2019年06月六级第2套长篇阅读匹配原文翻译及答案

A) As consumers, we are very wasteful. Annually, the world generates 1.3 billion tons of solid waste. This is expected to go up to 2.2 billion by 2025. The developed countries are responsible for 44% of waste, and in the U.S. alone, the average person throws away their body weight in rubbish every month.

作为消费者，我们非常浪费。每年，全球产生13亿吨固体废物。预计到2025年，这一数字将增至22亿吨。发达国家占废物的44%，仅在美国，平均每人每月丢弃相当于自身体重的垃圾。

B) Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that companies have no incentive to lengthen the life cycle of their products and reduce the revenue they would get from selling new goods. Yet, more and more businesses are thinking about how to reduce consumer waste. This is partly driven by the rising price of raw materials and metals. It is also partly due to both consumers and companies becoming more aware of the need to protect our environment.

传统观点似乎认为，公司没有动力延长其产品的生命周期，从而减少销售新商品所获得的收入。然而，越来越多的企业正在思考如何减少消费废物。这部分是由于原材料和金属价格上涨所致。同时，也部分因为消费者和公司都越来越意识到保护环境的必要性。

C) When choosing what products to buy and which brands to buy from, more and more consumers are looking into sustainability. This is opposed to just price and performance they were concerned about in the past. In a survey of 54 of the world's leading brands, almost all of them reported that consumers are showing increasing care about sustainable lifestyles. At the same time, surveys on consumers in the U.S. and the U.K. show that they also care about minimizing energy use and reducing waste.

在选择购买什么产品和从哪个品牌购买时，越来越多的消费者关注可持续性。这与过去他们只关心价格和性能形成对比。在对全球54个领先品牌的调查中，几乎所有品牌都报告称消费者对可持续生活方式日益关注。同时，美国和英国的消费者调查表明，他们也关心最小化能源使用和减少废物。

D) For the most part, consumers control what happens to a product. But some companies are realizing that placing the burden of recycling entirely on the consumer is not an effective strategy, especially when tossing something away seems like the easiest and most convenient option.

在大多数情况下，消费者控制着产品的命运。但一些公司意识到，将回收的负担完全放在消费者身上并非有效策略，尤其是当丢弃东西似乎是最简单和最方便的选择时。

E) Some retailers and manufacturers in the clothing, footwear, and electronics industries have launched environmental programs. They want to make their customers interested in preserving their products and preventing things that still have value from going to the garbage dump. By offering services to help expand the longevity of their products, they're promising quality and durability to consumers, and receiving the reputational gains for being environmentally friendly.

服装、鞋类和电子行业的一些零售商和制造商已经启动了环保项目。他们希望让客户有兴趣保存其产品，并防止仍有价值的东西进入垃圾场。通过提供帮助延长产品寿命的服务，他们向消费者承诺质量和耐用性，并因环保而获得声誉提升。

F) For example, the Swedish jeans company Nudie Jeans offers free repair at twenty of their shops. Instead of discarding their old worn-out jeans, customers bring them in to be renewed. The company even provides mail-order repair kits and online videos, so that customers can learn how to fix a pair of jeans at home. Their philosophy is that extending the life of a pair of jeans is not only great for the environment, but allows the consumer to get more value out of their product. When customers do want to toss their pair, they can give them back to the store, which will repurpose and resell them. Another clothing company, Patagonia, a high-end outdoor clothing store, follows the same principle. It has partnered with DIY website iFixit to teach consumers how to repair their clothing, such as waterproof outerwear, at home. The company also offers a repair program for their customers for a modest fee. Currently, Patagonia repairs about 40,000 garments a year in their Reno, Nevada, service center. According to the company's CEO, Rose Marcario, this is about building a company that cares about the environment. At the same time, offering repair supports the perceived quality of its products.

例如，瑞典牛仔裤公司Nudie Jeans在其20家商店提供免费修补服务。客户不再丢弃旧的破旧牛仔裤，而是将它们带来翻新。公司甚至提供邮购修理工具包和在线视频，以便客户在家学习如何修补牛仔裤。他们的理念是，延长牛仔裤的寿命不仅对环境有益，还能让消费者从产品中获得更多价值。当客户确实想丢弃时，可以将它们送回商店，商店会重新利用并转售。另一家服装公司Patagonia，一家高端户外服装店，遵循相同原则。它与DIY网站iFixit合作，教消费者如何在家修补衣物，如防水外套。公司还为客户提供收费适中的修补计划。目前，Patagonia在其内华达州里诺的服务中心每年修补约40,000件服装。据公司首席执行官Rose Marcario说，这是关于建立一个关心环境的公司。同时，提供修补支持了其产品的感知质量。

G) In Brazil, the multinational corporation Adidas has been running a shoe-recycling program called "Sustainable Footprint" since 2012. Customers can bring shoes of any brand into an Adidas store to be shredded and turned into alternative fuels for energy creation instead of being burned as trash. They are used to fuel cement ovens. To motivate visitors to bring in more old shoes, Adidas Brazil promotes the program in stores by showing videos to educate customers, and it even offers a discount each time a customer brings in an old pair of shoes. This boosts the reputation and image of Adidas by making people more aware of the company's values.

