VOA常速英语2013--菲律宾自行车公司称其产品保护环境（在线收听）

Philippines Bicycle Company Says Its Products Protect Environment 菲律宾自行车公司称其产品保护环境

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Can bicycles help the Philippines reduce poverty and protect the environment at the same time? A social entrepreneur who owns a company called Bambikes says his line of high-end bicycles made of locally grown bamboo can do just that.

Bryan Benitez McClelland is passionate about bicycles. Like many others who head out onto the streets of Makati City, the 29-year old Filipino-American rides a bike. But his is made of bamboo.   

布莱恩·贝尼特斯·麦克兰德钟情于自行车。这位29岁的菲律宾籍美国人骑着自行车穿梭于马卡蒂市的大街小巷。但是他的坐骑是用竹子制成的。

“So bamboo is a pretty incredible material. In the plant kingdom it grows really rapidly and absorbs tons of carbon dioxide. From that perspective, it’s a very renewable resource. And then in the performance level, its got the characteristics of naturally vibration dampening pole structures, which really absorb the road chatter and road buzz and makes for a super smooth ride,” he said.

“竹子是一种令人难以置信的材料。在植物王国中它真的生长迅速而且吸收成吨的二氧化碳。从这个角度来看,这是一个非常的可再生资源。然后是性能水平方面，其天生的减震杆结构特征真的在吸收道路和公路上的阻力后使骑行变得超级平稳。”他说道。

In 2010, McClelland founded Bambikes, a company that turns locally sourced bamboo into bike frames. The Bambikes workshop is located in the countryside, in the town of Victoria, 130 kilometers from Metro Manila.

麦克兰德于2010年创立了竹子自行车公司，公司将当地竹子原材料转化为自行车架。公司车间坐落于在维多利亚城市郊,距马尼拉130公里。

Bamboo bicycles

Out here, the bamboo is harvested from farms and the wild. Bambike’s workers cut, treat and process the material into specialized bike frames.   

竹子则从农场和野外获取。公司的工人们将材料进行切割,加工及处理做成专门的自行车架。

The finished products are not cheap. They start at around $1,200. McClelland said much of the profit, however, goes back into this poor community.  

完成品可不便宜。价格定在1200美元左右。然而麦克兰德表示大部分的利润会回到这一贫穷的社区。

“We can produce world-class certified bamboo bicycles for the global market while keeping jobs at home in the rural provincial areas so that the workers can stay with their families and have gainful employment,” he said.

“我们可以为全球市场生产世界公认的一流竹子自行车而保持国内这一乡村省级地区的就业,这样工人们可以与家人一起并且有有偿的工作,”他说道。

Many of the municipality’s 60,000 inhabitants work in rice farming, but that is not a year-round job.

许多直辖市的60000名居民从事着水稻种植的工作,但这不是一份全年的职业。

McClelland and Victoria’s mayor, Candido Guiam, see mutual benefits in working together. Already, some of Victoria’s farmers are planting bamboo propagules, or seedlings.   

麦克兰德和维多利亚的市长坎迪多·凯姆一起协作互惠互利。已经有一些维多利亚的农民种植竹子繁殖体或幼苗。

“So this is an alternative program where we can provide people with work. They plant, they cut, they produce propagules of bamboo, we pay them 15 pesos, that’s good enough for them," said Guiam. "The good thing is after producing the propagules of bamboo, they bring them back to their own backyard. And hopefully in three years they can cut it up and make money out of it.”

“这是另一个我们可以给人们提供工作的项目。他们种植,切割,生产竹子的繁殖体,我们付给他们15比索，这个价格让他们很满意。”凯姆说道。“好处就是生产竹子的繁殖体后,他们带回到自己的后院。希望在三年内他们能够切割并且卖个好价钱。”

Green material

McClelland visits one of the bamboo nurseries the town supports. He said that in just a couple years this plant will be strong enough to be harvested.

麦克兰德走访城镇支持的竹子培育基地。他表示短短几年内这间工厂就可以收获。

“Bamboo is arguably the greenest building material on Earth. Bamboo is as strong as steel if you use the right species. Its very durable, very strong and can stand up to the demands needed by a bicycle frame,” he said.

“竹子可以说是地球上最环保的建筑材料。如果你使用正确品种的话竹子就如钢铁般强硬。它非常耐用,非常强壮,可以支撑一个自行车架所需要的要求。”他说道。

McClelland said bamboo can be used to build a lot more than just bike frames. He hopes Bambikes is just the start of a bamboo revolution in the Philippines. 

麦克兰德表示不仅仅是自行车，竹子可以用来制造更多。他希望自己的公司仅仅是在菲律宾竹子革命的开始。