Ooh, that’s a bit harsh – I thought it was going to be interesting.
哦，这有点苛刻 —— 我以为这会很有趣。
Neil(尼尔)
I mean our topic is about rubbish, not that we are rubbish.
我的意思是我们的主题是关于垃圾，而不是我们是垃圾。
Sam(山姆)
I see. Do go on.
明白了。请继续。
Neil(尼尔)
Thank you. So the amount of waste we produce around the world is huge and it’s a growing problem.
谢谢。因此，我们在世界各地产生的废物量是巨大的，这是一个日益严重的问题。
Sam(山姆)
But, there are some things that we can do, like recycling. Where I live, I can recycle a lot, and I’m always very careful to separate - to split my rubbish into paper, metal, food, plastic and so on.
But is that enough, even if we all do it? We’ll look a little more at this topic shortly, but first, as always, a question. Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste? Is it: A: Sweden B: Germany C: New Zealand What do you think, Sam?
I’m not sure, but I think it could be Germany so I’m going to go with that - Germany.
我不确定，但我认为可能是德国，所以我会选择德国。
Neil(尼尔)
OK. We’ll see if you’re right a little bit later on. The BBC radio programme, Business Daily, recently tackled this topic. They spoke to Alexandre Lemille, an expert in this area. Does he think recycling is the answer? Let’s hear what he said.
Recycling is not the answer to waste from an efficient point of view because we are not able to get all the waste separated properly and therefore treated in the background. The main objective of our model is to hide waste so we don’t see as urban citizens, or rural citizens, we don’t see the waste, it is out of sight and therefore out of mind.
I was a bit surprised, because he said recycling wasn’t the answer. One reason is that it’s not always possible to separate waste you can recycle from waste you can’t recycle, and that makes treating it very difficult. Treating means handling it and using different processes, so it can be used again.
And the result is a lot of waste, including waste that could be recycled but which is just hidden. And as long as we don’t see it, we don’t think about it.
结果是大量的废物，包括可以回收但只是隐藏的废物。只要我们没有看到它，我们就不会去想它。
Sam(山姆)
And he uses a good phrase to describe this – out of sight, out of mind. And that’s true, at least for me. My rubbish and recycling is collected and I don’t really think about what happens to it after that. Is as much of it recycled as I think, or is it just buried, burned or even sent to other countries? It’s not in front of my house, so I don’t really think about it – out of sight, out of mind.
Recycling is not the answer to waste from an efficient point of view because we are not able to get all the waste separated properly and therefore treated in the background. The main objective of our model is to hide waste so we don’t see as urban citizens, or rural citizens, we don’t see the waste, it is out of sight and therefore out of mind.
One possible solution to this problem is to develop what is called a circular economy. Here’s the presenter of Business Daily, Manuela Saragosa, explaining what that means.
The idea then at the core of a circular economic and business model is that a product, like say a washing machine or even a broom, can always be returned to the manufacturer to be reused or repaired before then sold on again. The point is the manufacturer retains responsibility for the lifecycle of the product it produces rather than the consumer assuming that responsibility when he or she buys it.
So it seems like a simple idea – though maybe very difficult to do.
因此，这似乎是一个简单的想法 —— 尽管可能很难做到。
Sam(山姆)
Yes, the idea is that the company that makes a product, the manufacturer, is responsible for the product, not the person who bought it, the consumer.
是的，这个想法是制造产品的公司，制造商，对产品负责，而不是购买它的人，消费者。
Neil(尼尔)
So, if the product breaks or reaches the end of its useful life, its lifecycle, then the manufacturer has to take it back and fix, refurbish or have it recycled.
因此，如果产品损坏或达到其使用寿命、生命周期的终点，那么制造商必须将其收回并修复、翻新或回收。
Sam(山姆)
I guess this would make manufacturers try to make their products last longer!
我想这会让制造商试图让他们的产品使用寿命更长！
Neil(尼尔)
It certainly would. Let’s listen again.
当然会的。让我们再听一遍。
Manuela Saragosa(曼努埃拉·萨拉戈萨)
The idea then at the core of a circular economic and business model is that a product, like say a washing machine or even a broom, can always be returned to the manufacturer to be reused or repaired before then sold on again. The point is the manufacturer retains responsibility for the lifecycle of the product it produces rather than the consumer assuming that responsibility when he or she buys it.
Before we - thank you Sam - before we recycle the vocabulary, we need to get the answer to today’s question. Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste? Is it: A: Sweden B: Germany C: New Zealand Sam, what did you say?
Well I would like to offer you congratulations because Germany is the correct answer. Now let’s go over the vocabulary.
好吧，我想向你表示祝贺，因为德国是正确的答案。现在让我们回顾一下词汇。
Sam(山姆)
Of course. To separate means to divide or split different things, for example, separate your plastic from your paper for recycling.
答案是肯定的。分离意味着分割或分割不同的东西，例如，将塑料与纸张分开进行回收。
Neil(尼尔)
Treating is the word for dealing with, for example, recycled waste.
例如，处理是处理回收废物的词。
Sam(山姆)
The phrase out of sight, out of mind, means ignoring something or a situation you can’t see.
眼不见心不烦这句话的意思是忽略你看不见的东西或情况。
Neil(尼尔)
A manufacturer is the person or company that makes something and the consumer is the person who buys that thing.
制造商是制造某物的个人或公司，消费者是购买该物的人。
Sam(山姆)
And the length of time you can expect a product to work for is known as its lifecycle.
您可以预期产品工作的时间长度称为其生命周期。
Neil(尼尔)
Well the lifecycle of this programme is 6 minutes, and as we are there, or thereabouts, it’s time for us to head off. Thanks for your company and hope you can join us again soon. Until then, there is plenty more to enjoy from BBC Learning English online, on social media and on our app. Bye for now.
这个节目的生命周期是六分钟，当我们在那里或那里时，是时候让我们出发了。感谢您的陪伴，希望您能很快再次加入我们。在那之前，BBC Learning English 在线、社交媒体和我们的应用节目上还有很多乐趣可以享受。再见。
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