用“歡樂時光”來打擊食物浪費

重慶 宋平平

為減少食物浪費，芬蘭的一家連鎖超市別出心裁，利用“歡樂時光”活動打擊食物浪費。

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One supermarket chain in Finland has come up with a way to reduce food waste. All 900 S-Market stores throughout the country knock 60 percent off already-reduced meat and fish at 9 o'clock each evening in an effort to move it off shelves before expiring（過期） at midnight.

It's part of a two-year campaign to reduce food waste that the company managers decide to call “Happy Hour” in the hope of drawing in regulars. It makes customers get super-cheap food,and makes retailers （零售商） don't have to pay for disposal （and earn more than if they donated the food）, and it eases the burden on the planet.

Reducing food waste is not often enough seen as an effective solution to the climate crisis. Energy, for example, receives more focus than food, and yet food is something that individuals can and should solve on a personal level. A recent UN report stated that a shocking one-third of food produced for human consumption never gets eaten. This equals 1.3 billion tons of food worth $ 680 billion.

Causes of food loss and waste differ greatly between developed and developing countries, as well as between regions. Reducing this loss and waste would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve food security.

Supermarkets are well positioned to make a difference when it comes to food waste, but they have to be willing to accept some financial losses. Reducing prices on nearly-expired food is an excellent place to start, as is doing away with bulk discounts, e.g. two for the price of one, which encourages over-buying.

Individuals also have a responsibility to eat more of what they buy. Take a moment to look at the contents of your refrigerator and pantry（食品儲藏室） before shopping and work out what you have, in order of how soon items will expire. Don't be influenced by in-the-moment desires that are unlikely to get used in their entirety. Consider mentioning the S-Market initiative（新方案） to your local grocery stores, in hopes that it, too, will consider carrying a “Happy Hour” of fighting food waste.

Reading Check

Choose the best answer for each question.

1. What does S-Market stores' act result in?

A. Greater recognition.

B. A win-win-win situation.

C. More financial profit.

D. More new customers.

2. What can we know about food waste?

A. People are fully aware of the problem.

B. Solving it is an effective way to fight climate crisis.

C. People need to quickly find out the reason for food waste.

D. There's more food waste in developed countries than in developing countries.

3. In the last paragraph, the author advises readers to ___________.

A. buy with care

B. join their local grocery stores' campaign

C. come up with new ways to solve food waste

D. make sure there's enough space for food in the fridge

Language Study

Difficult sentence

It's part of a two-year campaign to reduce food waste that the company managers decide to call “Happy Hour” in the hope of drawing in regulars. 這是為期兩年的減少食物浪費運動的一部分，公司經理決定稱之為“歡樂時光”，希望能吸引常客。

【點石成金】句中that引導的是一個定語從句，先行詞為campaign。 動詞不定式to reduce food作名詞campaign的后置定語。