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美国国家公共电台 NPR An Indian State Bans Plastic Bags, Straws And More. Will It Work?

时间:2018-07-17 02:06:03

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

India's largest city has banned plastic bags and packaging. In India, people actually produce only a tenth of the plastic waste that Americans do. The problem is where it ends up, as NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Mumbai.

(SOUNDBITE OF OCEAN WAVES)

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE1: I'm trying to go for a morning jog on my local beach in Mumbai. It's dawn. There's a little bit of a drizzle2. But I've got to literally3 clear a path through ankle-deep plastic trash, and the problem is particularly bad in the monsoon4 season right now.

(SOUNDBITE OF OCEAN WAVES)

AFROZ SHAH: See, because monsoon, the waves and the tides are on the higher side, lot of water enters into the creek5, and these creeks6 are full of plastic.

FRAYER: Afroz Shah is a lawyer who got sick of watching floodwaters from Mumbai's creeks flush trash out into the ocean and then up onto his local beach, so he launched a cleanup campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Today, there are about 50 volunteers here.

What are you finding here?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All plastic - plastic pouches7. That's...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We find shoes laying around.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Packagings - that's what we're finding the most.

FRAYER: As volunteers pick up trash, authorities are going to the source. The Indian state of Maharashtra has banned plastic packaging - bags, Styrofoam, takeout containers, even cutlery. The goal is for all of India to do the same by 2022. Plastic waste is a public health issue, says activist8 Vandana Trivedi, a mother of two who lives near one of Asia's biggest garbage dumps here in Mumbai. It's the size of 200 football fields, and it sometimes catches fire.

VANDANA TRIVEDI: It's a very faint - you need to have a nose to pick up polluted air, and I think I've developed it now. It's, like, full of methane9 there. When...

FRAYER: Yeah. When plastic burns, it emits all sort of...

TRIVEDI: It's carcinogenic.

FRAYER: India does recycle, but informally. The poorest of the poor sort trash by hand literally on the dump pile. Life expectancy10 there is 39. Trivedi says this plastic ban is great PR for India, but...

TRIVEDI: Where is the education around the whole thing, right? People are clueless as to what is banned, what is to - not banned.

FRAYER: Nevertheless, stores are scrambling11 to comply or face fines of $70 and up and jail time for repeat offenders12. Dry cleaner Sunil Srivastava covers freshly pressed shirts in sheer plastic.

SUNIL SRIVASTAVA: Yeah, it's all plastic. But we...

FRAYER: But he now has to remove it before delivering to customers.

(SOUNDBITE OF PAPER CRINKLING)

FRAYER: So you will put this paper on the clothes now.

SRIVASTAVA: Yeah, this paper.

FRAYER: But the paper costs him more, and it falls apart in the rain. A few doors down, Chiman Singh used to sell milk and yogurt in plastic bags.

CHIMAN SINGH: Yeah, milk...

FRAYER: This is the milk in these big metal barrels.

SINGH: Yogurt and milk.

FRAYER: Yogurt and milk. So I have to bring my own container.

SINGH: Yeah.

FRAYER: He says he's lost about half of his customers. Stuffing a cloth bag in your purse is one thing, but who wants to carry around an empty milk bottle? At a fruit and veg stand, Sheru Mann fills her cloth bag and wonders if a country as large and as poor as India can pull this off.

SHERU MANN: There is 1.2 billion people living in India. How can you change the system?

FRAYER: I guess they're trying to start with this ban, right?

MANN: Hope so. Hope so. Hope so.

FRAYER: Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Mumbai.

(SOUNDBITE OF BONOBO SONG, "KERALA")


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 byline sSXyQ     
n.署名;v.署名
参考例句:
  • His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
  • We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。
2 drizzle Mrdxn     
v.下毛毛雨;n.毛毛雨,蒙蒙细雨
参考例句:
  • The shower tailed off into a drizzle.阵雨越来越小,最后变成了毛毛雨。
  • Yesterday the radio forecast drizzle,and today it is indeed raining.昨天预报有小雨,今天果然下起来了。
3 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
4 monsoon 261zf     
n.季雨,季风,大雨
参考例句:
  • The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
  • The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。
5 creek 3orzL     
n.小溪,小河,小湾
参考例句:
  • He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
  • People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
6 creeks creeks     
n.小湾( creek的名词复数 );小港;小河;小溪
参考例句:
  • The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
  • There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句
7 pouches 952990a5cdea03f7970c486d570c7d8e     
n.(放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的)小袋( pouch的名词复数 );(袋鼠等的)育儿袋;邮袋;(某些动物贮存食物的)颊袋
参考例句:
  • Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 activist gyAzO     
n.活动分子,积极分子
参考例句:
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
9 methane t1Eyx     
n.甲烷,沼气
参考例句:
  • The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
  • Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。
10 expectancy tlMys     
n.期望,预期,(根据概率统计求得)预期数额
参考例句:
  • Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
  • The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。
11 scrambling cfea7454c3a8813b07de2178a1025138     
v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
参考例句:
  • Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发,冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 offenders dee5aee0bcfb96f370137cdbb4b5cc8d     
n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 );犯规者;罪犯;妨害…的人(或事物)
参考例句:
  • Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
  • Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

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