英语博客(A cup of English):024 A green duty.

　　Beginners.
Recycling is something that I do willingly¹. My children know all about it. At school the teachers tell them about how to not be wasteful², and how they can become involved in recycling. About every two weeks, my daughter and I load up the car with our large recycling boxes. One has glass jars, another metal cans, another has cardboard³, and the last has plastics. It has become a real habit. If we don't do it, our garage will be full of garbage. Just think what a huge amount of things we throw away, when we could be recycling it all. It's alot of stuff⁴! It makes me happy to think that we can save many trees, and help to keep the air and water clean if we make the effort to recycle. In most towns there are areas or large containers where you can take materials that you don't need anymore. It's a great idea.
Related⁵ vocabulary: recycling, waste, wasteful, involved, dumpster, garbage, materials, effort.
Verbs⁶: to do (do, did, done); to know (know, knew, known).
Advanced.
It's funny, in retrospect⁷, how you can become absorbed in an activity without realizing. I wish sometimes that I could see myself more objectively⁸, as others do. I say this, because, I believe that often we could catch ourselves doing good, a good that we don't recognize anymore. Take recycling, for example. It has become, out of necessity⁹, a bi-monthly habit in our household. If we didn't do it, our dumpster would get twice as full as it already does. It is truly amazing how many materials we use and throw away. Often, they pass through our house without even showing signs of use or damage. And out they go! Well, all this useful stuff, thankfully now is being transported down to the local recycling center. I usually do it with my daughter. She is only four, so it is like a game for her, as most things are. She loves to throw the plastic bottles into the huge, metal containers. Children love to throw things around, and often get into trouble for it. But there, it can be encouraged; and they love it. Occasionally¹⁰, a fellow recycler is doing his or her duty down there, with whom I will exchange a smile or a hello. It's as if, without knowing eachother, we have some good things in common. I'm glad that it has become a normal activity for my kids, a little easy well-wishing for the earth.
Grammar notes.
Useful expressions: in retrospect, to become absorbed, objectively, out of necessity, to show signs of damage/ life/ illness etc; a fellow .... ex; a fellow painter.

1 willingly   

adv.愿意地，乐意地

参考例句：

• Love is a sweet tyranny,because the lover endures his torment willingly. 爱情是甜蜜的暴政，情人甘心忍受它的折磨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism. 很多人情愿皈依佛教。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

3 cardboard   

n.硬纸板，卡纸板

参考例句：

• She brought the shopping home in a cardboard box.她将买的东西放在纸箱里带回家。
• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。

4 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

5 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

6 verbs   

动词

参考例句：

• I have to swot up on phrasal verbs for a test tomorrow. 我不得不为明天的测验努力温习短语动词。
• Verbs that do not take object are called intransitive verbs. 不带宾语的动词称为不及物动词。

7 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

8 objectively   

ad.客观地，客观上地

参考例句：

• Everything that exists objectively can be understood. 客观存在的事物都是能够被理解的。
• He hoped they would write objectively about China. 他希望他们能客观地报道中国的情况。

9 necessity   

n.必要性，需要；必需品

参考例句：

• I look upon this as an absolute necessity.我认为这是绝对必要的。
• You must understand the necessity of education.你必须懂得教育的必要性。

10 occasionally   

adv.偶然地；非经常地

参考例句：

• He went on talking,occasionally wiping at his face with a towel.他继续说着，偶尔用毛巾擦一下脸。
• I like playing football best,but occasionally I play table tennis,too.我最喜欢踢足球，偶尔也打打乒乓球。