VOA标准英语2014--'Green Seal' Teams With Hotel To Help Environment

 

'Green Seal' Teams With Hotel To Help Environment 

LOS ANGELES — Many businesses are adopting green practices and products, and business owners say not only is it good for the environment, it is also good for their bottom line. One Los Angeles hotel is saving money by going green, and is helping¹ the planet.

Near the busy Los Angeles International Airport, five hotels are participating in a program of recycling and conservation. They use environmentally safe products and do sustainable waste disposal.

The largest of the five, the Hilton Los Angeles Airport, has more than 1,200 guest rooms, and general manager Grant Coonley said he has saved money.

“The lighting² retrofit [saved] almost 200,000 [dollars] a year from last year until this year. Waste removal is down 10 percent from a year ago.”

As costs are cut, energy and water use have dropped. Reservations, though, are up. Coonley said guests are more likely to book a hotel like his, with a conservation program.

“There are a lot of groups requesting this. They're requesting the recycle bins,” he said.

The hotel uses low-energy lights and water-efficient toilets.

Coonley said the staff is on board with the program. “Because for the most part, I think even at home, a lot of people are recycling by the three different garbage cans that might be at your house. So they wanted to know what the hotel's doing too.”

The hotel is working with Green Seal, a non-profit group that certifies³ environmentally sound products and practices. Green Seal president Arthur Weissman said getting the certification requires careful tracking by a restaurant or hotel. “Looking at the energy it uses, the water it uses, any of the waste that it produces, the chemicals that it uses,” he said.

Weissman said the Hilton LAX is meeting the standard for Green certification.

Green Seal certifies a range of products, in addition to services like hotels.

“We do paper products, cleaning products, paints, other building maintenance products. We do windows - we also do windows,” said Weissman.

Weissman said, today, green practices are good for business, but there are more important reasons for going green. He has written a recent book exploring the issues.

“I call them moral values, our care and concern for others. Other people, other nations, and indeed other species,” he said.

Weissman said most businesses and governments have not yet modified their wasteful⁴ and polluting practices. “But I hope ultimately they will, because they'll see it's in their best interest to do that, that we're all here together - all the stereotyped⁵ images of the spaceship earth, but it's all true. We're all in this world together and we all have to survive in it together.”

He said the stakes are high - our well being and the health of our planet.

 

Local leaders here agree. Los Angeles has implemented⁶ a green business and lodging⁷ program in partnership⁸ with Green Seal and other organizations.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

3 certifies   

（尤指书面）证明( certify的第三人称单数 )； 发证书给…； 证明（某人）患有精神病； 颁发（或授予）专业合格证书

参考例句：

• Authority certifies the identity of sites on the internet. 权威负责向Internet网站授予其标识。
• The paper then certifies this algorithm by infrared image processing. 并且文中使用红外图像对这个算法进行了验证。

4 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。

5 stereotyped   

adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的

参考例句：

• There is a sameness about all these tales. They're so stereotyped -- all about talented scholars and lovely ladies. 这些书就是一套子，左不过是些才子佳人，最没趣儿。
• He is the stereotyped monster of the horror films and the adventure books, and an obvious (though not perhaps strictly scientific) link with our ancestral past. 它们是恐怖电影和惊险小说中的老一套的怪物，并且与我们的祖先有着明显的（虽然可能没有科学的）联系。

6 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

7 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

8 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。