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温总理成美知名网站最受欢迎政治名人之一(图)
2008-06-04 21:06:17
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, hugely popular at home for his relief efforts following the massive earthquake in Sichuan, has emerged as the 10th most popular politician on the Facebook social networking site.His Facebook page says he had 20,136 supporters as of Tuesday, most of whom signed up after the earthquake that killed more than 68,000 people.
Wen flew to the site hours after the quake, clambering over shattered buildings and tearfully comforting weeping children.
Since becoming premier in 2003, "Grandpa Wen" has honed a role as a gently spoken man focused on solving the country's social ills.
He has spent Lunar New Year holidays down a coal mine and in an AIDS-stricken village, vowed to retrieve migrant workers' unpaid wages, and this year he flew into areas paralyzed by severe winter storms to take personal responsibility.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said he had not heard of the site when asked to comment at a regular news conference on Thursday.
"What you mentioned seems related to our quake relief efforts. I do hope the international community can have a better understanding of China through the unity and heroic acts of the Chinese people in battling the disaster," Qin said.
In the Facebook photo album called "Wenchuan Earthquake," Wen is seen in a black jacket, addressing a crowd in the quake zone.
"He is a good premier and should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize," a girl called Violette Qin from Switzerland wrote in a comment under the photo.
"He should be the role model for every politician ... Keep up the good work, the people need you," a man called Wilson Lee wrote.
There were more than 3,300 posts on Wen's Facebook Wall, some in Chinese, some in English.
"I do not know whether you really go to this page, I really want to tell you: Take care of yourself!" a post by Angel Chau read.
Wen now ranks 10th in a feature on Facebook called Browse All Politicians, which ranks them by the numbers of supporters on their pages.
Barack Obama, who appears set to win the Democratic nomination for November's US presidential election, ranked first with 864,832 supporters at last look.
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给我30天 戒掉塑料袋(组图)
2008-06-04 20:59:48
毫无疑问，塑料袋让我们的生活变得方便快捷。然而，在享受这种便捷的同时，你是否也在制造着花费一百年都无法从地球上消失白色垃圾呢？30-Day Plastic Bag Diet
30天塑料袋“节食”计划
◎ from www.bagonaut.com
译 / 珍宝猪
Please do not worry—this is not a fad1) diet to lose weight! Plastic bags have no nutritious value! This diet is about kicking the habit of excessively2) relying on plastic bags.
Plastic shopping bags are among the most widespread consumer items on Earth. Their light weight, low cost, and water resistance3) make them so convenient for carrying groceries, clothing, and other daily purchases that it's hard to imagine life without them. Weighing just a few grams and averaging a few millimeters in thickness, plastic bags might seem thoroughly harmless—were it not for the sheer4) number produced. Factories around the world churned out5) trillions of6) them every year.
Compared with paper bags, producing plastic ones uses less energy and water and leaves less air pollution and solid waste. Plastic bags also take up less space in a landfill. But many of these bags never make it to landfills; instead, they go airborne after they are thrown—getting caught in fences, trees, gutters, waterways, even the throats of birds. To avoid these impacts, the best alternative is to reuse your own durable cloth bags.
It’s okay to have a few plastic bags and to reuse plastic bags as much as possible. The goal is to simply use less of them. If you can reduce your usage down to only several plastic bags per year, then consider yourself a successful bagonaut7). Go 30 days applying the following steps, which will make it easy for you and in no time you will be doing it automatically!
Step 1: Round up !
The very first thing you want to do is to collect all of your plastic bags. You may want to keep a few for special occasions when plastic is helpful—all plastic bags are not bad—just using too many of them can be! Take the rest in for recycling.
Step 2: Choose Reusable Bag!
Purchase some good, reusable bags. A Single person needs about 2-3. A family will need more. You can buy a beginner bag and see if you like it first. There are a variety of bags available: canvas9), mesh10), nylon, hemp11), etc. What you want is a bag that works for you.
Make sure it is durable and easy to use. Tote12) bags are not recommended as they are generally too small and the material may not be suitable for heavy items. Avoid back packs, as well. Canvas bags can shrink even if washed in cold water. Bags with small pockets are good for receipts or shopping lists.
One good thing about reusable bags is that most have straps and can be easily thrown over your shoulder. Even when doing a lot of shopping at a mall you can carry your reusable bags over the shoulder rather then carrying them in your hands.
Step Three: Mission to Bag
Once you have your bags you will find that most fold neatly and easily in your closet or a kitchen cabinet. When shopping, give your bag to the cashier first before presenting the items. Everyone saves money when you reuse bags.
Step Four: Practice and Persistence
The key is action. Keep a few bags by the door, so you will remember to take them when you go out. Whether you go to the supermarket, drugstore, clothes shopping, or a convenience store, challenge yourself to have a reusable bag with you. If you get caught shopping without a reusable bag then shop old school—use your hands!
Step five: What Else?
Avoid using plastic bags as trash can liners. This is the number one excuse by people who say they recycle by using them as trash bags. Instead, buy trash bags that are designed to be biodegradable13). Leave your smaller trash cans or wastepaper baskets unlined and dump you trash directly into your large garbage cans or dumpster. If you have a large home and several waste paper baskets, then dump all of them into the outside can periodically14).
