like give presents or eat cake?

马克：你是指送礼物，或者吃蛋糕？

Jingjing: No, of course it's not that kind of holiday.

京晶：不是，当然不是那种意义的节假日了。

Mark: Well, I usually make one change each year to reduce my carbon¹ footprint². Last year, I stopped buying bottled water and started carrying around this metal one.

马克：我通常每一年做一个改变来减少我的碳足迹。去年，我已经停止了购买瓶装水，开始带着这个金属瓶。

Jingjing: Yeah, I've seen you carrying that same blue bottle. What else do you do?

京晶：是呢，一直看见你拿着同一个蓝瓶。还做了别的什么？

Mark: Um, I also try to use fewer plastic bags. At home I have some cloth bags I bring with me for shopping.

马克：我也尽量少用塑料袋。我家里有一些布袋我就带着它们购物。

Jingjing: I do that also. And you'll hardly ever see me with a plastic bottle.

京晶：我也这样做。你几乎看不见我用塑料瓶。

Mark: That's good. But I really don't have any ideas what I could change this year.

马克：这很好。但是我今年要做点什么改变我还真没想好。

Jingjing: Do you take taxis often?

京晶：你经常打车吗？

Mark: Naw, I cut that out a long time ago, not just because it was bad for the environment but also because it was eating up my money every month.

马克：不，很久以前就不再打了，不仅因为对环境不太好，还因为花了我不少钱呢。

Jingjing: Well, you're not very wasteful³. Let me try to think of something. I'll have more ideas next time I see you.

京晶：你也不是很浪费啊。让我试着想出点什么，下次见面的时候我会有些想法的。

Mark: You've got work to do, I see. Let's talk after you're finished with it.

马克：你有工作要忙了，了解。你忙完我们再聊。

Jingjing: Great. See you soon.

京晶：好。一会儿见。

New words: 习语短语

carbon footprint 碳足迹

the amount of resources⁴ consumed⁵ and pollution caused by one person (or company)

cut that out 在生活中戒掉

quit it, remove it from your lifestyle

eating up 消费过多

using, consuming⁶ too much

Dialogue 2

Mark: Jingjing, are you all done with work for the day?

马克：京晶，今天的工作都做完了吗？

Jingjing: I've finished what I need to do in the office. I'll do a bit more once I get home.

京晶：我已经完成了办公室里需要完成的部分。回到家后还要再做一点。

Mark: I'm heading⁷ out now too. Let's ride the subway together.

马克：我也要出发了。我们一起坐地铁吧。

Jingjing: Sure. Hey, I gave some thought to your Earth Day question.

京晶：好啊。对了，我想了想你地球日的那个问题。

Mark: Yeah, don't hold back.

马克：那你不妨直说

Jingjing: Well, do you get together with friends often?

京晶：你经常和朋友聚吗？

Mark: I know where you're going with that. I used to be more of a social butterfly. Now I just see friends once a week or so, and put them together instead of running around town to meet different people.

马克：我知道你想说什么。我过去更善于交际，现在我差不多一周就见一次朋友，都约在一起见而不是跑来跑去见不同的人。

Jingjing: That's what I was gonna suggest.

京晶：这就是我正想建议的。

Mark: My cell⁸ phone was broken for a few weeks, and I realized how nice it was not to have to answer calls and messages all the time.

马克：我手机坏了好几周了，我这才意识到不用随时随地接电话回信息是多好的事。

Jingjing: I'm glad my cell phone worked last week. A friend of mine broke up with her boyfriend and needed someone to talk to for a few hours at a coffee shop. I'm glad I saw the message.

京晶：我很庆幸我的电话上周是好的。我的一个朋友和她男友分手了，需要有人在咖啡店陪她聊上几小时，还好我看到了这条信息。

Mark: Yeah, you never know when your friends are really gonna need you.

马克：是啊，你永远不知道你的朋友什么时候真的需要你。

Jingjing: Right. On the other hand, someone I hardly know invited me to a big party. I wanted to lie and tell them I was broke, but ended up spending a lot of money to go there.

京晶：是的，另一方面，我不熟的人邀我去个大派对，我本想撒个慌说我没钱去，结果不但去了还花了好多钱。

Mark: Well, hopefully you had a good time. It's hit or miss with social stuff⁹ like that.

马克：好吧，希望你玩得开心了。那样的社交活动都是去了以后才知道。

Jingjing: I agree. I guess it's not wasteful.

京晶：同意。我想也还行吧，不算浪费。

New words: 习语短语

don't hold back 别犹豫，别介意，尽管做

don't hesitate to tell me something, even if it might upset me

where you're going 接下来可能要说的

what you are likely to say next

a social butterfly 善于交际的人

someone who has many friends and is always shifting their attention from one to another

hit or miss 尝试后才知值不值得

not always likely to succeed (or be worthwhile), so that one doesn't know until after they've tried each time

1 carbon   

n.碳元素

参考例句：

• Diamonds are pure carbon.钻石是纯净的碳。
• Carbon is an element,while carbon dioxide is a compound.碳是一种(化学)元素，而二氧化碳则是一种化合物。

2 footprint   

n.足迹

参考例句：

• I was standing inside a footprint!我刚才站在一个脚印里！
• She was staring at the footprint,full of fear.她盯着脚印，内心充满了恐惧。

3 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

4 resources   

n.勇气；才智；谋略；有助于实现目标的东西；资源( resource的名词复数 )；[复数]物力；办法；来源

参考例句：

• The world's resources are rapidly diminishing. 世界资源正在迅速减少。
• a policy to equalize the distribution of resources throughout the country 使资源在全国分布均衡的政策

5 consumed   

v.消耗( consume的过去式和过去分词 )；烧毁；大吃；使充满（强烈的感情）

参考例句：

• Arguing about details consumed many hours of the committee's valuable time. 争论细节问题耗费了委员会数小时宝贵的时间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fire had consumed half the forest away before it was stopped. 大火在熄灭之前毁掉了树林的一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 consuming   

adj.强烈的；消费的v.消耗(consume的现在分词)

参考例句：

• an all-consuming love of jazz 对爵士乐的迷恋
• Basketball is his consuming passion . 篮球令他着迷。

7 heading   

n.上标题，标题，起始字，方向

参考例句：

• The heading was in large letters.标题是用大号字母印刷的。
• He realized that he was heading in the wrong direction.他意识到走错了方向。

8 cell   

n.区，细胞，血球；小室，牢房；电池，光电管；基层组织

参考例句：

• Soap destroys the cell walls of bacteria.肥皂破坏细菌的细胞壁。
• They have locked the prisoners up in their cell.他们已把犯人监禁在小牢房里。

9 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。