A Second Life for Chewing Gum 再給你一次機會!口香糖洗心革面大作戰 Used gum that is left on the sidewalk is sticky and ugly, but it could be very useful. 雖然被丟在人行道上的口香糖殘渣又黏又醜,但它們可是大有用處喔。
We spend billions of dollars a year worldwide on cleaning up used chewing gum off of our city streets. In fact, gum is the second most common form of litter after cigarettes. It’s a big problem that needs a creative solution. Luckily, a British designer named Anna Bullus thought of an idea to recycle the leftover▼ gum into a wide range of useful items. The main ingredient in chewing gum is man-made rubber, which is a kind of plastic. That means that chewed gum can be recycled and turned into a number of plastic products. Bullus calls her company Gumdrop, and her first product was a trash can for gum. Gumdrop bins▼ are bright pink plastic containers▼ that Bullus and her team place around cities to collect used gum, which is then turned into more Gumdrop products. Her company only needed so many trash cans, so Bullus soon branchedout into other plastic products, including travel mugs, rain boots, mobile phone covers, and more. Bullus and Gumdrop have proven that there are solutions out there for all kinds of sticky problems.
▼ leftover a. 剩餘的;未吃完的 ▼bin n. 垃圾桶/箱(英式用法) ▼container n. 容器
1. worldwide adv. 在全世界;遍及全世界地 Ocean temperatures worldwide are rising due to the greenhouse effect. 全球海洋因溫室效應而持續升溫。
2. litter n.(在公共場所亂扔的)垃圾,廢棄物(不可數)& vi. & vt.(在公共場所)亂丟垃圾 After summer vacation was over, that beautiful beach was full of litter. 暑假過後,那片美麗的沙灘上到處都是垃圾。
3. cigarette n. 香菸 You can’t get on the train with that cigarette in your mouth. 你不能叼著那根菸上火車。
4. creative a. 有創意的;具創造性的 Zack’s so-called creative idea was in fact nothing new. 柴克想出來的所謂創意點子其實一點也不新奇。
5. solution n. 解決(方法);(練習或比賽的)解答 The solutions to the problems are at the back of the book. 這些問題的解答在這本書的最後面。
6. recycle vt. 回收(再利用) Waste paper can be recycled into toilet tissue. 廢紙可以回收製成衛生紙。
7. plastic n. 塑膠,塑料 & a. 塑膠製的 To cut down on the amount of garbage, most stores stopped providing free plastic bags. 為減少垃圾量,多數店家已停止提供免費塑膠袋。
8. branch out into N/V-ing 將(事業、興趣等的)範圍擴大至某領域 Elise pushed ahead with her directing career and also branched out into producing films. 伊莉絲持續拓展她的執導生涯,還擴大範圍到電影製作。