VOA慢速英语2016 法国禁止商店丢弃未售食物

AS IT IS 2016-03-18 France Bans Stores from Trashing Unsold Food 法国禁止商店丢弃未售食物

France has become the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away unsold food.

法国是第一个禁止超市丢弃未售食物的国家。

Legislators passed the law in February.The law requires supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities and food banks.

立法人员于今年二月通过了法令。该法规定超市要将未售的食物捐赠给慈善机构以及食物银行。

If supermarkets do not obey the law, they face a $4,000 fine.

超市若不遵守法律规定，将面临4000美元的罚款。

The new law is part of France’s efforts to rethink consumption practices.

此项新法令是法国重新审视消费行为的一部分。

Each year, France throws away about 7 million tons of food.That is one-fifth of the amount of food bought each year.Along with individual consumers, restaurants and stores add to the food waste.

法国每年都会丢弃700万吨食物。约占食物购买数量的五分之一。除了个体消费者之外，餐馆以及商店也加剧了食物浪费现象。

Other European countries are also making efforts to reduce food waste.In Denmark, a new “waste” supermarket has opened, where customers can buy surplus - or leftover 1 - food for cheaper prices.

其他欧洲国家也正努力减少食物浪费。丹麦开设了一家“多余”超市，消费者可以在这里以较低的价格买到多余或者剩余的食物。

Arash Derambarsh is a municipal councilor in a Paris suburb.He started a petition for parliament to adopt the supermarket food waste law.

Arash Derambarsh是巴黎郊区的市政议员。他发起请愿，要求议会采取有关禁止超市食物丢弃的法律。

“The situation is very simple,” he said.“On the one hand, we have supermarkets that throw away kilos of unsold food every day.On the other, faced with this absurdity 3, we have millions of poor people in France.”

“情况非常简单”，他说道。“一方面，很多超市每天都要丢弃好几公斤未售出的食物；另一方面我们面临一种不合理的现象，即法国有数百万穷人。”

Derambarsh wrote a book called Manifesto 4 Against Waste.In the book, he wrote about his time as a poor student barely able to pay for rent.“I was hungry and ashamed of admitting it.” he said.I wanted to turn it into a positive experience so others would not end up in this situation.”

Derambarsh出版了书籍《反对浪费宣言》。他在书中写到自己学生年代的穷苦时期，几乎不能支付房租。“我很饿，但羞于承认这点。”他说我想把它转变成一种积极的体验，使得别人不再面临这种可怕的局面。”

Derambarsh is now campaigning for the European Union to adopt similar supermarket waste laws.He is also urging the United States and other countries to adopt such measures, too.

Derambarsh目前正在呼吁欧洲联盟采取类似的法律。此外，他正在敦促美国以及其他国家采取类似措施。

Yet the reaction among charities and supermarkets in France shows how complex the issue of food waste really is.

但是法国的慈善机构以及超市的反应反映了食物浪费问题的复杂性。

Some people have welcomed the new law.Louise Saint-Germain is president of a small non-governmental organization called, in English, A Hand Stretched Out For Tomorrow.She said the increase in donations will allow her group to “feed more people and provide a more diversified 5 food basket.”

一些人很欢迎该法律。Louise Saint-Germain是小型非政府组织“向明天伸出一只手”（A Hand Stretched Out For Tomorrow）的主席。她表示增加食品捐赠数量能够让她的组织“养活更多人，并提供更加多样化的食品篮子”。

But others are worried that the law will lead to more donations than they can handle.Aline Chassagnot manages a Salvation 6 Army store.

但其他人担心该项法律会导致无法处理过多捐赠食物的问题。Aline Chassagnot经营着一个救世军商店。

“We simply don’t have the technical and logistical ability to distribute more food to more people.And we’re not the only ones,” she said.

“我们真的不具备技术和物流能力，将更多食物分配给更多人。并且我们也不是唯一一个有这样问题的商店。”

Chassagnot said France needs to consider larger issues related to consumption and sharing.

Chassagnot表示法国需要考虑与消费和共享相关的更大的问题。

“Yes, there’s waste and there are enough poor people around,” she said.“But really taking into account a person’s needs and dignity might mean another way of thinking that’s not so simple.”

“是的，浪费很严重，也有很多穷人。”她说道。“但如果考虑到个人所需和个人尊严，就意味着这其实不是件简单的事情。”

Many large supermarkets in France argue that the law doesn’t really change much.The director of one Carrefour supermarket in western Paris says her store has been donating unsold food to charities for years.

法国很多大超市都表示该法律并不能让情况有多大改观。巴黎西部的一个家乐福超市负责人表示多年来她的超市一直都在捐赠未售出的食品。

Nothing is wasted, the director said.In the kitchen, chefs put day-old bread products into syrup 7, then pour almond paste on them, turning them into new desserts.Rotten raspberries are picked out of unsold tubs, and the good ones are reused in tarts 8.

负责人表示，什么都没有浪费。厨房里，厨师们将当天的面包放到糖浆里，然后再上面加上杏仁糊，新甜点就出炉了。将桶里坏掉的覆盆子挑出，好的则要用于果馅饼。

And, food that is damaged or past its shelf life is turned into biofuel, the director added.The biofuel helps power supermarket trucks.

负责人还表示，坏掉的食物或者已过期食物则用来制作生物燃料。生物燃料能够为超市卡车提供动力。

But other French stores reportedly put bleach 9 onto unsold food.That chemical makes the food inedible 10.

但据报道，其他法国超市会将漂白剂加到未售食物中。这种化学物质使得食物不再能食用。

Words in This Story

consumption - n. the use of something

absurdity - n. the state of being unreasonable 11 or foolish

ashamed - adj. feeling shame or guilt 12

logistical - adj. relating to organization and planning

desserts - n. sweet food eaten after the main part of a meal

tub -n. a wide container used to hold something

tart 2 - n. an open pie that usually has a sweet filling

shelf life - n. the length of time that food may be stored and still be good to eat

bleach - n. a strong chemical that is used to make something clean or white