Once you have kicked the habit, consider giving a friend a reusable bag as a gift. Take the time to explain why you shop with reusable bags. You may find that when people understand the dangers of excessively using plastic, and what it is doing to our environment, they may go on the 30 day plastic bag diet themselves! 请别担心——这可不是流行的减肥节食！塑料袋可没有营养价值！这里所说的节食是指改掉过度依赖塑料袋的习惯。
塑料购物袋是地球上最常见的消费品之一。它重量轻，成本低，还防水，这些优点使它们便于携带杂货、衣服，以及其他日常商品，很难想象没有它们的生活会是什么样子。如果不是产量巨大，那些重量仅几克，平均厚度仅几毫米的塑料袋怎么看都好像是无害的。每年，全世界的工厂都会生产出成千上万亿个塑料袋。
与纸袋相比，生产塑料袋所消耗的能量和水更少，产生的 空气污染更小，固体垃圾更少，塑料袋在垃圾填埋场所占空间也更小。然而，很多塑料袋根本就没有送到垃圾填埋场，相反，它们在被丢弃后“随风逐流”——结果挂在了篱笆上、树上，或者堵塞下水道和排水渠，甚至被鸟类误食卡在喉咙里。为了避免这些后果，最好的替代方法就是重新开始使用你自己的耐用布袋。
准备几个塑料袋并尽可能地反复使用也是可以的。目的很简单，就是更少地使用它们。如果你可以把每年所用的塑料袋减少到几个，那么就能叫自己“环保袋达人”了。用一个月去实施下列步骤，它们将助你一臂之力，很快你就会习惯成自然！
第1步：围捕“嫌犯”！
你要做的第一件事就是把家里所有的塑料袋都找出来。你可以留下几个以备不时之需——并不是所有的塑料袋都不好——只是过量使用才导致不可收拾！其余的环保回收。
第2步：弃“暗”投“明”！
买几个质量好、可重复使用的袋子。一个人需要大约2~3个。一个家庭需要更多。你可以先买一个试试，看看喜不喜欢。可供选择的袋子有很多：帆布袋、网格袋、尼龙袋、麻纤维袋等等。你需要的是一个适合自己的袋子。
确保它耐用、方便。不推荐手提购物袋，因为它们通常都很小，材质也不适宜携带较重的物品。也不要选用背袋。帆布包即使用冷水洗涤也会缩水。有小口袋的包适于放收据或购物单。
可重复使用的袋子有一个优点：大多数都有带子，可以方便地挎在肩上。即使是在大型购物商场，所购商品很多时，你也可以把袋子挎在肩上，而不必用手提。
第3步：用袋之道
一旦你有了自己的袋子，你会发现它们大多能方便整齐地叠放在你的衣柜或厨柜里。 购物时，先把你的袋子交给收银员，然后再摆出你购买的商品。重复使用袋子可以让每一个人都省下钱来。 第4步：坚持不懈
你的行动是关键。在门口放几个袋子，这样你外出时就会记得要带着它们。不管是去超市、药店、服装店，还是便利店，都带上一只可重复使用的袋子，挑战自己。如果你发现自己忘记带可重复使用的袋子，那么就用最原始的办法——用手拿！ 第5步：再接再厉
不要把塑料袋衬在垃圾筒里当垃圾袋，虽然有人说这样也是循环利用，但这其实是人们最常用的借口。去买可生物降解的垃圾袋。不要在你自己的小号垃圾桶或废纸篓里套塑料袋，直接把垃圾扔进大号的垃圾桶或垃圾箱里。如果你家很大，有几个废纸篓，那么定期将其中的垃圾倒入户外垃圾箱中。
当你摆脱了这个习惯，不妨把可重复使用的袋子作为礼物送给朋友。耐心解释为什么要用这种袋子购物。你会发现，当人们了解到过度使用塑料袋的弊端及其对环境造成的危害时，他们会自觉地加入到30天塑料袋“节食”计划中来。
Vocabulary
1.fad [fAd] n. (一时的)狂热；(穿着、行为等方面)一时的风尚
2.excessively [Ik5sesIvlI] adv. 过多地，过分地
3.water-resistance: 防水；resistance [ri5zistEns] n. 抵抗性，抵抗力
4.sheer [FiE] adj. 绝对的；彻底的
5.churn out: 粗制滥造出；churn [tFE:n] v. 剧烈搅动
6.trillions of: 大量，无数；trillion [5triljEn] num. 万亿，兆
7.bagonaut: 环保袋达人；号召摆脱塑料袋、使用环保袋以保护地球环境的人(或行为、现象)：这是一个新兴词汇，它源于Egan Sanders(伊根?桑德斯)和他的BIGBAG1。Egan Sanders是一位环保袋倡导者，他连续14年坚持不使用塑料袋。2007年9月，Egan Sanders把自己装在世界上最大的帆布袋BIGBAG1中整整24个小时，以呼吁人们关注全球变暖和白色污染，此举顿时轰动美国，媒体争先报道，许多人更是在他的带动下加入到使用环保袋的行列中。 8.round up: (对人或物品的) 搜集，集拢
9.canvas [5kAnvEs] n. 帆布
10.mesh [meF] n. 网眼织物；网状物
11.hemp [hemp] n. 麻类植物(纤维)
12.tote [tEut] n. 手提
13.biodegradable [7baiEudi5^reidEbl] adj. 能进行生物降解的
14.periodically [9pIErI`CdIkLlI] adv. 周期性地；定期地
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用十句简单英语提升口语档次
2008-06-04 20:57:17