在巴西，跨国公司Adidas自2012年以来一直运营一个名为“可持续足迹”的鞋类回收项目。客户可以将任何品牌的鞋子带入Adidas商店，将其粉碎并转化为能源创造的替代燃料，而不是作为垃圾焚烧。它们被用来为水泥窑提供燃料。为了激励访客带来更多旧鞋，Adidas巴西在商店内通过展示视频来推广该项目，并教育客户，甚至每次客户带来一双旧鞋时提供折扣。这通过提高人们对Adidas价值观的认识来提升其声誉和形象。

H) Enormous opportunities also lie with e-waste. It is estimated that in 2014 the world produced some 42 million metric tons of e-waste (discarded electrical and electronic equipment and its parts) with North America and Europe accounting for 8 and 12 million metric tons respectively. The materials from e-waste include iron, copper, gold, silver, and aluminum materials that could be reused, resold, salvaged, or recycled. Together, the value of these metals is estimated to be about $52 billion. Electronics giants like Best Buy and Samsung have provided e-waste take-back programs over the past few years, which aim to refurbish (翻新) old electronic components and parts into new products.

电子废物也蕴含着巨大机遇。据估计，2014年全球产生了约4200万公吨电子废物（废弃的电气和电子设备及其部件），其中北美和欧洲分别占800万和1200万公吨。电子废物中的材料包括铁、铜、金、银和铝，这些材料可以被再利用、转售、回收或循环利用。这些金属的总价值估计约为520亿美元。像Best Buy和Samsung这样的电子巨头在过去几年里提供了电子废物回收计划，旨在将旧电子部件和零件翻新为新产品。

I) For other companies interested in reducing waste, helping the environment, and providing the sustainable lifestyles that consumers seek, here are some first steps for building a relationship with customers that focuses on recycling and restoring value to products:

对于其他有兴趣减少废物、帮助环境并提供消费者寻求的可持续生活方式的公司，以下是一些初步步骤，以建立与客户的关系，重点关注回收和恢复产品价值：

J) Find partners. If you are a manufacturer who relies on outside distributors, then retailers are the ideal partner for collecting old products. Power tool maker DeWalt partners with companies, such as Lowes and Napa Auto Parts, to collect old tools at their stores for recycling. The partnership benefits both sides by allowing unconventional partners (for example, two companies from two different industries) to work together on a specific aspect of the value chain, like, in this example, an engine firm with an accessory one.

寻找合作伙伴。如果你是一家依赖外部分销商的制造商，那么零售商是收集旧产品的理想合作伙伴。电动工具制造商DeWalt与公司合作，如Lowes和Napa Auto Parts，在其商店收集旧工具进行回收。这种合作关系使双方受益，允许非传统合作伙伴（例如，来自两个不同行业的两家公司）在价值链的特定方面合作，例如在这个例子中，一家发动机公司与一家配件公司合作。

K) Create incentives. Environmental conscientiousness isn't always enough to make customers recycle old goods. For instance, DeWalt discovered that many contractors were holding on to their old tools, even if they no longer worked, because they were expensive purchases and it was hard to justify bringing them in to recycle. By offering instant discounts worth as much as $100, DeWalt launched a trade-in program to encourage people to bring back tools. As a result, DeWalt now reuses those materials to create new products.

创造激励。环境意识并不总是足以让客户回收旧商品。例如，DeWalt发现许多承包商保留着他们的旧工具，即使它们不再工作，因为这些工具是昂贵的购买，很难证明将它们带来回收是合理的。通过提供高达100美元的即时折扣，DeWalt启动了一个以旧换新计划，鼓励人们送回工具。结果，DeWalt现在再利用这些材料来制造新产品。

L) Start with a trial program, and expect to change the details as you go. Any take-back program will likely change over time, depending on what works for your customers and company goals. Maybe you see low customer participation at first, or conversely, so much success that the cost of recycling becomes too high. Best Buy, for instance, has been bearing the lion's share of e-waste volume since two of its largest competitors, Amazon and Wal-mart, do not have their own recycling programs. Since the launch of its program, Best Buy changed its policy to add a $25 fee for recycling old televisions in order to keep the program going.

从试点项目开始，并预期随着进展改变细节。任何回收计划都可能随着时间而改变，取决于什么对客户和公司目标有效。也许你最初看到客户参与度低，或者相反，如此成功以至于回收成本变得太高。例如，Best Buy一直承担着电子废物的主要份额，因为其两个最大的竞争对手Amazon和Wal-mart没有自己的回收计划。自项目启动以来，Best Buy改变了政策，增加25美元的旧电视回收费用，以维持项目运行。

M) Build a culture of collective values with customers. A stronger relationship between the retailer/producer and the consumer isn't just about financial incentives. By creating more awareness around your efforts to reduce waste, and by developing a culture of responsibility, repair, and reuse, you can build customer loyalty based on shared values and responsibilities.

与客户建立共同价值观的文化。零售商/生产商与消费者之间更牢固的关系不仅仅关乎经济激励。通过提高你减少废物努力的认识，并发展责任、修补和再利用的文化，你可以基于共同的价值观和责任建立客户忠诚度。

N) These examples are just the tip of the iceberg, but they demonstrate how helping customers get more use of their materials can transform value chains and operations. Reducing waste by incorporating used materials into production can cut costs and decrease the price of procurement (采购): less to be procured from the outside and more to be re-utilized from the inside.

这些例子只是冰山一角，但它们展示了如何帮助客户更充分地利用其材料，从而改变价值链和运营。通过将使用过的材料纳入生产来减少废物，可以降低成本并降低采购价格：从外部采购减少，从内部再利用增加。

O) Companies play a big role in creating a circular economy, in which value is generating less from extracting new resources and more from getting better use out of the resources we already have--but they must also get customers engaged in the process.

公司在创建循环经济中扮演重要角色，在这种经济中，价值的产生较少依赖于开采新资源，更多地依赖于更好地利用我们已有的资源——但他们也必须让客户参与这个过程。