環保布袋惹人笑

編者按：隨著2008年北京奧運會的逼近，民眾越來越關心“中國”品牌的樹立，學習英語的熱情也被點燃。越來越多的外宣干部和業內同行向我們表達了期待看到雙語欄目的愿望。因此，我們自2006年第1期起開辦了《雙語視窗》欄目以滿足廣大讀者的需求。

看看周圍的媒體，在《北京青年報》、《參考消息》、《國門時報》上有許多精粹的小短文，像一只只啄木鳥，善意地提醒了中國人習以為常的行為背后“尚未和國際接軌”的細節，讀后讓人回味不已。在獲得借鑒意義的同時，也帶來更深入的思考。我們效仿中英文對照的版面形式，旨在通過外國友人的視角來看中國，從中折射出東西方觀念、習俗的異同。通過一篇篇這樣的文章，讓讀者在領略異域文化的同時，也能達到學習英語的目的。

胡錦濤主席號召人們在幫助保護和改善環境方面擔起更大的責任，我對此產生了強烈的共鳴，使我有同感的還有政府關于“綠色奧運”的號召。這讓我思考我這個在北京住了將近四年的外國人能為之做點什么， 眼看著這個城市正變得比以往任何時候都更加美麗——越來越多的喬木、灌木和鮮花、綠地正把她變成一個名副其實的花園城市。

但是， 在這個多風的城市里有一種污染非常顯眼，那就是塑料袋，它們或是優雅地盤旋于高聳的樓宇之間，最后掛落在樹枝上；或是掠過馬路和便道，直到環衛工人撿起來為止；但更為常見的是，這些無處不在的塑料袋最后飄落在本應是宜人可愛的水道上；同樣糟糕的是，它們還常常掉落在農田里。這些塑料袋令水道阻塞，田間混亂，它們破壞著花園，使樹木有傷大雅。

對于這個問題，我有個絕好的中國式的現成方法來解決，但很多中國人尤其是城里的年輕人都已經棄之不用了——那就是有著圓形塑料環作為提手的布袋，它們真是好極了。這樣的布袋我有3個，是3年前我在甘肅省武威市游歷時請人做的，因為當時在北京我買不到。1990～1993年我住在蘭州，那時人們去哪兒都帶著于環境極有益處的布袋，商店則不給塑料袋，這使得那兒的環境狀況很好。2001年我再來中國的時候，北京哪兒都不賣那樣的布袋，我只得找人做了3個：兩個黑色的是為需要注意著裝的場合用的，在這些場合我想使自己看上去更優雅一些，比如在王府井或世貿中心購物的時候；第三個要大得多，綠顏色，怪怪的，用于在天客隆超市買日用品，在附近農貿市場買新鮮蔬菜，或是在五金商店買砂紙、釘子和手工工具。

對于很多中國人來說，我似乎是個可笑的人，部分原因是我在給學生講課或是在高級別的社交活動中時總是穿別致的絲綢“唐裝”，在住宅小區散步時穿中式棉布夾襖和棉馬甲。我喜歡這些衣服，與我在美國教書時穿西裝系領帶相比，它們穿起來更舒服，而且看上去也比美國的男裝好得多。

我惹人笑的另一個原因就是我的布袋。有一天，我需要搬運一些很重的東西，一位中國朋友想去找輛三輪車裝上它們穿過校園。當我堅持要把那些東西裝在我的兩個布袋里，并把布袋像馬褡子那樣系在一起，一前一后搭在肩上，他就建議我等天黑再行動，這樣就沒人看到我像個老農了。可我堅持使用我那“馬褡子”，的確，一路上不僅有人盯著我發笑，還有人指著我讓他們的朋友看。沒關系，我也自得其樂。我為我的布袋自豪，每次我用布袋而不用那討厭的塑料袋時，感覺就特好——至少又有一個塑料袋不會因我老杜的粗心疏忽而在北京亂飛了。

我是個自尊自重的老人，但是，當我使用布袋并通過這一微不足道的方式來使環境更清潔時，任何人都不會使我感到不光彩或是尷尬。我建議，讓我們把這些老式的中式布袋重新“時髦”起來。你難道不想加入到我以及所有與我年紀相仿的中國同事們的行列中，為了中國的環境將這一老式做法促成“新潮”？

（本文作者現在北京二外任教，人稱老杜。）

原文：

President Hu Jintao’s call for more personal responsibility in helping to protect and improve the environment resonates very strongly in my heart; as does the government’s call for a green Olympics. It makes me think about what I can do as a guest who has lived in Beijing for almost four years now and has observed the city becoming ever more beautiful， with more trees， shrubs， flowers and lawns turning it into a real garden city.

But one aspect of the pollution that is very noticeable in this windy city is the plastic bags that swirl gracefully among the tall buildings till they are captured by some tree branches or that skitter along the roadways and sidewalks until they are picked up by the sanitation workers. But too often these ubiquitous plastic bags end up in the city’s potentially lovely waterways and， just as bad， in farmers’ fields. This floating trash clogs the waterways， clutters the fields， ruins the gardens and blights the trees.

I have the perfect readymade Chinese solution for this problem， but it is a solution that many Chinese， especially younger city folk， have abandoned: those wonderful cloth bags with the circular plastic rings as handles. I have three of them. I had them made in Wuwei during a visit there 3 years ago because I couldn't find any in Beijing. When I lived in Lanzhou between 1990 and 1993， we all carried those marvelous environmentally friendly bags everywhere. Shops didn’t give out plastic bags in those days and the environment was better off as a result. When I returned to China in 2001， the cloth bags were nowhere to be seen in Beijing. So I had three made， two black ones for “dress” occasions when I wanted to look more elegant while shopping on Wangfujing or at the World Trade Center and a much larger one in an odd green for shopping for household items at Tiankelong， buying fresh vegetables at the local farmers’ market， or purchasing sandpaper， nails and hand tools at the hardware shop.

I seem to be an object of amusement to many Chinese. This is partly because I always wear what could be called fancy silk tangzhuang when teaching or going to upscale functions， or padded cotton jackets and vests when walking around the neighborhood. I love these clothes because they are more comfortable than the suits and ties I would probable have worn to teach class in the US， and also because they look so much better than American men’s clothes.

But another reason I get laughed at is my cloth bags. The other day I had some very heavy things to carry and my Chinese friend wanted to get a trike to transport them across campus. When I insisted on carrying them in my cloth bags hooked together like saddle bags over my shoulder， one in front of me and one behind， he suggested that I wait until after dark so that no one would witness me looking like an old farmer. But I persisted and， sure enough， not only did people stare at me and laugh but some actually pointed me out to their friends. Well， I enjoyed it too. I feel proud of my cloth bags and every time I use them instead of the awful plastic bags I feel good about the fact that at least there will not be another plastic bag flying around the city because of Lao Du’s carelessness.

I am a proud old man but no one can make me feel shame or embarrassed for using my cloth bags and thereby helping， in my oh-so-small way， to keep the environment cleaner. I recommend that we make these old-style Chinese cloth bags fashionable again! Won’t you join me and all my Chinese colleagues of my age and make a “new trend” of the old practice for the sake of China’s environment?

（本欄目文章選自《北京青年報》“雙語視窗”，得到欄目編輯張愛學的授權。英文部分的稿費由本編輯部支付，請作者本人看到此啟事后與編輯部聯系，或發郵件至zhoujin_gongwu@sina.com）

責編：周瑾